(FreedomBeacon.com)- The Ukraine War has reached a startling turning point: It’s still going on six months after Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Almost no one, including Putin, believed that Ukraine could withstand the mighty Russian military’s advances from late February to August with just a modest infusion of Western weapons, a few statements of support from Western leaders, and a scattering of “We Stand with Ukraine” signs on American lawns.
Indeed, the Ukrainian defenders have been fiercely committed, while Russian forces have had to deal with ineffective combat commanders, subpar weapons, and a broken supply line. Putin has also hindered them. He misunderstood the state of the world and personally directed a disastrous invasion intending to topple the Kyiv administration. He oversaw a failed operation to seize Donbas that left the Russian military depleted. According to U.S. intelligence officials who have been following the war, he has disregarded, overruled, and sacked his generals (while another dozen have perished in the conflict), and out of fear of upsetting him, they have hidden crucial information from the Russian leader. Putin has fought with the Russian people, restricting personal freedoms, concealing the country’s casualties, relocating the injured and dead at night, and delaying family notifications.
The U.S. military and intelligence community leaders told Newsweek that much of what they have observed has surprised them. The level to which the Russian president undermines his men is the most crucial revelation they have made.
One senior intelligence source in Russia told Newsweek that “Putin, like every other tyrant we’ve met in the modern age, thinks he knows better, more than his military, and more than any specialists.” Before becoming a long-serving KGB officer, Putin reportedly served in the artillery for only a few months in the Soviet military in 1975. He has been in charge of the Russian government for the past 22 years and is responsible for three wars on its borders and activities in Syria.
Putin’s invasion of Crimea and Donbas reinforced his conviction that he was Russia’s top general. She says the Russian military has been utterly destroyed, and the nation is now on the verge of collapse. The Ukraine war’s outcome is determined mainly by Putin’s poor judgment and enormous ego. Ukrainian defense minister: “We do not have the resources to litter the area with bodies and shells, as Russia does.” Moscow has already used up its whole supply of missiles; thus, it cannot expand the number of its attacks against Ukraine’s rear.
Ukraine can now assemble seven times as many troops as Russia does on the ground. Many Western onlookers appear unaware of this, as they are still caught up in the conflict between the U.S. and Saddam Hussein’s “fourth greatest army in the world.” The Russian Ministry of Defense is at the bottom of the barrel regarding recruiting and coercing people to serve. In Ukraine, as many as 80,000 Russian servicemen may have been killed or wounded. Moscow hires contractors to get around paperwork and rules governing conscription, military rights, and compensation.
Putin’s nuclear arsenal is still being “very, very strictly” monitored. Since the war started, thousands of anti-war protesters have been detained. The number of those who left and didn’t return has doubled annually since the Ukraine crisis began. U.S. policymakers have quietly pressured Kyiv to refrain from attacking Russian soil. Putin’s army has been depicted as constantly advancing, while Ukraine has been presented as barely holding on.
Moscow is frantically trying to avoid another embarrassing loss in the south and west, writes Andrew Bostock of the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace (C4IPP). Ukraine has cut off Russian troops west of the Dnieper River, leaving them stranded on the battlefield. Russia is returning to its traditional methods of warfare with tens of thousands of artillery shells each day. Ukraine is assaulting supply routes for fuel, ammunition, and other combat requirements far from the front lines.
