After 300 days of fighting in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s army has little to show after all objectives failed and Ukrainian forces managed to liberate most of the territory including the only regional capital which the forces Russians managed to conquer.
From a failed Russian invasion to Putin’s miscalculation of the Western response, here are some of Moscow’s biggest blunders during its unwarranted war in Ukraine.Business Insider“.
ruin the invasion
The site quoted military analysts as saying that Russia completely failed in its initial invasion for a variety of reasons and that its campaign was riddled with miscalculations, poor communication and widespread confusion.
Jeffrey Edmunds, a Russia expert at the Center for Naval Analysis and a former military analyst for the CIA, told the site that the belief before the war was that the Russians would stage a deliberate operation.
During the first days of the war, Russian forces were expected to combine air support and ground attack and advance with large groups of artillery, armored vehicles and troops, but this did not happen and they faced logistical headaches, isolation and ambushes.
“The Kremlin just miscalculated and expected the Ukrainian military to collapse much faster than it was,” Mason Clarke, chief Russian analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, told Business Insider.
Underestimate the defense strength of Ukraine
Putin thought victory would be quick and easy and that his forces would capture Kiev within days, but the city of nearly 3 million people never fell, as the Russian leader greatly underestimated the willingness of Ukrainians to fight and defend their homeland.
Fierce resistance from Ukraine was evident early in the war.
Clark told MEE that Russia’s lack of success was due to a combination of poor execution, better performance by the Ukrainian military and “much higher (Ukrainian) morale than anyone expected, especially the Russians”.
Drop lots of weapons
A surprise counter-offensive by Ukraine in the northeastern Kharkiv region in late summer in Russia marked the beginning of a massive push that has liberated thousands of kilometers of territory Moscow had seized.
The speed of the attack caused the Russian forces to rush out of their positions, leaving behind mountains of weapons and ammunition.
The British Ministry of Defense said at the time that some Russian forces “fled in apparent panic” and left behind much “high-value equipment”.
Stockpiles of guided munitions
In recent months, Russia has launched waves of missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, but in doing so has depleted Moscow’s stockpile of long-range guided munitions.
Recently, senior US intelligence officials said Russia is running out of ammunition faster than it can supply.
Officials also say the use of massive amounts of artillery and precision-guided munitions has forced Moscow to turn to Iran and North Korea for supplies.
Underestimating Western unity
One of Putin’s most notable mistakes was underestimating Western unity behind Ukraine, according to the website.
NATO and the European Union have remained relatively united in providing military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and in implementing comprehensive sanctions against Russia.
The invasion has also created an opportunity for NATO expansion, which Putin has vehemently opposed for decades, adding Sweden and Finland, which, like other European countries, have become more concerned about their own security.
On Thursday, Putin, whose forces began invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, told reporters he hoped the conflict would end “as soon as possible”.
