Russians fled in panic, leaving lots of high value equipment behind

The British Ministry of Defense offered its assessments, along with others, on Russian military mistakes during the Ukraine War. The Russians anticipated taking Ukraine in a short timeframe, and so did many Western leaders. However, Ukraine proved these assessments incorrect and continued to keep fighting. Abandoned Russian equipment find new use with the Ukrainian Army.

From Military.com:

Overlooking the strength of Ukraine’s defense

Putin assumed victory would be quick and easy and that his forces would capture Kyiv in a matter of days. But the city of nearly 3 million people never fell, as the Russian leader greatly underestimated Ukraine’s will to fight and defend its homeland.

Ukraine’s fierce resistance was on display very early in the war. A senior US defense official said on February 28 that Ukraine was putting up a “very stiff and very effective defense” around Kyiv, which helped slow Russian advances.

Clark told Insider that Russia’s lack of success was caused by a mix of poor execution and the Ukrainian military performing better and with “much higher morale than anyone, most importantly the Russians, anticipated.”

United States and Western intelligence agencies had assessed that Kyiv would not be able to withstand Russia’s assault for very long, but Ukrainian forces fended it off and, in recent months, stunned Moscow by liberating thousands of square miles of territory in two counteroffensives in northeastern and southern Ukraine.

Abandoning lots of weapons

Ukraine’s surprise counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region in late summer surprised Russia and marked the start of a massive push that liberated thousands of square miles of captured territory.

The speed of the offensive sent Russian forces scrambling from their positions, leaving mountains of weaponry and ammunition.

The abandoned hardware even helped restore Ukraine’s dwindling firepower, though so much was left behind that Ukrainian forces struggled to handle it all.

The British Ministry of Defense said at the time that some Russian troops “fled in apparent panic” and left lots of “high-value equipment” behind.

Expending its stockpiles of precision munitions

In recent months, Russia has launched waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Ukraine’s civil infrastructure, but doing so has depleted Moscow’s stockpiles of long-range precision munitions.

Military experts and officials have said the terror campaign was not a sustainable use of Russia’s limited capabilities and was unlikely to affect Ukraine’s will to fight.

More recently, senior U.S. intelligence officials have said Russia is burning through its munitions faster than it can replace them. Officials also say the use of massive amounts of artillery and precision-guided munitions has forced Moscow to turn to Iran and North Korea for supplies.

The UK’s permanent representative to the UN said on December 9 that Russia was looking to obtain “hundreds” of ballistic missiles from Iran in exchange for “unprecedented” military support. Days later, a senior U.S. military official said Russia was running out of new artillery shells and rockets and may have to use older, less reliable ammunition.

Military.com has the rest of this article.

Category: Russia, Ukraine