Shocking DEATH TOLL of the Ukraine War

The True DEATH TOLL of the Ukraine War Russia's invasion of Ukraine failed to produce the quick victory that Vladimir Putin and indeed The Wider World expected keev did not Fallen days as everyone assumed the Ukrainian government survived but this should not be as surprising as it once seemed the mistake of assuming a rapid decisive Victory is one that military leaders and Waring states have made since ancient times sunu cautioned leaders who thought of uncomplicated victories that the worst policy of all is to besiege Wal cities and that there is no no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged Warfare Putin like so many wannabe conquerors before him failed to Heed These Warnings and by March 2022 found himself in a prolonged War of Attrition no single decisive battle would end this war exhaust him from equipment losses and casualties would it's now been over 2 years since the invasion began and both sides have suffered from the latest instance of protracted Warfare but how many casualties have both sides taken since February 24th 202 2 and how do these casualty figures tie into the ability of each of the Waring countries to carry on the hostilities and walk away with the victory first it's helpful to remember that casualties do not equal people being killed in action casualties not only include those killed but also wounded captured or missing in 2021 Ukraine's population was about 44 million people Russia's 2021 population was about 143.5 million a figure 3.2 times as large according to the global fire power index as of 2024 Ukraine has an available Manpower of about 22 million with 15.4 million fit for service and 476,000 reaching military age annually Russia has 69.4 million 46.4 million and 1.2 million in each respective Category 2 years of war in Ukraine have produced hundreds of thousands of casualties in a combined total but trying to determine more specific figures than that is a little trickier for understandable reasons both sides are reluctant to release their data looking at the size of the respective armies is a good way to start before Russia invaded Ukraine had about 300,000 Personnel between its regular armed forces and paramilitary troops the war has swelled Ukraine's forces to about 2.2 million today with an active duty force of 900,000 the rest of reserves and paramilitary forces and not all of them are deployed at once Russia meanwhile began the invasion with 190,000 troops this was obviously not enough by May 2023 after the partial mobilizations began the number went up to 300,000 according to EU sources by September Russian forces in Ukraine had increased to 420,000 according to sources in Ukrainian intelligence Russia's Armed Forces number 1.32 million active Personnel 2 million in reserve and 250,000 paramilitary troops not all of these are deployed in Ukraine as some of them need to patrol Russia's long borders but more of the country's available troops have steadily been drawn in as the conflict continues how many of these troops have become casualties by June 2022 Ukraine reported that 10,000 of its men have been killed and an additional 30,000 injured Russian losses were reported to be about three times that number accounting for overestimates this is at least a reasonable idea because Ukraine was on the defensive as Russia attempted to sweep through the dbass region in September Russia released figures supposedly showing that Ukraine had suffered 61,000 deaths and about 49,000 wounded in comparison to about 50,000 Russian wounded and 10 times fewer casualties these figures were plainly absurd especially with Russian troops routing as Ukraine regained thousands of square kmers of territory 2023 brought more concrete independent data in August the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America pnas used 4,69 reports of military and civilian losses encompassing both sides and developed a statistical model to come up with a reasonably accurate estimate of each country's respective casualties the authors tried to account for reporting biases on both sides in particular the study found that both sides overestimated the losses suffered by their respective opponents Ukraine they said tends to magnify Russian death to twice what they actually are while Russia estimated that Ukraine suffered four times as many fatalities as it actually did pnas also said that Russian sources underestimated their own casualty figures the authors noted that Russia has suffered both more total casualties and a greater propor portion of fatalities within its casualties and Russian sources typically only report a third of the deaths their Armed Forces actually suffer pnas estimated that by February 2024 Ukraine had suffered about 17,200 fatalities and about 33,000 injuries at this point Russia was taking tens of thousand casualties in the months long battle for bakut that same month Russian defense minister sery Shu claimed that his forces had suffered 11,000 casualties in the Battle but Western officials said that between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops had become casualties there these figures did not include the mercenaries from the then active Vagner Group which also suffered terrible losses in the battle enough for it to rise in revolt against Moscow shortly after the city fell Ukraine's Garrison at bakut had inflicted highly disproportionate casualties but all was not well for Ukraine as the Battle of bakut raged Ukraine Was preparing for its counter offensive in zapia Western observers had high hopes for this operation and hoped that it would reach the Sea of azov cut Russia's land bridge to Crimea unfortunately Ukraine was unable to even come close to repeating the successes of 2022 the Ukrainian military wound up cracking the first two of Russia's three extensive defensive lines of zapia