UK Says Russian Military Weaker “Materially and Conceptually” After Ukraine Invasion – In an intelligence update on Tuesday, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence described the Russian military as “significantly weaker” and offered an insight into how the Russian military has so far failed to meet its objectives in Ukraine.
According to British defense officials, several years of modernization of Russian military equipment have failed to pay off for the Kremlin. The intelligence update described how the Russian defense budget roughly doubled between 2005 and 2018, and major investments were made in Russia’s land air, land, and sea capabilities.
“However, the modernisation of its physical equipment has not enabled Russia to dominate Ukraine,” the update reads. “Failures in both strategic planning and operational execution have left it unable to translate numerical strength into decisive advantage.”
The update also said that the Russian military is weak “materially and conceptually,” and that a combination of major losses in Ukraine and international sanctions levied against the country “will have a lasting impact on Russia’s ability to deploy conventional military force.”
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian intelligence, made similar comments on Monday.
“All they spent money on was to show the greatness of the Russian army in the world,” he told a Ukrainian news outlet. “Now we have seen that there is no greatness at all.”
Sanctions levied against Russia have targeted not only its financial institutions, but also its technology, aviation, and military sectors. With no access to technology or hardware from NATO countries, Russia will either need to begin manufacturing key technological components – ranging from microchips to airplane parts – at home or turn to its allies in Asia. Either way, it will make the process of rebuilding its military and normalizing supply chains for many major industries a laborious, difficult, and complex project.
Is Russia Running Out of Soldiers and Ammunition in Ukraine?
Only weeks into the invasion of Ukraine reports revealed that Russian soldiers were running out of food, water, ammunition, and other supplies. Following Ukrainian attacks on supply ships and convoys in the country, Russian forces were eventually forced to the border of Belarus in the north of Ukraine where they resupplied and prepared to be redeployed to the Donbas region.
In March, U.S. intelligence sources estimated that 120 of Russia’s 160 battalion tactical groups had been deployed to Ukraine. With 64% of the Russian made up of contract soldiers, the battalions sent to Ukraine included a large number of conscripted soldiers.
Russian tank firing. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Also in March, NATO estimates suggested that as many as 40,000 Russian troops had been killed, captured, or injured. One official revealed that up to 15,000 Russian troops have died, though nobody knows the true number at this stage.
Not only has Russia lost a worrying number of troops in Ukraine, but western defense officials have also indicated that Russia’s precision missile stock is running low and its arms factories are unable to produce enough missiles to keep up with demand.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
Alex
May 4, 2022 at 8:01 am
William Scott Ritter, Jr. is an American military analyst. Intelligence officer in the United States Marine Corps. He served in this position for about 12 years. He became the Marine Rapid Deployment Force’s lead analyst on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran-Iraq War. United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq.
During Desert Storm, he served as an adviser to General Norman Schwarzkopf on ballistic missiles. Ritter later worked as a security and military consultant for the Fox News network. According to an interview he gave to Democracy Now! in 2003, he also had a long official relationship with the British foreign intelligence agency MI6.
If the Bandera Nazis start squealing that he was bought by Putin, then let them shove their squeal up their ass.
Here are Scott Ritter’s words:
“Do you want to name the best students of military science today? These are Russian officers! And we treat them like children – “these are Russians.” And they are the most educated and trained officers of all who can be found. They understand everything better than us. They didn’t spend 20 years kicking down doors and slaughtering families in Iraq or crawling up hills in Afghanistan to kill a shepherd, that’s what we did, and the Russians think big.
We think in small arrows. We watch a video of how a Russian column is destroyed or three tanks are knocked out. War is hell, people die there, and if you look at the little arrows, you will think that the Russians are defeated. But look at the big arrows! The Russians kept the 100,000-strong group of Ukraine in Kyiv. If they are not threatened, they will move forward for reinforcements.
Therefore, you (Russians) send 40 thousand soldiers from Belarus and hold the enemy in place. You have 80,000 enemy forces in Odessa, you send 30,000 soldiers from Crimea – their (Security Council of Ukraine) group is stuck. You have 100,000 enemies in the Donbass, and you, the Russian troops, cannot let them go to Kyiv. You send the militia of Donetsk and Lugansk to the front line. The most difficult situation! But you clung to the enemy and hold him, don’t let him move!
You are conducting a through attack to break through the corridor to the Crimea. And Mariupol is a key city on the way, we had to take it. The only city for which the Russians fought. Why? Because he was the only one that mattered. The rest played no role.
You will not take 3 million Kyiv with a force of 40 thousand. It doesn’t happen! You will not take 1.6 million Kharkiv with a force of 50 thousand. But you will take Mariupol. They had to take it. This was a strategic necessity.
This whole phase was the preparation of the battlefield. The Russians have destroyed fuel storage facilities in Ukraine. What is a tank without fuel? Coffin! And the truck? Another coffin. Warehouses of ammunition and food are blown up. A soldier who is hungry and thirsty will be killed.
