How strong is the Russian army? Today we will talk about the professionalism of Russian soldiers. Including because it is one of the causes of war crimes in Bucha, Borodyanka, Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities.

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How strong is the Russian army? Today we will talk about the professionalism of Russian soldiers. Including because it is one of the causes of war crimes in Bucha, Borodyanka, Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities. Thread ⬇️ #UkraineWar

Anyone a thousand times heard arguments like "the Russian army is the strongest", "yes, we can easily defeat NATO", "we can repeat" and so on. Including the famous "second army of the world." The war in Ukraine showed what kind of army, aviation and navy Russia actually has. Let's analyze

For the invasion of Ukraine, Putin has prepared the most combat-ready group of troops. In general, almost all the parts that are heard are involved. Kantemirovskaya and Tamanskaya tank divisions, the Pskov airborne division, marines and even the vaunted "Kadyrovtsy". At the same time - all the "professional military"!

Important. I will evaluate the professionalism of the army according to three parameters:
1) How the army fights from the highest level (fronts) to individual clashes on the battlefield
2) How the army is equipped, the quality of equipment in real conditions
3) How the army is organized and keeps order

Let's start with military action. The Russian army received approximately the following task:

1. Destroy or disable the army of Ukraine
2. Capture or surround the largest Ukrainian cities
3. Occupy a significant part of Ukraine and take the country under control.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation created a plan that, on paper, made it possible to achieve these goals. Judging by the first days of hostilities, the growing army acted precisely on it. These pre-fused maps that I'm showing turned out to be pretty accurate.

Here the first question arises about the professionalism of the growing army. Even at the strategic level, the staff generals made two major miscalculations:

1. Insufficient forces were allocated
2. The plan was based on incorrect intelligence

As we remember, the original plan failed.

In its maximum advance, the growing army had a front of about 1800 kilometers, which is too much for a grouping of 150-200 thousand. The plan was completed by 1/2 or even 1/3 and there was no strength left for further movement. At the same time, almost all key points were not even blocked.

Why did they allocate exactly 200 thousand, and not a million, for example? It turned out (everyone knew this) that the nominal size of the army grew in a million does not allow to allocate more really combat-ready units. Without mobilization, this + another 100 thousand maybe, and there is the entire combat unit of the growing army.

Intelligence worked very badly. Perhaps the front-line acted more or less adequately, all the same, the army won border battles almost everywhere.

But as far as deep reconnaissance is concerned, the growing army obviously received incorrect data about the combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the mood of Ukrainian society, and the conditions for conducting battles. At some point, it seemed that even normal cards did not have growing parts! Maybe at least Google printed it out?

There is a lot of evidence that the growing army did not expect serious resistance from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, cities like Chernihiv and Kharkov they planned to pass by, clearing cars of abandoned flowers. And they didn’t suspect at all that they would get stuck in the mud in the spring.

Possibly, Putin trusts FSB intelligence more. Well, or just the military intelligence of the Russian army collapsed. As a result, the General Staff led the troops to a dead end, which led to the defeat near Sumy and the defeat near Kiev. With a subsequent retreat

Let's go down a level and see how the armies carried out the plan. First of all, everyone notes poor coordination of actions in different directions. Instead of one powerful movement, there were several. For example, near Kiev. ⬇️

In the very first days, Russian units occupied the Chernobyl exclusion zone and began to approach Kiev. And the eastern offensive against Chernihiv was delayed for at least a week. They approached Brovary only on March 4-5, if I remember correctly.

Jumping ahead a little. In the same place near Kiev, in Gostomel, already on February 24, they landed troops in helicopters. At the same time, paratroopers without equipment and heavy weapons did not receive support. They were naturally destroyed by Ukrainian forces. Probably, they thought to occupy the airport and wait for their planes.