but were unable to translate this momentum into a wider breakthrough as Ukrainian forces flung themselves on the most elaborate network of fortifications seen in Europe since World War I casualties naturally mounted by August 2023 as the campaign in zapia raged American so forces estimated that Ukraine's casualties ballooned to a number between 100,000 and 120,000 injuries and 70,000 dead curiously though Russia is regarded as having taken more casualties in this campaign than Ukraine despite being on the defensive in September the institute for the study of War noted that Russia's storm Zed detachments with convict recruits had arrived to act as cover for units in the regular army such as the Airborne forces with these troops being treated as cannon fodder Russia was suffering hundreds of casualties per day even as the Ukrainian offensive was failing to make strategic gains with costly human wave tactics hearkening back to many past Wars it should not be surprising that Russia has suffered far more fatalities than it officially reports in June 2022 Russian sources claimed that they had suffered about 5,900 fatalities since the War Began but British intelligence sources estimated it to be nearly three times that at roughly 15,000 and Ukrainian sources claimed it was over 30 given the biases that P P mentioned the British figure is likely the most trustworthy for that point in the war by February 2023 pn's estimate for Russian casualties was roughly 150,000 injuries and almost 70,000 fatalities in August after the Russians had captured back mut at an enormous cost and was suffering during Ukraine's zapara campaign American intelligence sources estimated that Russia had suffered 12,000 fatalities during the course of the war with an additional 170,000 to 180,000 injured this would seem like a high proportion of deaths compared to the total casualties and given their Source may be less than trustworthy compared to another figure released 2 months later an independent investigation by the BBC and media Zona an anti-putin Russian news Outlet used data from Russian cemeteries to conduct a statistical analysis through this study they estimated that Russia had suffered at least 88,000 fatalities since the war started a month later a Ukrainian Army official claimed on Facebook that Russia had suffered 17 0,000 injuries and over 150,000 deaths the BBC media's owner study is likely the closest to the truth by March 20124 the British Ministry of Defense claimed that Russia had suffered 355,000 total casualties in the 2 years war amounting to about 983 per day 2 months earlier British officials predicted that Russia would suffer over 500,000 total casualties by the end of 2024 but these are military casualties only civilians have typically suffered the worst in war has it been the same this time Russia has ignored the international humanitarian treaties that it's signed on to and attacked Ukrainian civilian population centers civilians in Russian occupied areas have suffered even worse in September 2022 un sources estimated that there were 18,500 civilian injuries and 10,000 deaths in Ukraine this would be a low ratio of Civilian to military losses in historical Wars the UN said that the true figures could be much higher due to verific ation issues many of these casualties came during the siege of Maria pole that lasted between February and may 2022 Ukrainian sources claimed that 25,000 civilians died there although they would have wanted to magnify this number as part of the information Warfare environment against Russia un sources confirmed 1,350 such deaths but naturally estimated the number to be significantly higher in January 2022 the city had a population of about 425,000 people by May 2023 it had dropped to about 120,000 with the institute for the study of War citing Russian documentary evidence that plans were in place to ethnically cleanse the Ukrainian people there and replace them with Russians un sources claimed that 500 civilian deaths and 1,47 injuries were of children given that Russia has been known to attack at least one school in khv with cluster bombs an unambiguous War crime that resulted in the death of a child this is likely an undercount cluster bombs often fail to detonate with Russian bombs in particular particular having dud rates as high as 40% these unexploded bombs in effect become landmines this is why it should not be surprising that at least 303 of those civilian deaths and 676 injuries came from mines and abandoned explosives Ukraine has since become the most heavily mined country in the world and more civilians have undoubtedly been accidentally killed by these the February 2023 pnas study claimed that 13,000 Ukrainian civilians had died and about 19,000 had been been injured in February 2024 the UN released a new estimate verifying 3,457 civilian casualties with close to 11,000 killed and 20,000 injured in a total war of attrition inflicting civilian casualties helps to the enemy economy by depriving it of Labor and productive capacity this was the case during World War II and like in so many other ways the Russian military seems to be taking this approach to the treatment of civilians in Ukraine despite International humanitarian law since the war has mostly been fought on Ukrainian territory Russia has suffered few civilian casualties however it's not escaped unscathed crossborder raids such as the one in belgorod in May 2023 and missile drone strikes have left their marks by August 2023 7times 7 another Russian Independent Media Source estimated that there had been 105 civilian casualties these were concentrated near the border with Ukraine while wounded men can sometimes return to action this is often not the case by December 2023 at least 20,000 of Ukraine's wounded had required amputations and according to a Russian source that was perhaps being unusually