CIA director says average Russian soldier's life expectancy in Ukraine is 30 minutes
The average life expectancy of a Russian soldier on the battlefield in Ukraine is around 20-30 minutes thanks to Ukrainian AI-powered attack drones, CIA Director John Ratcliffe has said.
Source: Ratcliffe, as quoted by Bloomberg, European Pravda reports
Details: Although Russia has a significant numerical advantage over smaller Ukraine, Ukrainian forces have managed to limit the advance of Russian troops, partly thanks to innovations in various types of attack drones.
US officials have suggested that Russia is losing around 7,000 soldiers per week.
"Our intelligence is consistent with some of the open-source reporting you may have seen in Ukraine: the average life expectancy of a Russian recruit right now, arriving on the battlefield in Ukraine, is estimated to be between 20 and 30 minutes," Ratcliffe said at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit.
He said that this is because AI-based drones "have gotten to be such specialised, low-cost killing machines".
Ratcliffe's remarks come as Washington and its allies are considering new funding for Ukrainian drone development programmes and seeking access to the technologies underpinning the AI systems.
Background:
- NATO believes that Russia has not abandoned its objectives in its war against Ukraine despite personnel losses of over 1.4 million troops.
- In addition, a senior NATO official stated at the Ankara summit that the pace of the Russian army's advance in Ukraine in June had slowed fourfold compared to the same period last year.
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