So much for false intelligence - underestimation of the enemy. Thought it would be easy. But it turned out that the enemy also has helicopters and missiles. Instead of nationalist bandits, they met an organized army. And there are many such stories. But more on that a little further. A few more words about the actions of the armies ⬇️

Judging by the way the front lined up, individual groups did not think about the big picture. And there was no general who would keep everything under control and make the right strategic decisions. This concerned, for example, the struggle for railways or important roads. But the best example is on the southern front

On the border with Crimea, Ukrainian forces suffered a severe defeat on the first day. Organized defense collapsed. By the morning of February 25, the bridges of Kherson and the Novaya Kakhovka dam were lost. The possibility of a long-range breakthrough deep into Ukraine opened up. Here the fate of the war could be decided

But the desire to attack Mariupol forced the Russian army to shift its forces to the east, confining itself to the blockade of Kherson, which soon fell without protection. While moving forward to the Dnieper, Russian troops could cut off the connection of the eastern front of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the center, with Kiev.

Since the First World War, a law has been developed. That after the start of the offensive, the main effort must be shifted to the place where the greatest successes have been achieved. I wouldn't be surprised if Putin's political will played a role in this particular case. Already wrote about it:

Another place where large military units acted rather strangely is Kharkov. Yes, the city did not give up as expected. Okay, so you have to go around. By all means, lean on the flanks and further rush to Poltava and the Dnieper River. And what is the result? We saw three strikes

Spreading the forces into three groups and striking immediately in the direction of Akhtyrka, Kharkov and Balakleya / Izyum, the growing army nullified the numerical superiority and the ability to quickly rotate units. As a result, the Armed Forces fought back everywhere. Why is that? Poor management and understanding of the operational environment.

By the way, I forgot one more important miscalculation of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces. They didn't put any reserves at all. The Pentagon already said on March 7 that 95% of the forces prepared for the invasion were involved. This seriously affected the attacking potential of the growing army.

Subtotal on the strategy and tactics of the Russian army. The action plan was seriously flawed. The war did not immediately go according to plan. Parts acted inconsistently, could not flexibly change priorities and help each other. Underestimation of the enemy caused serious losses. General Staff 💩

Let's get straight to the action on the battlefield. Here we must remember that the growing troops before the invasion were on exercises for a long time. That is, these Putin's "professional military men" were also specially trained.

What did we see immediately, in the very first two days of the war? Defeated columns of the Russian army and abandoned equipment. Here are these howitzers for example. (further, for illustration, I will show only fresh losses, you have seen almost all the old ones)

These are the abandoned self-propelled guns Msta - just a classic of this war. Threw and other equipment. Often serviceable - just running out of fuel. And the equipment went to the Ukrainians. What does it say? That the units quickly left the area and abandoned everything that did not go. And not in your back

The Russian army actively used the tactics of moving in small columns as part of an armored personnel carrier or even smaller. We often moved blindly, which is why we ran into ambushes, drone attacks and mines. For example, here, why didn’t they check the crossing in advance?

Moreover, even the brutal losses of the first days, when the columns really suffered, did not change anything in the actions of the Russian forces. Here is a fresh video, again ran into an ambush:

Here is also a characteristic video that says a lot about the professionalism of the Russian troops. Encountering resistance, they simply try to run away as soon as possible. Do not engage in battle, do not use the advantage in numbers, anti-tank weapons. One tank drives the entire column:

Here's another good video. "We don't leave ours"

It is clear that these videos are posted by the Ukrainian side, there are probably episodes where the army grew up and does not act so badly. But they don't document it themselves. And propaganda shows idiotic statements, where the operator with the camera goes BEFORE the sapper, who is carefully looking for mines

Separate laughter - video Kadyrovtsy. There are whole threads about how they are at war with high-rise buildings, walking to their full height supposedly right in the middle of the battle, firing from grenade launchers I don’t understand where. Well, or here they are fighting with the blinds:

Russian propagandists do not hesitate to spread even evidence of war crimes. Like a video of a tank that aimlessly hits residential buildings:

Here's another interesting point. Ros parts stood in Gostomel for a long time. Satellite images show how they dug in. Look, I counted 30 or more trenches for vehicles. On a plot of about 300 sq. M. Such a dense location is unacceptable for defense + of course it is dangerous when shelling

The trenches in the Chernobyl exclusion zone are a separate idiocy. I suspect the soldiers came and asked the officers what the fuck? To which they replied: dig from here until sunset. Because the officers even higher said to stand near the nuclear power plant. Also by the way, a significant weakness of the growing army ⬇️

In the US or Israeli army, the independence of the soldier is encouraged. Plus, the institution of sergeants is strong in the USA. There are few officers there and they give out general orders. The soldier thinks for himself. In the Russian army, a soldier is forbidden to think. You always need an exact order from an officer. And to that - from an older officer

I would be very grateful to @IsraelThreads if he talks about subordination and decision making on the battlefield in the Israeli army. How is everything arranged in the ground forces.

