The Russian military made many fatal mistakes in its invasion of Ukraine. Photo/Reuters
MOSCOW – When Russia launched its attack on Ukraine last year, the Kremlin hoped it would soon be Russia that would seize Kyiv and overthrow President Volodymyr Zelensky. But more than a year into the war, it became clear that Ukraine was more than capable of withstanding the onslaught.
Nevertheless, the Russian army had some success including attacks on airfields and civilian infrastructure. But experts detail how poor planning, faulty intelligence, and misunderstandings about Ukraine’s resistance forces and Western backing, all ended Russia’s chances of a swift victory.
Here are the 10 biggest military mistakes Russia has made so far in its invasion of Ukraine.
1. Lack of Logistics Planning
Photo/Reuters
At the start of the war, the Russians believed the operation would last a few weeks at most and failed to prepare for a lengthy offensive. The lack of long term planning proved to be a mistake as the war dragged on.
“It will take the Kremlin months to start treating this as a large-scale conventional war, rather than a quick operation to ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine,” said Mason Clark, a senior analyst for the Institute for the Study of War. TIME.
“The Kremlin believed its own propaganda,” Clark said. “Thought he would be welcomed by the Ukrainian population as a liberator and the Ukrainian military would collapse.”
A bad logistics system leads to a complete failure; troops were not properly supplied and left without an established chain of command. “Russia’s original sin was how they structured their forces at the start of the invasion,” Clark said.
“They didn’t take the time to set up a proper logistics chain and only sent ad hoc units.” As a result, says Clark, troops are essentially competing with each other for resources.
2023-08-05 05:02:07
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