Russia has lost more than 30% of its land combat effectiveness in Ukraine but military issues won't prompt regime change in the invading country, Britain's top military official said Sunday.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, chief of defense staff, dismissed any suggestion that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be toppled or assassinated as "wishful thinking." But Ukraine's spirited defense, aided by NATO weaponry, has set back Russian plans for swift victory, he said.
"What that actually means is 50,000 Russian soldiers that have either died or been injured in this conflict," Radakin told the BBC. "Nearly 1,700 Russian tanks destroyed, nearly 4,000 armored fighting vehicles that belong to Russia destroyed."
Still, Putin's regime is viewed as stable and the Russian presidents continues to easily quash opposition, Radakin said. Russia's hierarchy that is "invested" Putin, he said, removing the motivation to challenge his authority.
Latest updates:
►More than 1,000 Ukrainian children have been killed or wounded in the war, Ukraine's prosecutor general said. The death toll: 353. Most victims among children are from the hotly contested Donetsk region.
►Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk writes in The Atlantic that the war has done more than force Ukrainians to fight for their land and freedom: "It has accelerated our progress as a democracy".