Let's return to the Russian soldiers. I'll add a little from my own service experience. Firstly, the soldiers are poorly trained, because everything is done for show. When I served, on paper, our company (and the entire battalion) were literally the best shooters in the entire Wild West and the Strong East.

Because 3-4 times a week we went to shooting ranges. Day and night. But what really? Nobody taught us how to shoot (yes, it's not easy, you can even hit 100 meters from a machine gun). And the shooting itself went like this:

You are given a horn of cartridges. You run into a trench. At the command of the commander, you quickly shoot him in the direction of the target and run back as quickly as possible. There is no time for training, shooting, repetitions - after all, you need to have time to shoot 90-100 people.

Sometimes, to save time, one team (3 people in a position in a trench) shot a bunch of horns for everyone. My friend and I once threw grenades for the whole company. Somewhere 25 RGD-5 threw. I was tempted to run with them in the snow from the place of issue (they give a maximum of 2 pieces) to the trench at the turn

I can tell many such stories about the "training of soldiers", but somehow later. So, back to the main topic. Throughout the war, we see evidence of how clumsily Russian soldiers are fighting. Even the notorious paratroopers.

I spoke about the destroyed landing in Gostomel on the first day. But a similar story was in Nikolaev. In general, Airborne Combat Vehicles (BMD) are the most frequent guests in the photo and video with the defeat of Russian troops. Here, for example, are terrible shots of the first days - the same Gostomel:

Let's move on to artillery. In the Russian army, she plays a very important role. For example, shelling residential buildings with MLRS.

There is also a more adequate application - for example, the notorious Krasnopol corrected projectiles. Yes, they seem to hit different targets. Such videos are published quite a lot by propaganda.

The following fact speaks of the effectiveness of growing artillery. Mariupol has been literally wiped off the face of the earth, but Azov and other units are still holding out in the city. Likewise in other cities. Russian artillery kills civilians, destroys their houses. But does not defeat the enemy troops!

I have a separate thread about the successes of the Bayraktars. Read if not yet)) And let's move on to air defense actions. Most often, Russian air defense appeared in a very unsightly form. Captured or destroyed.

Russian air defense losses do not fit on one screenshot! If you consider that these are all incredibly expensive things (the most expensive equipment), then you can imagine how well they should be protected in theory. But they didn't save it!

For example, a fresh abandoned Beech. He was not evacuated. What does this say about the professionalism of the Russian army?

They correctly corrected me, the above photo is not the Buk itself, but the transport-loading vehicle. But still, thrown along with the rocket. By the way, many air defense systems were destroyed in an inactive state. They didn't work. And those air defense systems that were supposed to cover them did not work! That's unprofessional

Let's move on to aviation. I will also touch on the topic of bombing, ammunition and the planes themselves with helicopters. For now, let's start with the fact that Russian aviation (allegedly very strong) is suffering significant losses. 20 planes and 32 helicopters in a month and a half. Photo-confirmed losses!

And right away in the comments they rightly notice that the crew of the helicopter in the video above acted incorrectly. Did not make the necessary maneuvers. That's why he was hit. So judge the professionalism and strength of the Russian army!

The principle is simple. The strongest army is the one that achieves military objectives while minimizing losses. And if a priori a weaker army gives you a good punch in the face, and at the same time the goals are not achieved, then what does this say about your troops?

