Not sure I’d fancy their chances against the Chinese in ten years. Wouldn’t fancy any of our chances tbh. Nuclear aside.
Pummelled by Ukraine’s army, and stymied even by unarmed civilians, the Russian blitzkrieg is faltering
Next 48 hours of Vladimir Putin’s deranged war will be critical, as fierce resistance and tactical blunders dent his hopes of swift victory
ByRobert Mendick, CHIEF REPORTER ; Martin Evans and Dominic Nicholls, DEFENCE AND SECURITY EDITOR27 February 2022 • 9:12pm
A Russian tank burns after it was knocked out of the war during a battle in the Ukrainian city of Sumy
In Koriukovka, a northern Ukraine town close to the Russian border, dozens of unarmed men walked fearlessly towards the oncoming enemy tanks. They swarmed around the Russian crew, who appeared bemused by the resistance in front of them. One local declared: “The tank has stopped. Looks like it’ll be turning round,” as his unarmed comrades crowd around the vehicle. Ukraine may not have Russia’s hardware (certainly not at the same scale) but the country has fought.
On the fourth day of Vladimir Putin’s deranged war with Ukraine, the Russian president’s plans appeared to be going awry.
Russian troops were deserting and others were being forced to scavenge for food, looting local supermarkets while armoured vehicles were being abandoned at roadsides, having run out of fuel.
In Kharkiv, the advance into Ukraine’s second city was repelled on Sunday after fierce fighting and in Kyiv, the city’s mayor said Russian soldiers were no longer in the capital and that “saboteurs” continued to be “detected and neutralised”.
Putin had hoped the costly war - estimated at £15 billion a day - would be over quickly. The next 48 hours will be critical and there will be a deep, deep concern that the Russian military, in desperation, will use more violent weaponry against Ukraine’s civilians to force the country into submission. But for now Putin’s troops are bogged down and his war is a mess.
Failure to gain air superiority
Incredible footage posted on Sunday on the Facebook account of the Ukrainian air force’s commander in chief shows a Russian military column being obliterated in a drone strike. From above, the vehicles can be seen gathered on the ground and in the next second there is a huge flash of white light, an enormous explosion that wipes out much of the convoy that had been positioned, according to experts who studied the video, on the tarmac at Kherson International airport in the south of Ukraine, close to Crimea and where Russian troops have made the greatest inroads.
The fact that drones - and Ukrainian fighter jets for that matter - are still flying has mystified military experts. Russia had launched its war on Thursday with a tactical bombardment of airfields and military sites, designed to knock out the Ukraine air force and destroy mobile surface-to-air S300 missiles. It hasn’t happened.
Ukraine claims to have downed 27 aircraft and 26 helicopters in the course of the war, including two huge Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes, at least one of them with as many as 100 Russian paratroopers on board. The transport planes were believed to be heading for Antonov International airport, a military and cargo airport at Hostomel, on the edge of Kyiv.
A Ukrainian firefighter picks his way through the wreckage of a downed aircraft in Kyiv, as Russia failed in its initial bid to establish air superiority
But insurgent Russian troops on the ground couldn’t hold the airbase and the planes and helicopters were sitting ducks. One security expert said it was “embarrassing” that Russia’s vaunted electronic warfare capability had been unable to jam the radio frequency signal that would prevent drones flying. But the Turkish-made TB2 drones are still airborne and critically the S300, of which Ukraine has about 100 of the Russian-made surface to air missile launchers, are operating. “They [Russia] should have had the ability to knock out these TB2s on the ground in the very beginning. Embarrassing if they are actually taking losses from them,” said Rob Lee,a Russian defence expert at King’s College London’s department of war studies.
At the start of the war, Ukraine had about 100 combat aircraft, including 43 state-of-the-art Russian-made Mig 29s, although how many are still flying is unclear.
“The hurry to get the war over with explains many of the mistakes made by Russian forces,” said Lawrence Freedman, emeritus professor of war studies at King’s College London in a devastating critique of Putin’s war.
“The first mistake was not to make it a priority to take out the Ukrainian air force and air defences. These are still operating and the skies over Ukraine can be dangerous for Russian aircraft.”
In an assessment, a senior US Pentagon official said Russia had failed to gain air superiority.
“Ukrainian air missile defence systems are still working though they were degraded by strikes. They still have air missile defence capability, including aircraft, not just missile defence, but they also have aircraft in the air that continue to engage and deny air access to Russian aircraft.”
