Former CIA Director Shocked to See Russian Military “Professionalism” in Attack on Ukraine All

WASHINGTON DC, KOMPAS.com – Former CIA director (Body Intelligence Center United States) admits to being “not too” surprised military Russia difficulty in attack to Ukrainebut even more surprised to see the poor professionalism Russian military.

Retired United States (US) General David Petraeus is former CIA director who commanded the 101st Airborne Division during the War in Iraq in 2003, and led troops US in Afghanistan.

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To CNN, Petraeus spoke about how the ongoing Ukrainian resistance has hindered Moscow’s plans to easily “occupy” its neighboring territory.

Highlighting the sources of Russian obstruction, Petraeus noted Ukraine has been relentlessly trying to protect their country.

“There are many reasons for Russia’s poor performance.”

According to him, the Russian military must fight against Ukrainian forces who have high determination and are quite skilled. The defenses of its neighbors consist of special operations forces, conventional troops, territorial troops and even citizens.

“Everyone is determined not to let Russia achieve its goals,” he told CNN quoted from Business Insider on Sunday (20/3/2022).

“They are fighting for their national survival, their homeland and their way of life, and they have a field advantage in their home, knowing the terrain and the community.”

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Petraeus then exposed the weakness of Russia’s “military operations” in Ukraine.

“They obviously have very poor standards in basic tactical tasks, such as conducting joint arms operations, involving armor, infantry, engineers, artillery and mortars,” he said in describing the Russian troops.

He highlighted the poor maintenance of Russian military vehicles and weapons systems. Many of the defense equipment that broke down were even abandoned in Ukraine. Not to mention the problems in supply and logistics.

For decades, he says, the Soviet system (now the Russian system) has had one drawback that the US and Western militaries have become a major force for, namely a “strong and professional corps of non-active officers.”

The former CIA director also compared the Russian military arsenal to that used by the US military, which he judged to be disproportionate.

“Russia has only relatively unimpressive equipment, given the investment it should have made over the last decade or so,” he said.

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Russian precision munitions were also judged to be inaccurate, as seen from the runway of the Ukrainian airport which was not cut off after the initial attack. The so-called move is similar to what the US did after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“We can also see that with the frequency of Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals in Mariupol, other medical facilities and government centers in Kharkiv – unless they really intend to hit those targets, which would obviously be horrific.”

Former head intelligence it also said that Russia’s cyberwarfare capacity this year was “not impressive”. For example, Russia “couldn’t bring down Ukraine’s command and control system.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meanwhile continues to use his social media accounts to communicate with the world about the war in his country.

Also read: Ukraine Update: Movement of Russian Troops to Kyiv Stalled, Most Still 25 Kilometers

The retired US general concluded that Russia underestimated what it would take to gain control of Kyiv, to the point of replacing the Ukrainian government with one that would be loyal to their country.

“In every area of ​​evaluation, the Russians, starting with their intelligence assessment and understanding of the battlefield and their adversaries, and then every aspect of the campaign, down to small unit operations, proved woefully inadequate,” he said.

He claims that a large part of the Ukrainian population also hates Russia, and that hatred deepens with each attack on civilian infrastructure.

“Not only did it not win the hearts and minds of (Ukraine citizens), Russia was knocked out of their hearts and minds.”

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