re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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These Russian losses are the accumulation of a multitude of existing problems that are now colliding head-on with a Ukrainian military that has been patient, methodical and infused with billions of dollars of the Western military equipment that Russia cannot match.

And without a drastic, and potentially unconventional intervention from Putin, the Ukrainian victories are likely to accelerate, analysts say.

Many of Russia’s problems – poor and inflexible leadership, sour troop morale, inadequate logistics and hardware beset by maintenance issues – have been evident since the beginning stages of the war more than seven months ago.

The Russian military’s hollow core – including tanks that were easy prey for Ukrainian ground troops and trucks that didn’t have the right tires to traverse Ukraine’s landscape – was quickly exposed by tactics ill-suited to the blitzkrieg Putin had planned.

Remember that 64-kilometer (40-mile) convoy that stalled on the way to the capital of Kyiv and was shredded by Ukrainian defenders?

As that convoy stalled, reports filtered out that Russian troops had significant morale problems – some didn’t even know they were in Ukraine, or if they did, why they were there. As the fighting intensified, Ukrainian forces targeted Russian leadership, killing generals and colonels who would have been expected to rally the Russian forces.

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Reversal of fortune
Ukrainian forces blitzed the northeast over the weekend, driving Russian troops from more than 1,000 square miles and completely reshaping the six-month-old war in a matter of days.

When we reported on Ukraine’s early gains on Friday, the reality on the ground was still not confirmed. But now there is no doubt: A grinding stalemate has been transformed in Ukraine’s favor, giving Russia its most humiliating defeat since the initial stages of the war.

The lightning gains, which at times seemed to have surprised both sides, have lifted morale in Ukraine, left Russia’s leadership with few good options and increased Ukrainian calls for more Western weapons.

“Ukrainian forces have inflicted a major operations defeat on Russia,” said the Institute for the Study of War, a group in Washington that tracks the war.

The advances in the Kharkiv region included the recapture of the town of Izium, a railway hub that has been a key military stronghold for Russian forces.

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