Russia is called a "fighting nation" by the outside world. Its vast territory was built with the blood of Russian soldiers. During the Soviet period, the Soviet army inherited the glorious tradition of Russian bravery and fighting skills, defeated German fascism, planted the red flag of victory on the city walls of Berlin , and completely defeated the Japanese Kwantung Army, becoming a world leader that dared to directly confront the United States. . Even after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia's standing military and nuclear forces can still compete openly with the United States, keeping the United States awake at night.
However, in the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian army fought in Ukraine for more than four months and more than 100 days. The entire combat process seemed very stretched. Is the strength of the Ukrainian army really strong? The reasons why the Russian army suffered heavy losses in Ukraine are actually mainly due to the following reasons -
First, the Russian army did not use precision guided munitions on a large scale to attack Ukrainian army targets.
The Gulf War in 1991 kicked off the new military revolution of mankind. Information warfare is a combat method that combines large-scale electronic interference + fighting for information rights + large-scale precision-guided strikes and air strikes. In terms of core combat methods, the US military is accustomed to using a large number of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to attack a series of key targets of the enemy, destroying the enemy's command communications and various combat systems, and weakening the enemy's war potential.
In the 1991 Gulf War, the US military used cruise missiles and air strikes for 38 days, and finally it was a 100-hour ground battle that was devastating. Kosovo War , the US military's 78 days of high-intensity air strikes defeated Yugoslavia with zero casualties.
Three days before the Gulf War, the US military sent Iraq ,500 cruise missiles. Three days before the Kosovo War, the US military launched 1,000 cruise missiles towards Yugoslavia. In the three days before the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Russian army only launched 230 cruise missiles. The density of military targets in Ukraine is much greater than that in Iraq and Yugoslavia, but the Russian military has launched far fewer cruise missiles. This allowed the Ukrainian army to concentrate its forces to resist the Russian army after the war broke out, causing the Russian army to fight for more than 4 months after the war started.
If the US military attacks Ukraine, it can fire 2,000 cruise missiles in the first three days of the war. The Russian army has various types of missiles such as the Caliber missile , Dagger missile and Iskander, but the number of these missiles is not large simply because Russiaās military expenditure is too small.
Second, Russia underestimates its enemy.
Think about when the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out in 2014, the Ukrainian army at that time collapsed without a fight. The Ukrainian army cannot even defeat the Eastern Ukrainian militia, let alone the Russian army.
However, Russia has overlooked one point: things are changing. The combat effectiveness of the Russian army has improved, and so has the combat effectiveness of Ukraine. The Russian army that defeated the Ukrainian army in 2022 will no longer be the Ukrainian army in 2014. Many years ago, Russia could take back Crimea without a fight, but the Russian army couldn't do it if it wanted to conquer Ukraine without a fight.
Russia has also overlooked one point. Since 2015, NATO has sent a large number of officers to train the Ukrainian army, training the Ukrainian army from the original Soviet-style army to an army close to the West. The Ukrainian army's tactics have undergone many changes, and their combat effectiveness has been greatly improved. The Ukrainian army's tactics are more flexible and changeable, and it is easier to use Western weapons.
Because Russia underestimated its enemy, the Russian army even thought that its own army could easily crush the Ukrainian army's resistance, and then directly enter the Kiev urban area. Ukrainian people laid flowers on both sides of the road to welcome the liberation of Russia. But this did not happen. It is unknown whether the Ukrainian people would welcome the Russian army to enter Kiev. However, the Russian army is engaged in a bitter battle in the Donbass region. It is difficult to say when it will reach Kiev.
Third, the tactics are rigid and outdated, and national defense mobilization is insufficient. Russia's tactics this time appear to be very outdated, basically a replica of 's World War II blitzkrieg. A sudden attack by airborne troops is used to attack key areas. The Ukrainian side used various information warfare methods to obtain various information about the Russian army's operations and thwarted the Russian army's attempt to attack the airport. The Russian army adopted a blitz warfare strategy in its field battles, relying on tank troops to advance rapidly. However, the Russian army only learned the superficial aspects of blitz warfare but did not learn the essence of blitz warfare.
When the German army fought a blitzkrieg, it had two priorities - air strikes and the correct and rapid advancement of tank troops. Russian air strikes have not seen the Russian Air Force large-scale attacks on military targets in Ukraine. The Russian First Guards Tank Army also attacked in the wrong direction, causing delays in Russian fighter planes. The Russian army's 300,000-strong force attacked Ukraine in three groups, with no focused attack direction. No wonder the Russian army did not conquer the entire territory of Ukraine.
There are more than 200,000 regular troops in Ukraine. After at least three mobilizations, the Ukrainian army's strength has reached 1 million, and it has obtained a large amount of European and American equipment, and its combat effectiveness has been greatly improved. As the Ukrainian army's national defense mobilization continues to improve, more and more retired soldiers and militiamen who have received military training are being mobilized. The Ukrainian army adopts a combination of frontal battlefield positional warfare and rear battlefield mobile warfare, with the regular Ukrainian army relying on the defense line. Withstanding the Russian attack, the Homeland Defense Brigade composed of Ukrainian militiamen used a combination of mobile warfare and positional warfare to resist the Russian army in various administrative regions, causing heavy losses to the Russian army.
However, the Russian army did not launch a comprehensive mobilization and did not summon reserve troops to participate in the war. Although the conscription age has been raised to 50, the actual strength of the Russian army has remained at 300,000. This was another major mistake in Russia's combat operations - failure to mobilize reserve forces to participate in the war in time.