But let's continue on aviation. A few words about tactics. When the US attacked Iraq, their main tactic was air domination. Why, literally in the first days of the war, all Iraqi air defense was destroyed. Something similar was expected from the Russian army. After all, all the possibilities were

But instead of a massive strike on airfields and air defense, Russia chose to bomb peaceful cities. Including because it is difficult to search for air defense - effective satellites and a lot of UAVs are needed (the Russian Federation has obvious problems with this). And even when it became clear that the air defense of Ukraine was working, the Russian Aerospace Forces continued ...

Send your Su-34s to bomb Chernigov. Where the bombers were shot down one by one. Indeed, if you can't win, just ignore it. Probably, in Russian aviation textbooks it is written: Just imagine that we destroyed all air defense and fly! Plus, the media doesn't lie.

But this is generally a masterpiece. Inform the pilot of the target and area of ​​operations ten minutes before the flight. This was told by the captured navigator just the Su-34. P-Professionalism.

Let's continue the topic of aviation with Putin's favorite topic - high-precision weapons. That is, missiles. These Calibers, Iskanders and others. How are they, power?

Of course, the main complaint against the missile forces is the same attacks on civilians. But representatives of the Russian army say that missiles do not fly into civilian homes. Interestingly, but these Calibers in Kharkov and Nikolaev, are they strangers or have they gone astray?

But those who follow the military news have noticed. Rocket strikes are extremely rare. 1-2, maybe 3 hits a day. So it doesn't work. After all, missiles such as Iskander, that Caliber, that the "X" family are quite small, carry few explosives. And without a nuclear part, local destruction is inflicted

To destroy large targets like an airfield, dozens of Iskanders, if not hundreds, are needed. Conventionally, one for each plane (if the planes are not in a bunch) + at least a few more on the runway + infrastructure. And do not forget that some are shot down.

Rocket strikes bring problems to Ukraine. But we do not see them turning the tide of the war or creating a decisive advantage. It turns out about the same as with the V-2 rocket in World War II. The rocket stands like a bomber, but only carries a ton of explosives. And also disposable.

So we briefly ran through all the main military forces of the Russian Federation involved in the war. We won’t talk about the fleet now, I’ll make a separate thread, since I’m a big fan of the fleet) And what do we see, let’s summarize ⬇️

The ground forces led themselves to a standstill, suffered significant losses and retreated. The plan changed from ambitious to at least some. Aviation failed to gain overwhelming air supremacy and exert decisive pressure on the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Missile strikes are not effective due to their rarity

The Russian army does not act as a single well-coordinated mechanism. The parts do not help, do not reinforce each other. Recall that the Russian army is fighting against the Ukrainian army. Motivated and charged, of course, but obviously not the top in terms of weapons and skills. What would be against the USA?

But of course, it is impossible to consider only the ability to fight without taking military equipment into account. So let's move on to the second part of the thread.

2) How the army is equipped, the quality of equipment in real conditions

I’ll leave Armata here on purpose, let it be at least somewhere, since it’s not in the troops⬇️

Let's evaluate whether Russia has good tanks? New T-72B3 lost 149! T-80 in modifications from U to BVM lost 76. T-90A - 17 pieces were lost. The most frequent losses are from Javelin, NLAW, Stugna and other birds. The second most effective anti-tank measure is Ukrainian mud.

But Russia knew about grenade launchers and birds. Are tanks protected from them? Yes, right before the attack on them, they welded such gratings. But something went wrong

Some tanks were protected by storks. I have not seen this tank destroyed. Perhaps the nest really helps with a grenade launcher?

And if no joke, then we are used to the fact that Russian tanks are all plastered with dynamic protection. Also on top of the tower. Isn't she just there? But in all the photos of the destroyed tanks that I saw, the dynamic protection units on the tanks are in place. But obviously this does not save from death

Let's briefly talk about the rest of the technique. We have been told for many years how the Russian army is switching to the most modern equipment. What do we actually see? What is the Russian army doing?

BMP-2. Adopted in 1980:

BMD-2. Adopted in 1985:

BTR-80. Adopted in 1984:

SAM Wasp. Adopted in 1970:

Su-25. Adopted in 1981:

Mi-24. Adopted in 1972:

In general, you understand. Russia is fighting mainly on old technology. Yes, there are new BMP-3s, Rakushka armored personnel carriers, Su-35s and Su-34s. That does not prevent them from being destroyed, of course.

