[Yahoo] - NATO has vastly underestimated Russia's capabilities, a top general said.
- Russia can make millions of shells a year and recruit hundreds of thousands of troops, he said.
- "They can produce even more — many times more — ammunition," Martin Herem, commander of the Estonian Defense Forces, told Bloomberg.
Contrary to earlier predictions, Russia can now produce several million artillery shells a year and recruit hundreds of thousands of soldiers, he said.
"A lot of people thought they couldn't go beyond that — today, the facts tell us otherwise," Herem told Bloomberg.
He added: "They can produce even more — many times more — ammunition."
In July, Adm. Tony Radakin, the formal head of the UK's armed forces, said that Russia could "at best" produce 1 million shells a year, per the Financial Times.
The UK Ministry of Defense estimated in December that Russia could need up to 10 years to replenish its army.
But that narrative has shifted over the past few months, with military commanders, analysts, and NATO officials warning of Russia's increasing capacities.
In September, an unnamed Western official warned of Russia's ability to make 2 million artillery shells a year, per Reuters.
And Christopher Cavoli, the commander of US European Command, said in April that despite significant losses in Ukraine, Russia's ground forces were bigger than when it invaded Ukraine. 
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