honest over half of all the wounded Russian soldiers required amputation tens of thousands of troops are also suffering from mental health issues lack of adequate rotation especially in the Russian lines has led to a full-blown Mental Health crisis abuse of Alcohol and Other Drugs is common although the reports vary the conclusion seems inescapable that Russia has not only suffered more casualties than Ukraine but at a disproportionate rate however because Russia has a significantly larger population it can still more easily afford its casualties than Ukraine since they are far more easily replaceable there are additional problems for Ukraine in mobilizing its people to fight this war much of the population has become refugees since the invasion started 8 million ukrainians have been internally displaced between February and may 2022 an additional 8 million fled the country by the war's first anniversary that amounts to 37% of the country's pre-war population although most of these refugees have been women and children who are either unfit for military service or are not fit for all tasks experts estimate that at least 20,000 Ukrainian men fled to avoid being drafted the situation seemed to improve for Ukraine by the end of 2022 as some of the refugees returned home with the figures dropping down to 5.1 million internally displaced persons and 6.3 million Ukrainian refugees living abroad Ukraine's successful counter offense drew some people back however the war has turned against Ukraine since then there is a darker side to this population flow about 1 million Ukrainian Nationals have forcibly been deported to Russia the Fourth Geneva Convention which Russia has ratified prohibits this and so this practice is considered a war crime the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for some Russian officials including Vladimir Putin for this behavior however Ukraine is not the only one suffering a loss of available Manpower through refugees Russia has also suffered and disproportionately in the prime military demographic When Vladimir Putin announced his partial mobilization in the Autumn of 20122 hundreds of thousands of men left the country to avoid conscription these people are often some of Russia's best and brightest who contribute disproportionately to its economy between 800,000 and 900,000 total people have fled Russia since the start of the war at least 250,000 men are among those refugees these are all people that cannot be called on to do any military service and their no longer being available is important for Ukraine as it amounts to Russia essentially losing a Year's worth of replacements for its soldiers this is crucial if it wants to win the war of attrition nevertheless Ukraine is suffering a much worse shortage of Manpower which is why the country's draft laws have been changed in April 2024 the Ukrainian parliament passed a new law that made more people eligible for conscription ordinarily Ukrainian men over the age of 27 had been subject to conscription upon the Declaration of Martial law the legislature has since lowered the age to 25 but the law went further than broadening the draft pool Ukraine's brass had complained that not enough troops are showing up to Camp draft dodging has become common as in most wars of this nature the initial swell of patriotism has since given into Gloom as the cost of the conflict has revealed itself troops are no longer so eager to fight to crack down on draft dodging the new law requires men to update their conscription data with the authorities within 60 days draft dodging now also Al comes with stricter penalties a proposal to insert time limits for mobilization was dropped and military service remains open-ended however there are also new incentives volunteers now get more pay the Ukrainian Parliament has also loosened recruitment rules in another way in a sign of the increasing pressure Ukraine is under the new law takes a page out of Russia's Playbook and permits convicts to join the Army under some conditions women are still not required to serve but earlier legislation expanded the number of professions in which they were mandated to register previously only women serving in specialized roles such as medicine were required to register for military service now women in professions as varied as journalism and music can be mobilized if wartime conditions demand it so far women have not been forcibly mobilized but as pressure mounts that could change these new measures inspired Fierce opposition among the war weary Ukrainian public but casualties in the two years of fighting have taken their toll and the military needs Replacements Ukraine's brass such as general Yuri sodol who commands the forces in kiv donet and lansco blasts lamented that he lacked Manpower with the Russian Invaders outnumbering his troops by 7 to 10 times this is not a winning formula in a war of attrition even as Ukraine continues to inflict disproportionate casualties on Russian troops acknowledging that attrition and not a decisive battle would be key to winning this war the Estonian Ministry of Defense claimed in December 2023 that Russia would need to kill or Mame at least an additional 100,000 troops in 2024 in order for victory to be possible the estonians warned if undisrupted Russia has the capacity to train approximately 130,000 troops every 6 months into cohered units and formations available for launching operations this would lead to 260,000 new troops available per year which in turn can sustain a total force of 420,000 troops in Ukraine the estonians said that Ukraine must increase the demand for Russian manpower to the point that Moscow Cuts Corners with its basic training and sends increasingly worthless replacement to the battlefield these troops will die faster leading to a feedback loop of Russia becoming increasingly desperate