I think training has a big impact as well - the tactics and usage of their equipment seemed completely all over the place and not reflective of good use of their firepower nor numbers.
Cheap equipment is just one aspect - well used cheap equipment can still prevail well. More importantly, not studying the combat theatre and providing confusing orders to troops is only adding to that mix of just a poorly planned effort
Well, I was referring to the inept of the Air Force and implying they have similar issue as with the ground force.
As a whole, there are a lot of issue plaguing the Russian. There are no intelligence input into many aspect, from the counter-intelligence failure to the US/UK intel op that obtained the entire schedule of the invasion, to no battlefield intelligence on ground and air, they don't know where the Ukrainian are, even VIP, I never see a head of state of a warring nation goes on this many public call to everyone in the world, you would have expected the FSB/GRU have similar capability than our FBI and CIA. I read an article somewhere saying Zelenskyy have made somewhere about 43 social media appearance and 13 international call to address foreign government (US twice, Canada, Australia, NATO, EU, Belgium, Germany, France, UK, Israel and some other) I mean, he would have ate a cruise missile somewhere between his 5 and 6th call if we are at war with the Ukraine......
Training, as you said is an issue. Seems to me, this Russian force cannot perform complex task and complex manoeuvre, even basic combine arms tactics are lacking, no inter-layer cover, no Air-Ground warfighting capability is achieved.
As for planning, I have said it days ago that the entire C2 structure is lacking in Russian term, I mean, who is really in charge of the overall operation? The Russian attack in 4 fronts, and none of them (Beside the Crimea and Donbas) are intersupport with each other, no exploitation on the gain they made, and no correction to the lost they suffer.....It is as if they were just point to a point on a map and was told to take it........
You are fighting with your neighbor.
A guy from another town comes and hands your opponent a knife to stab you with.
You can spend your time on the semantics whether it constitute an escalation, or give him a punch in the mouth if you can?
Well, unless you made the knife yourself, you will have to get it somewhere. And you are already fighting, not verbally but physically, it way pass escalation the moment someone else handed your opponent a knife.
As I said, if there are no war, there will not be a transfer of the knife in question.. And you can come punch that person in the mouth, but it would be a bad idea when you still have not finished the fight you were fighting with and start a new one.
www.yahoo.com
Crews of Ka-52 helicopters carried out air strikes against Ukrainian nationalist military infrastructure. The flights took place at extremely low altitudes.
During their tasks, the military pilots managed to save the helicopters, which had been damaged by the shelling. They managed to repair the helicopters at the forced landing site using their own resources, after which they continued to carry out combat missions.
Briefing by Russian Defence Ministry
️I would like to stress that only civilian vehicles were supplied with fuel from this facility. The oil depot has no relation to the Russian Armed Forces.
Onyx high-precision cruise missiles of Bastion coastal missile system have destroyed the headquarters of a grouping of Ukrainian troops near Shakhterskoe. Up to 40 personnel, 5 armoured vehicles and vehicles of various purposes were destroyed.
In total, 124 aircfaft and 82 helicopters, 357 unmanned aerial vehicles, 1,854 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 202 multiple launch rocket systems, 777 field artillery and mortars, as well as 1,722 units of special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed during the operation.