There are frustrations in the Kremlin, according to reports. Bloomberg quoted a senior US defence official claiming it had “indications” that in the last 24 hours “Moscow had become frustrated by slow progress” caused by Ukrainian resistance and the “ failure to achieve complete air dominance”.
The Battle for Kharkiv
Ukraine’s second city ought to be vulnerable to Russian attack. Just 30 miles from the Russian border, it remains out of Putin’s hands.
The Western world had woken on Sunday to reports of Russian troops entering Kharkiv for the first time. It sounded ominous and yet by lunchtime, the Kremlin’s forces had been vanquished. A column of Tigr-M armoured vehicles were captured on a road into the city, some of the vehicles smouldering, thick grey smoke coming from at least one of them.
“This is how we meet these bloody Russians - and that’s how it’s going to be with everyone who comes on our land in Kharkiv,” said one of the Ukrainian soldiers surveying the wreckage. In a message to the enemy posted on Twitter, the local commander added: “Here are your Russians with their letter ‘Z’ [on the tanks], that’s how it will be for all of you.”
Ukrainian troops search for invading Russian forces who may have fled from a column of destroyed Russian vehicles, one of which is pictured marked with a Z CREDIT: Julian Simmonds for the Telegraph
Rob Lee, the Russian defence expert whose Twitter commentary on the war has now gathered almost 300,000 followers, posted: “Today may have been the worst day for the Russian military in Ukraine so far. They are still advancing, but there were a number of videos of destroyed or abandoned equipment and units. I have no idea why they sent in a small spetsnaz unit into Kharkiv, but it was easily repelled.”
After failing to gain a foothold in Kyiv, Russia switched its focus to Kharkiv on Sunday. A gas pipeline was blown up and missiles rained down, one landing and failing to detonate next to a children’s playground in the city; another hit a large apartment block.
But by the afternoon, Russian troops had been “cleansed” from the city, according to Oleh Synyehubov, its governor. “Control over Kharkiv is completely ours!” Mr Synyehubov posted on Facebook. “A complete cleansing of the city from the enemy is happening. The Russian enemy is absolutely demoralised.”
Light military vehicles had entered the city’s northern suburbs at about 8am local time following trademark heavy bombardment. Russian troops were spotted moving through residential areas, past Soviet-era apartment buildings. The fighting was fierce but the Russian advance was thwarted. Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, insisted the Russian army had overreached itself. “Kharkiv will become for Russians a Ukrainian Stalingrad,” he said.
The logistical disaster
A video clip went viral showing Russian special forces - spetsnaz troops - looting a well-stocked supermarket in Ukraine. The CCTV footage, now broadcast around the world, showed five soldiers in full combat fatigues, their automatic rifles slung over their shoulders. The men struggle to open up cheap plastic sacks before unloading armfuls of food into the bags.
Elsewhere advanced troops appeared to be running out of food, while vehicles were running out of fuel. Photographs showed tanks and other vehicles abandoned at the roadside. In battle conditions, which might require reversing and rapid acceleration and deceleration and movement over rough ground, a Russian tank might only have a 60 or 70 mile range before the need to refuel. They also need maintenance. There is evidence that Ukraine’s Army has been smart and got behind the enemy to attack the supply lines.
It is also reported that some Russian convoys have simply got lost. Road signs have been removed and footage emerged on Sunday of armoured vehicles roaming aimlessly around a residential estate in Kharkiv, making them easy pickings for Ukraine snipers.
There is a military saying: “Amateurs talk tactics, professionals do logistics” and it appears that Russia’s push for a blitzkrieg, lightning victory has not factored in a drawn out war in which logistical support is key.
At the start of the war, Russia’s troop numbers massed on Ukraine’s border seemed ominous. Up to 190,000 soldiers gathered for the onslaught. But Ukraine has a standing armed forces of a little over 200,000 troops with every adult male - in a total population of 44 million - called up for duty.
Under traditional military thinking, an attacking force is needed to outnumber a defending army three-to-one to conquer a country. That as a basis makes the Russian forces appear light. Experts suggest Russia has so far deployed about half its strength in the first four days and it seems likely that the best trained men were sent in to fight first. Rumours abound of some Russian soldiers defying orders and refusing to cross into Ukraine to fight.