The Russians have rearranged everything for themselves in order to prepare for a massive pincer attack that will fall into the forces of the Ukrainians, who will have no food, no water, no fuel, no ammunition. Here’s what the second phase will look like.
The Russians have moved away from Kyiv, they no longer need to hold that grouping, it will not be able to move without fuel anyway. They’re stuck! If they leave the city, Russian aircraft will destroy them. There will be no reinforcements, the enemy in Donbas cannot move. They are trapped.
The Russians have closed the ring and will destroy everyone. Or they will capture a huge part of the Ukrainian army. And when that happens, there will be nothing left. And the Russians will be able to demand whatever they want. That’s why I say the Russians will win. Because I see the situation. I do not flatter myself with the illusions that “the Russians could not take Kyiv and Odessa.” THEY DIDN’T TRY!”
Alex
May 4, 2022 at 8:01 am
German journalist Thomas Röper: Ukrainians are very afraid that the Russians will leave.
The journalist spoke about the distortion of facts in the Western media:
“I was three times in the south (Ukraine). The first trip was also to Melitopol. And so, on this trip, I was most impressed by the fact, or the fear that you see there in the eyes of people. And not among those who do not agree with the military operation, and according to my estimates, this is a minority. It is they who swear, the camera writes, and they will say how much they disagree. And those who agree are the majority.
I see it in the squares, when there are hundreds of people, they walk past the soldiers and say in a whisper: “Thank you guys, don’t leave.” They are very afraid, and they said it directly. They are very afraid that the Russians will leave and there will be reprisals. What, in my understanding, happened in Bucha, by the way.
And the fact that now, Alina said, from Mariupol is another such example. The woman was afraid to just speak the truth. Afraid that, God forbid, the Russians would leave and there would be reprisals. I don’t want to take too much time now, I just want to give one example, because the West always says it’s Russian propaganda if they say that Azov and other units of the Ukrainian troops use civilians as a “human shield”.
I write in German, and the other day I read an article in the German magazine Spiegel, which is probably known to many. And there was a very surprising offer. So they wrote… Everything, of course, sounded very positive, but they wrote that in Mariupol… More precisely, they (the newspaper) were told by people in Zaporozhye who had come from Mariupol, telling them that their national battalions held them, “politely of course”, held peaceful residents to the basement, and took positions in the apartments above these basements. It sounds in the Western media as if they are protecting them. Excuse me, what is this? If the fighters take up their combat positions above the basements where civilians are sitting, and how voluntarily they went to this basement.
Most people know the truth, but the Western media do not need this truth, they have a different manual, you need to do everything the other way around, and if it doesn’t work out the way America wants, you get sanctions, but the EU countries, not Russia, they will die after the first package of sanctions.
Alex
May 4, 2022 at 8:34 am
Finally our lands are back!
The ex-deputy of the Rada announced the beginning of the “attachment” of the west of Ukraine to Poland.
Ex-deputy of the Rada Ilya Kiva announced the first stage of the annexation of Western Ukraine by Poland.
“This is the first stage before secession and the creation of a “pro-Western Ukraine” with its capital in Lviv. With subsequent accession, through a referendum, to Poland,” he said.
According to the ex-people’s deputy, Kyiv has changed the strategy for the use of weapons that it receives from Europe. Now they are not transported to the war zone, but left in the west. Thus, a “new line of defense” is being formed, thanks to which it will be possible to achieve the annexation of this region by Poland, Kiva believes.
Last week, the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, said that Poland intends to establish tight military-political control over “its historical possessions” in western Ukraine. According to him, Warsaw expects that the consolidation in these territories will most likely lead to a split in the country, and Poland will receive control over the lands occupied by “peacekeepers”.
JustLiberty
May 4, 2022 at 9:25 am
Alex, you’d be funny if you weren’t parroting evil.
Alex
May 4, 2022 at 11:18 am
Director Oliver Stone described the scenario of US nuclear sabotage.
The author of the films “Ukraine on Fire” and “In the Struggle for Ukraine” noted that now the West is already masterfully and with the use of brute force is waging an information war against Russia.
American director Oliver Stone said that the most gloomy scenario for the development of the conflict in Ukraine remains a nuclear provocation by the United States. He shared this message on Twitter.
According to him, in this case, Washington will not even have to cover its tracks, since Russia is considered to be the main initiator of all atrocities. Stone wondered if the United States was creating “the conditions for a high-yield nuclear explosion of unknown origin somewhere in the Donbass” that would incur the deaths of thousands of Ukrainians.
“Of course, if this, God forbid, happens, the whole world, like Pavlov’s trained dog, will blame Russia for everything. This guilt has already been established in advance, regardless of who presses the button,” the director wrote.
The United States deliberately hushed up the crimes of the Kyiv regime against the civilian population in Ukraine, which have been going on since 2014, Stone recalled. He also stressed that now the West “with skill and brute force” is waging an information war against Russia.
