Although the initial steps were too great and the chaos was later corrected, its ambition to build an elite professional army and hope to achieve the same results as the US military is still unbearable.

The Russian army’s military reform after the Russo-Georgian War in 2008 largely learned from the US military. Although the initial steps were too great and the chaos was later corrected, its ambition to build an elite professional army and hope to achieve the same results as the US military is still unbearable.

And this kind of expectation and effort has been well verified in the 2014 Donbass war and the intervention in the Syrian war after 2015.

Therefore, the Russian army felt quite good about itself before the current Russia-Ukraine war. This is why it tried to copy and amplify its past experience and launch a large-scale hybrid war to completely crush Ukraine.

However, it is different from the troubles encountered by the US military when it is mired in the quagmire of security wars; the opponents encountered by the Russian army this time are no longer what they used to be, and large-scale mixed warfare simply cannot withstand them. I thought it was an iron fist hitting a walnut, and it would burst open when I hit it; but I didn't expect that the latter was an iron walnut. Not only could it not be smashed, but I was also shaken to the point of numbness in my hands.

So the problem with the Russian army is essentially that the conventional military force of the existing system has encountered an unmatched opponent.

In the process of switching to matching, the Russian army did not move as fast as the other side, so it fell into passivity for a time, causing the expected large-scale mixed war to turn into a large-scale conventional war.

We should still remember that at the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the name of the Russian army was a special military operation launched from Donbass .

Why is it called a special military operation? Translated, it is a large-scale hybrid war. Of course, everyone has seen its specific execution.

Anyway, so far, the Russian army has actually controlled almost the entire Lugansk region , which can be said to be a real record. However, nearly half of the core part of Donbass-Donetsk Oblast is still in the hands of the Ukrainian army.

Although this status quo is not widely accepted by the people of Russia and Donbas, objectively speaking, judging from the number and complexity of the fortifications built by the Ukrainian army there, it is really not that easy to fight.

Street fighting is the most taboo in modern warfare. The Ukrainian army’s positions are not all located in the wild, but are centered around residential areas. Buildings in cities and villages can be used as shooting points for the Ukrainian army, and basements can also be transformed into garrison holes. If you want to clean up such a fortress area, you will really have to plow the ground three feet with artillery shells.

Let’s take a look at Malinka in the west of Donetsk City. Now it is basically impossible to find a complete house, but we are still fighting. This is just a fortress area. There are more than one Malinka within the Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk area.

Therefore, after the Russian army decided to mobilize troops, they did not intend to actually attack these fortress areas one by one. Instead, they forced them to collapse and surrender under the background of forming an encirclement trend. Of course, this was linked to the Russian army's actions across the board.

Specifically speaking of the Donbass region, Lugansk sent troops from the northern flank to link up with Kharkov the Russian army moving south; Donetsk sent troops from the south wing to link up Crimea moving north to the Russian army, but neither of them used their main force to touch the strongest frontal defense line of the Ukrainian army.

Under the most ideal setting, the Russian army successfully raided Kiev , directly forcing Ukraine to sign an alliance under the city. Donbass could take advantage of the situation to disarm the Ukrainian army, plant a flag and take over the territory.

Under sub-ideal conditions, the Kiev operation failed, but the Ukrainian army on the front line collapsed in panic, the system collapsed, and the Donbas side could plant a flag and regain territory at a small cost.

But the final result was obviously not ideal. Kiev failed to force Ukraine to surrender. Although the actions in Donbas had great initial benefits, the Ukrainian army also shrank its defense line and stabilized its position.

After the war turned into conventional combat, the Russian army and the Donbas armed forces were not strong enough to break through the Ukrainian army's defense line, and the battle was deadlocked. Therefore, the Russian army stopped all-out attacks, completely retracted from the northern battlefield, and shifted its focus back to Donbass.

After that, in the three months of offensive operations in April, May, and June, the Russian army focused on artillery tactics and assembled the main force to win the Battle of Beidon.

However, at this time, the Russian army was also exhausted and entered a state of rest. After that, it tried to cope with the war against Ukraine by Syria .But it was unimaginable that after the Ukrainian army gained a breathing space for mobilization and received Western assistance to form combat capabilities, it launched a wave of counterattacks.

The war in Kherson does not involve the battle in Donbas, let’s not mention it for the moment; the Russian army’s defeat and retreat in the direction of Kharkiv completely eliminated its northern threat to the Ukrainian army base camp in Donbas. The Ukrainian army also took advantage of the victory to eat red Liman, which in fact almost leveled the battle line in Donbas.

After the new front was formed, the Ukrainian army took the offensive in the direction of Lugansk in the north, and the Russian army took the offensive in the direction of Donetsk in the south. Since the Russian army could no longer retreat politically and militarily, coupled with the increase in troop density after shrinking the front line and the subsequent mobilization of troops, the initiative gradually tilted to their side.

is specifically reflected in the successful defensive operations in the direction of Luhansk, and the offensive on the front line in Donetsk has also made repeated gains.

Specific to the Donetsk frontal front, there are actually three sub-battlefields:

A: The front with Atmsk as the core, this battle line starts from Seversk in the north, south to Suledar, then to Atmsk, and then south to Dzerzhinsk periphery;

B: From Dzerzhinsk to the south via Novgorodsik (New York) to Avadivka, and then south to the outskirts of Pesky. This front is basically the key area for the Ukrainian army to block and shell the city of Donetsk;

C: From Malinka south to Floda, and then west to Veliky Novosilka. Except for Malinka, this front was newly formed after the Russian-Ukrainian war, and is even closer under the current situation.

Among the three battlefields above, battlefield A uses Wagner as the main offensive force; battlefield B uses the Donetsk armed forces as the main offensive force; battlefield C uses the genuine Russian army, especially naval infantry , as the main offensive force.

At present, the Russian coalition forces are attacking on the entire front. Of course, firepower warfare is still the main force. Specifically, the Atmsk direction has the largest number of troops gathered by both sides and the fiercest fighting, so it is known as the Atmsk Meat Grinder.

Seeing this, it is not difficult for everyone to find that the war between Russia and Ukraine has not only gone around in a circle and returned to Donbass, but this battle must also be fought head-on.

The reason is very simple. The Russian army has retreated where it should have retreated, and it has also retreated where it shouldn't.

Now, Lugansk is facing the Ukrainian offensive, how can it retreat? Donetsk is not allowed to retreat. The Kherson side is already in a state of confrontation across the river, and only the direction of Zaporozhye is the new front. However, the stability of the core communication line is involved here, and no further retreat is allowed.

Looking at the Ukrainian army, they are now implementing a tactic of fighting for every inch of territory, like in the direction of Atmsk. They clearly know that the Russian army is using firepower to fish, but they must keep their head above water. Otherwise, if Atmsk is lost, the Russian army will reach the core of Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk.

The Ukrainian army had the initiative in September and October because the Russian army did not have many troops on the battlefield and the mobilized troops were not yet available.

Today, the Russian army’s front line has been greatly shortened. Donbass is backed by the Russian mainland, and supplies are quite smooth, and the density of mobilization troops and equipment is increasing.

Under this situation, the head-on confrontation between the two sides in Donbas makes it increasingly difficult for the Ukrainian army to support itself. If it wants to stabilize the front, it must invest more troops and resources.