{"id":1404127,"date":"2022-03-28T08:17:39","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T12:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1404127"},"modified":"2022-03-28T08:17:50","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T12:17:50","slug":"why-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-was-a-colossal-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-was-a-colossal-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Russia\u2019s Invasion of Ukraine Was a Colossal Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-was-a-colossal-failure%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1404127&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>Almost five weeks ago, Russian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/03\/does-joe-biden-really-want-to-get-rid-of-vladimir-putin\/\">President Vladimir Putin<\/a> ordered his forces into Ukraine for what he believed to be a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/explain\/2022\/03\/25\/us\/weapons-ukraine-war\">quick campaign<\/a>\u00a0to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/03\/decapitation-strike-russia-sent-wagner-group-to-kill-ukraines-zelensky\/\">topple<\/a> the defiant Ukrainian government and once and for all stop Kyiv\u2019s shift to the West.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, more than\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2022\/03\/27\/russian-military-unsecured-communications\/\">16,000 Russian soldiers have been killed<\/a>, while the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/03\/putins-ukraine-nightmare-why-cant-the-russian-military-win\/\">Russian military<\/a> has lost more than 3,000 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, and other military vehicles, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Faltering Campaign\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we assess is that they [Russia] are looking for a chance to break out, they are looking for a chance to gain some momentum, not even re-gain momentum, because they never really had it, and that\u2019s what\u2019s so frustrating for them,\u201d a senior U.S. defense official stated last week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you look at the map, you can count literally on one hand the number of population centers that we assess are in Russian control right now,\u201d the American defense official stated, adding that the Russian forces \u201chaven\u2019t achieved anything\u201d with respect to what the Pentagon has assessed to be Moscow\u2019s objectives in Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n<p>A few hours after that U.S. assessment, the Russian Ministry of Defense did a televised update on Putin\u2019s \u201cspecial military operation.\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/russia-ukraine-goals-scaled-back\/31770879.html\">Russian defense officials<\/a>\u00a0stated that the war was going according to plan and that it had entered its\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2022\/03\/27\/world\/ukraine-russia-war\">second phase<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What went so wrong? How did the Russian military\u2014considered a near-peer adversary to the U.S. military before the war\u2014end up failing to achieve all of its primary objectives in Ukraine?\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hubris, Logistics, and Heart\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom my read of the battlefield, [Russia\u2019s] plan was filled with hubris, lacked combined arms operations, and was dysfunctional in logistical support. [Ukraine\u2019s] plan was to fight [the Russian forces] by \u2018holding on to their belt-buckles,\u2019 prioritizing targets, &#038; destroying their killers &#038; logistics. [Russia] used 4 axis of advance for a grand plan of a battle of annihilation. [Ukraine] always wanted to conduct a campaign of attrition. Both of these kinds of fights result in massive amount of battlefield casualties,\u201d Retired U.S. Army General Mark Hertling, a former commander of the U.S. European Command, said on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarkHertling\/status\/1505890299163381764\">Twitter<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>Russian launched the invasion with approximately 190,000 troops, while the Ukrainian military fielded about 250,000 men. This was a conventional war. Not a counterinsurgency campaign like the one in Chechnya or limited air support campaign like the one in Syria. Although technologically inferior, the Ukrainian military could field a number of high-tech tanks and aircraft;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandboxx.us\/blog\/the-wolfs-at-the-door-how-russia-is-reshaping-the-nato-alliance\/\">U.S. and NATO assistance<\/a>\u00a0added potent anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to the Ukrainian arsenal, further increasing its capabilities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis illegal RU [Russian] invasion of UKR [Ukraine] is very different. It\u2019s a \u2018force-on-force\u2019 fight between a \u2018technologically advanced army\u2019 (RU) vs an army [with] less equipment, but with more heart (UKR),\u201d General Hertling added.\n<\/p>\n<p>Moscow underestimated Ukraine\u2019s military capabilities and will to fight. And now the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2022\/03\/25\/russia-reinforcements-georgia-ukraine\/\">Russian troops in Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0are reaping the results of Putin\u2019s hubris.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne last thing; Casualties in war are gory. Deaths affect soldiers &#038; units in ways most can\u2019t imagine. Combat deaths are ugly. Those killed are mostly 18-24 [year old] who had an entire life in front of them. Their bodies are savaged or burned beyond recognition. That\u2019s why most soldiers who have seen war never want to see it again. And why some professional soldiers do all they can to prevent wars in the future, with an understanding of what is at stake. And why Putin\u2019s illegal &#038; criminal war in Ukraine is such an abomination,\u201d Hertling added.\n<\/p>\n<p><em>1945\u2019s New Defense and National Security Columnist,\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/sofrep.com\/author\/stavros-atlamazoglou\/\"><em>Stavros Atlamazoglou<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0is a seasoned defense journalist\u00a0specializing in\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/soldiers-one-militarys-most-dangerous-161118164.html\">special operations<\/a><em>, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/delta-force-sas-hunted-iraqi-scud-missiles-during-gulf-war-2021-2\"><em>Business Insider<\/em><\/a><em>,\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandboxx.us\/blog\/author\/stavros\/\"><em>Sandboxx<\/em><\/a><em>, and\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/sofrep.com\/news\/exclusive-the-perilous-state-of-the-special-forces-combat-diver-capability\/\"><em>SOFREP<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Almost five weeks ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces into Ukraine for what he believed to be a\u00a0quick campaign\u00a0to topple the defiant Ukrainian government and once and for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":489,"featured_media":1892081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1404127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1404127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1404127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1404127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1404127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}