Earlier, US General Mark Milley said that the likelihood of a clash between the great powers is growing. The military also spoke about the events in Ukraine, calling them the biggest security threat in Europe, and possibly the whole world, for “more than 40 years of his military career.”
mcswell
May 4, 2022 at 3:55 pm
In case anyone is wondering what Oliver Stone is really saying (rather than listening to Alex’s lies), here are a couple paras from an Apr 11 2022 article at The Guardian:
“Shortly after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, the veteran US film director Oliver Stone, who has defended Russia’s actions in Crimea in his documentaries and in 2017 conducted a series of interviews with the Russian leader, tweeted that Putin’s “aggression in Ukraine” was a “mistake”.”
““Although the United States has many wars of aggression on its conscience, it doesn’t justify Mr Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. A dozen wrongs don’t make a right. Russia was wrong to invade.””
The Guardian’s article is worth reading, IMO; it names and quotes a number of other former Putin admirers, with emphasis on “former.”
CK
May 4, 2022 at 12:49 pm
It’s pointless to argue with this troll. He is not here for engagement, as he has realised recently pretty much everybody on this board is against him. He has been transparently exposed as the exceedingly obvious Internet Research Agency employee he is, working for Yevgeny Prigozhin – an oligarch with close ties to Putin.
He is either operating out of the IRA headquarters building at 55 Savushkina Street, St.Petersburg if he is lucky, or more likely, out of a shed in the massive Arsenal Machine-Building Factory at Komsomol, 1-3, also St.Petersburg, if he is unlucky.
I gather the latter, seeing as he is exceedingly stupid and dim-witted, as you have noticed. His tactics are fairly simple:
Paragraphs and paragraphs of bollocks, dubious claims about “independent journalists”, random documentarians, conspiracy theorists, deluded claims that of course, have no backup, lie after lie after lie.
Classical Kremlin troll approach. Just flood the internet, the comments, the media, with tosh, doesn’t matter what it is, just make sure you write some old nonsense. Make sure to say the claim is supported by some dude in Germany, France, the states. If it’s a “documentary” (usually from youtube) then the better.
Anything that victimises Russia, always the victim, always the bullied, never the problem. It’s always the Nazis. It’s always some pseudo-historical point.
Anyone that has had the misfortune to study his “tactics” sees the forest for the trees, the pattern of lies, disinformation, blanketing of random claims, deflection, obfuscation, and other words beyond your vocabulary.
It’s hopeless Alex. Your lies are as short as your intellect. What a pathetic job, to sit in your government shed, spreading your pathetic, government lies.
A pathetic job for a truly pathetic man. A better match could not be made in heaven.
Having realised he can’t gain traction on this board now, he has resorted to two simple strategies:
1) Be the first to comment on any article. This ensures anyone reading the article for the first time will inevitably stumble upon whatever his message of the day is, before it gets buried.
2) Ideally, be the LAST person to comment on any article. Have the last say. For the same reasons as above. If there is a large discussion, people will usually scroll all the way down, and voila, you see his targeted message again.
And that’s it. Every day, he blankets every article with the same copy + pasted content, over and over again. Saturation. This is how he ensures the message is seen one way or another.
Funnily enough, if you copy + paste some of his bollocks onto google, you find other websites where you can almost verbatim find 100% matches. These are either Alex himself operating elsewhere, or the “daily script” these idiots are given by their supervisors to disseminate for this day, sent by other colleagues. You can find dozens of duplicates on similar websites.
Unfortunately, the shoddy or non-existent moderation and supervision of this website allows this to happen day, after day, after day. Anywhere else, he would have been banned by now.
To know more, one can google Internet Research Agency, look up the guardian article published a few days ago on the troll factories in St.Petersburg, and also look up the account by an ex employee who spoke about it.
Very illuminating stuff!
Alex
May 4, 2022 at 1:39 pm
Hysteria, fantasies, lies, madness – this is all that is left of the Bandera trolls. These bastards can’t even comment on the words of respected people all over the world. Project “Ukraine” is closed forever.
Him
May 4, 2022 at 2:07 pm
I’m now scrolling past Alex’s comments. He’s getting boring.
CK
May 4, 2022 at 3:49 pm
Yes, it’s just the same old blah blah blah blah every day.
Illurion
May 4, 2022 at 8:20 pm
Dear Alex:
You are a liar and a fool.
The Russians have lost this war, and the only “question” remaining is whether Russia will use it’s NUKES, and get all of Russia wiped off the face of the planet.
In addition Alex, you are a TROLL that is ruining this website.
I have filed complaints against your “cut and pasting” with this website’s admin, and it appears that they have not done anything against you as yet.
I enjoy reading, and commenting on the articles posted on this site.
BUT
If they haven’t stopped you, or banned you over the next week, i will stop using this site.
Dear CK:
I know you mean well, but don’t let Alex turn YOU into a Troll.
YOUR opinions matter, Alex is a mental patient, or an employee of the Russian government, and HIS opinions do not matter.