“Pictures of Russian vehicles running out of fuel and casualties being abandoned where they fall suggest an undisciplined force with command-and-control issues and likely logistic issues,” said Philip Ingram, a former British Army Intelligence colonel and Nato planner.
Russian armour and supply lines have been able to be picked off by defending Ukrainian troops
He questioned the ability of Russian commanders to stage a war on such a huge scale. “I must question how many Russian commanders will actually have been properly tested in the complex logistic operations needed to fight over such a wide area with such numbers of forces? I doubt it has happened,” he wrote.
Even Ramzan Kadyrov, the feared warlord who runs Chechnya and is a close ally of Putin, questioned Russia’s tactical nous. Leaked recordings suggested Kadyrov and a top aide had been discussing the invasion since early February and a Chechen unit had been dispatched to fight alongside Russians. Kadyrov denied claims that Magomed Tushayev, a prominent Chechen military leader, had been killed in fighting.
But Kadyrov is scathing of the war so far. “They [Russian troops] are armed to the teeth with new weaponry and ammunition, new generation heavy artillery, and we’re still placing our hopes on the Ukrainians coming to their senses,” he posted on social media.
Ukraine’s resistance
The Ukraine military, after eight years of fighting on its eastern front, is battle-hardened and well-equipped. It may also be receiving intelligence from British and US monitoring posts, pinpointing Russian positions. Certainly Ukrainian forces seem to know where Russian troops are launching attacks and are able to repel them.
But undoubtedly Russia’s failure to capture President Volodymyr Zelensky in the first 48 hours of the invasion has thwarted plans for a speedy win. Mr Zelensky has rallied the nation and it has refused to bow to Russian bombardment.
Experts said Russia’s failure to shut down the ‘inspirational videos’ made by President Volodymyr Zelensky had been a tactical error
Gen David Petraeus, who led the 101st Airborne into Iraq in 2003 and who was a former director of the CIA, told Radio 4’s The World This Weekend that invading a country without support of the local population “makes my blood go cold”.
“It’s pretty clear that their capability in deploying large conventional forces are underwhelming,” said the retired general, “It makes my blood go cold to think of invading a country where everyone hates you and almost all the adults are willing to fight you with whatever it is they have.
“What this means is that nothing is secure, your lines of communication are going to be cut repeatedly, the trucks moving ammo, food, water, everything that an army needs, these are going to be attacked.”
He said it was “amazing” that the Russians “have not yet shut down the command and control of the Ukrainian military”, adding: “They haven’t kept President Zelensky from making these very inspirational videos … and everyone is united in making the Russians pay a very heavy price.
“As someone who did invade a country, the idea of everyone opposing you especially when you get into the cities, which are so tight and so difficult, again it is chilling just to think about that.”
The footage of the unarmed Ukrainians pushing back a convoy of tanks by marching at them showed the country’s defiance. Ukraine is a nation of hardy souls. Close to Berdyansk, a port city near Crimea that has been in the thick of the fighting, video footage showed a solitary civilian nonchalantly picking up a landmine and carrying it across a road, placing it safely out of reach, all the time a cigarette hanging from his mouth. “I’m sorry but there’s no hope of ever being able to occupy a country full of people who just pick up mines and move them while a lit Marlboro dangles from their lips,” said one observer on social media.
But the US army is much more diverse than the Chinese army. Should be decisive.
A lot of the Russian soldiers have acted with restraint, especially the tank drivers.
A good few of them are lost I’d say. In Ukraine they’re taking down the road signs to slow down the Russians.
Their navy is pretty weak, which is something that irks them. They are boxed in essentially by US presence in Japan, South Korea and in the Pacific.
Would they not be using google maps?
The Germans must have been one seriously well organised outfit in world war 2.
a lot of that hinges on china’s ability to keep stealing tech from the west, if they cant, theyre back to relying on sheer numbers
russian cunts got to the Mriya
What a stupid stupid report by CNN.
How has the Asian and European markets reacted to the sanctions on Russia? Have they driven the economy to the brink yet?
Really hope these dodgy Belarusian cunts don’t try something at these talks today.
By God.
Apple maps?
You’d be rightly fucked trying to use that cunt is a yoke.
There’s a great video of lost Russians diving a column tanks into a court yard cul-de-sac. Had to be apple maps that brung them in there
I seen that Aircraft in Shannon a few years ago. It’s about the size of Vatican City I reckon. Good going to take one out when you think of what it can haul