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While the USA is getting ready to walk away from the “cease fire” talks due to Russian recalcitrance, Caitlin Doornbos reports that Russia is running out of resources to continue its brutal assault on Ukraine. She reports in the New York Post that Russia won’t be able to afford to keep troops in the field past 2026. Excerpt:
WASHINGTON — Russia could be forced to end the war in Ukraine because it will run out of money to pay its troops, according to experts at the DC-based Institute for the Study of War.
The country has burned through roughly half of its $106 billion liquid sovereign-wealth fund, which is used to pay troops’ salaries and new recruits bonuses, experts said.
Moscow can likely only afford another 12 to 16 months of fighting at its current pace, with about 30,000 to 45,000 Russian troops killed or injured in Ukraine each month since its 2022 invasion began, ISW’s Russia team lead George Barros told The Post.
“The system for generating fighters worked for 2.5 years but it’s starting to fail,” he said Friday. “Russia is constrained by the laws of economics, scarce resources, and there isn’t an endless manpower resource in Russia.”
The Kremlin’s cash has dwindled as troop salaries and recruiting bonuses balloon amid staggering inflation, according to Russian Finance Ministry data.
Even President Trump weighed in on Moscow’s prospects Friday, noting in a Truth Social post that “Russia has to get moving” on ending its war because “too many people (are) DYING, thousands a week.”
That reality could create an opening for the US to push Russian President Vladimir Putin harder for a peace deal. Putin has been stalling negotiations after rejecting Trump’s full cease-fire proposal — a deal Ukraine already agreed to — a month ago.
Slava Ukraine!
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