By the way, the same garbage with missiles. Iskanders are not infinite, so Russia is actively launching the old Tochka-U. Adopted in 1975:

As a result, Ukraine is even ahead in terms of the quality of equipment! She has modern Javelins and NLAWs that can easily tear apart Soviet armored vehicles. After all, she was created under completely different threats. And Russia cannot offer anything of its own modern.

Let's move on to the last point of our analysis:

3) How the army is organized and keeps order

Here we will talk about where crimes come from. Like what happened in Bucha ⬇️

Be sure to watch the video of Medusa, another proof of the guilt of the Russian military. And show it to everyone who still cannot recognize reality.

An army, even if it is made up of people, is a tool. Which should be in order and perform specific functions. And do nothing extra. Because forces are needed for the main task. Therefore, there must be discipline and order in the army. + there are a lot of psychological factors

Like the depersonalization of a soldier (all the same in shape and hairstyle) on the one hand and all sorts of military brotherhoods on the other. But the main thing is to understand that the more professional and well-organized the army, the less it does something superfluous. Except war and rest.

The commander needs his soldiers to either fight or rest at the base. And they were not engaged, for example, in looting. Who knows what will happen to them there, maybe the locals will slaughter them around the corner? And who then will take a machine gun? In addition, you can cause the anger of the locals. Why these problems?

It is clear that the killing of civilians in the army is not profitable. Not only is this an international crime and it carries many political problems. It also casts a shadow on the army in the eyes of the soldiers themselves. Who will go to fight for the division of murderers and villains?

Any bullshit one soldier does will be of interest to another soldier. And now the crowd goes to loot, kill, rape. Here they ask, why the heck looting a doghouse? Well, what, they took everything and he took it. What was, then he took.

Is it convenient to fight with a booth in a car? I don't think so. As with kilograms of clothes, children's toys and other things stolen in the BMP. A professional army does not need this. Like the corpses of civilians on the roads. And you know why the professional army should not be looted. They are well paid!

But we see how the Russian army, its elite units of the Airborne Forces and the Marine Corps carry out massacres, executions of civilians in Bucha, Irpen, Gostomel and other cities and towns. The reason for this, among other things, is the mess and low professionalism of the entire Russian army.

Usually a Russian soldier is presented as a kind of stunner. Fool Vanka. Who, of course, does everything badly, but wins everyone due to ingenuity and military spirit. And yes, he is necessarily a good-natured, drunkard and the most holy man.

The war in Ukraine has shown that the Russian soldier is a cowardly thief and murderer without honor or conscience. A man throwing a grenade into a basement with children. A scoundrel who kills old people and shoots whole families in cars.

That's what the mess leads to, a crowd with weapons, doing I don't understand what. This adds to their fear. After all, they lose, their comrades are killed. Their technique is shit, their tactics are even worse. They sit and wait for their turn to come. And if they're lucky, they'll get frostbite on their feet and go home.

Complete lack of professionalism confirms the attitude towards the dead. Ukraine is simply littered with the corpses of Russian soldiers. And everyone in the Russian army does not care. There are even soldiers frozen to death. They were left to die. The bodies were not taken either. A shame!

Russian army:

- Does not know how to fight
- Fights on bad old equipment
- Does not have discipline and order
- Engages in war crimes

The Russian army is strong only at the parade, when you need to raise your leg higher. In a real war, the army of Putin and Shoigu is shit.

In the end, I will add that I will gladly read the arguments against those that I have cited. Well, various clarifications, additions and indications of my mistakes - I also really look forward to it. Write, let's tell the truth together.

PS I forgot to write about air bombs. Do you know what struck me when there were active bombardments? The number of unexploded bombs. No, it's great that they didn't kill anyone, thank God here. But still one more argument in favor of the low combat capability of the VKS

Propaganda posted these photos of the FAB 3000 bomb. Apparently, the local Petrovich cooked the bomb right in the garage. Anyway, this is the end of the thread.