The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 13th, 2023: Russia's Decimated Military & Biden Buckles On Border Policy

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     A declassified U.S. intelligence report reveals that Russia has lost 87 percent of the ground troops that they began the war with, along with more than two-thirds of their armored tanks. It appears President Joe Biden is willing to make major concessions on border policy to Republicans in Congress in an effort to convince lawmakers to pass an emergency aid package to Ukraine. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.     Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Second Half 2025, all rights reserved. It must provide a recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person who gave me the deal. additional terms, conditions, and restrictions apply. It's Wednesday, December 13th. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. A recently declassified U.S. intelligence report is providing insight into the stunning losses that Putin's military has suffered since his invasion of Ukraine. Also, it appears that the White House is prepared to make major concessions on border policy reform. to Republicans in Congress in a final bid to get an emergency aid package for Ukraine approved.

But first, our afternoon spotlight. After nearly two years of fighting in Ukraine, the scale of the carnage is starting to come into focus. A declassified U.S. intelligence report recently delivered to Congress reveals that Russia has lost a shocking 87% of the ground troops that they began the war with, along with more than two-thirds of their armored tanks. U.S. intelligence estimates that the colossal personnel and equipment losses the Putin regime has suffered have set Russia's military modernization efforts back by roughly 15 years. Now, Russia launched their invasion of Ukraine in February of last year, with roughly 360,000 ground troops. Since the invasion, the U.S. intelligence community

estimates that at least 315,000 of those ground troops are now dead or injured. Conversely, a report from the New York Times in August estimated Ukrainian losses to be at roughly 70,000. Now, the intelligence report delivered to members of Congress on Monday, noted that the staggering losses have prompted Putin to greatly relaxed recruitment standards for deployment in Ukraine. As an example, Russia has been mining their prison populations, for fresh recruits. The intelligence assessment said, quote, the scale of losses has forced Russia to take extraordinary measures to sustain its ability to fight. Russia declared a partial mobilization of 300,000 personnel in late 2022, and has relaxed standards to allow recruitment of convicts and

older civilians, end quote. Russia's deputy justice minister, Vesaveload Vukal, made a shocking disclosure in October. when he stated the country's prison population, which hovered around 420,000 inmates before Russia's attack on Ukraine, has fallen to a historic low of roughly 266,000 inmates. Human rights observers in the region estimate that at least 100,000 prisoners have been conscripted by the Russian Defense Ministry and sent to the front lines to bolster the ranks of Russia's beleaguered fighting force. Russia has not addressed these latest cases. casualty figures, but has previously claimed that the West greatly exaggerates Russian losses

while significantly downplaying Ukraine's. Despite the losses, Russian President Putin appears eager to take advantage of what he sees as an increasingly vulnerable Ukraine and press the war to gain the upper hand. Ukraine's counteroffensive this summer largely failed to gain ground, and international support for Ukraine's war effort has wavered. Now, National Security Council spokesperson Adrian Watson told Voice of America on Tuesday that, quote, Russia seems to believe that a military deadlock through the winter will drain Western support for Ukraine and ultimately give Russia the advantage despite Russian losses and persistent

shortages of trained personnel, munitions, and equipment, end quote. In the U.S., Congress has struggled to pass a $110.5 billion international aid package, with roughly $61 billion of that flagged for Ukraine. During a visit in Washington from Zelensky on Tuesday of this week, he warned that any lapse in funding would risk giving Putin the advantage. And in Europe, internal divisions within the EU are delaying a $53 billion aid package for Ukraine, including billions in new loans and funds for interest payments on existing loans. As we've discussed previously on the BDB, Putin likely believes that despite his staggering losses,

he has two advantages, more manpower or potential recruits, and a fickle West that appears to be losing interest in further support for Ukraine, his calculation being that he can outweigh the West and either eventually defeat Ukraine outright or at a minimum come to a negotiated settlement on favorable Russian terms. All right, coming up after the break, it appears President Joe Biden is willing to make major concessions on border policy to Republicans in Congress in an effort to convince lawmakers to pass an emergency aid package for Ukraine. I'll be right back.

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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. Ukrainian President Zelensky's recent visit to Washington, D.C., wrapped up with mixed outcomes. Despite his efforts, Congressional Republicans remain reluctant to approve additional military support for Ukraine. However, Zelensky isn't leaving Washington totally empty-handed. President Biden has authorized an extra $200 million in drawdown funds for Ukraine. These were funds already approved by Congress.

According to the Department of Defense, the new package includes air defense capabilities, artillery ammunition, anti-tank weapons, and over 4 million of weapons. of small arms ammunition. Of course, that's a far cry from the $61 billion that President Biden is requesting from Congress for Ukraine. As we've been reporting here on the BDB, those funds, well, they're being held up by Republican legislators who are hoping to leverage the baggage in exchange for increased border security. Well, it looks like Republicans might actually get what they want. The White House is now signaling a willingness to make a some concessions. Yesterday, the Biden administration informed Senate Democrats that it's willing to

consider some major changes in immigration policy in exchange for military assistance for Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine. And that totals about $100 billion. So what exactly is being proposed? Well, three key points stand out here. First, the White House is open to granting U.S. border officials extensive legal authority to expel migrants without processing their asylum claims. Now, this policy would effectively reinstate the Trump-era Title 42 pandemic order, allowing officials to temporarily suspend U.S. asylum law, even without a public health basis. The administration is also considering a nationwide expansion of the expedited removal process. This would enable immigration officials to deport migrants without court hearings, provided they either don't request asylum or fail their initial asylum interviews.

Currently, this process is restricted to the border region. And lastly, the White House is contemplating a policy to mandate the detention of certain migrants who enter the country pending the resolution of their claims. It's not clear how feasible this proposal really is, considering the lack of sufficient detention facilities to house all immigrants entering the U.S. illegally. These proposed changes would mark a significant shift in the Biden administration's stance on immigration and border policy, demonstrating that the White House is fairly desperate to pass their military assistance package. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, 13 December.

If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.