for Manpower as the war spirals into an unsustainable cycle to do this effectively Ukraine must also mitigate its losses the estonians estimated that Ukraine suffered a total of 200,000 casualties just shy of the war's second anniversary they recommended that Ukraine's Western allies help it to mitigate these casualties by providing better training to Ukrainian recruits over 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained by its Western allies however the estonians reported that this training was not to the same quality for example basic training in the US Army is 10 weeks followed by months of additional training for specialized tasks Ukrainian troops have only gotten 5 weeks in basic and presumably far less for specialized tasks it's time for us to set new objectives a new Pace a new standard of quality in training the estonians concluded this strategy of increasing Ukraine's lethality while training its soldiers to higher standards will require time though time that Russia believes it has on its side Ukraine has suffered severe shortages of ammunition in the first half of 2024 as Western AIDS slowed down Aid picked up in the spring with millions of shells and other vital ammunition set to arrive this summer these packages should take Ukraine at least into 20125 Ukraine already killed or maimed well over 100,000 Russian troops in the first 2 years of the war with such tools on hand it's in a good position to meet The Benchmark the estonians have set for it but difficulties have been multiplying the British General Sir Richard Barons warned in an interview with the BBC that a major Russian offensive looked to be coming this summer which he thinks will be in dbass and potentially toward kiv in April General Christopher cavoli the senior American commander in Europe warned that Ukraine would need significantly more Aid and ammunition such Aid is now arriving and with stubborn Russian human wave tactics the new shells missiles and later in the year f-16s should give Ukraine the means to inflict the 100,000 deaths and permanent injuries the estonians believe will be necessary only time will tell if the war takes a turn for the better and Ukraine can use its new weapons to inflict the casualties it supposedly needs to but one thing about the casualties in the fighting is clear War may be a highly emotional matter inspiring works of art and the consciousness of Nations for thousands of years but to the generals it's often only a matter of math what did the casualties in Ukraine reveal about the state of the war and the prospect for both sides will Ukraine be able to inflict the necessary casualties on Russia as it so-called shell hunger ends this summer how did Putin's Grand Vision Putin Can't Hide Devastating Losses Anymore - He Doesn't Even Try! of a swift glorious Victory turn into a nightmare of Staggering losses like many dictators before him Vladimir Putin fell for the idea of a short and glorious War when he decided to invade Ukraine much like the German Kaiser vilhelm second before World War I he believed his boys would be back home in a few weeks or even days that didn't happen it's now 2 and 1/2 years later and Russia has suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties with no end to the conflict in sight the Russian military is naturally dishonest with its casualty reports when they come at all but recent estimates from Western sources like the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense suggest that Russia has suffered over 300,000 total dead or wounded in the war media Zona one of the few independent voices in the country investigated the register of inheritance cases in Russia in April media Zona claimed that these inheritance cases implied about 75,000 dead soldiers in Ukraine over the first two years of the war the number of dead and wounded are accelerating too Russia has taken the offensive in recent months its preferred strategy is to overwhelm defensive Ukrainian positions through Mass Manpower and Firepower but this is naturally a costly method of Waging War in July the UK Ministry of Defense estimated that Russia had taken 70,000 casualties just since May at a pace of around 1,000 per day this was the highest casualty rate since the invasion began even more than when Ukraine defeated the Russian forces in kiv and around Kon in the summer and fall of 22 and composed a tenth of the total Russian casualties to that point for now the Russian public has been kept largely in the dark about the true cost of the war in Ukraine but with these accelerating losses this ignorance might be starting to fade he might not need to worry about reelection anymore but it would be problematic for Putin if the Russian public started to feel like they were suffering too many losses yet Putin is in desperate need of more manpower to cover the accelerating casualties so if you're a dictator what do you do Putin seems to be answering with an approach that many dictators have taken before him since ancient times relying on foreign mercenaries how did he get here will the new sources of Manpower help him to avoid the worst political consequences prolonged Warfare could bring his regime one of the ways that Putin's regime has managed to cover up the worst costs of the war in Ukraine is by concentrating the losses in outlying regions the April 2024 media Z owner investigation about Russian casualties found that the bulk of them came from the Kadar cry and bashota Stan areas it's no coincidence that these two regions account for such a high percentage of the dead and wounded they are the third and seventh most populated regions in the Russian Federation respectively Kadar cry is close to Crimea which makes it an ideal place from which to Transit troops to the front however the bigger tell is that Kadar cry and Bash kotan sit on the edge of Russia's European Heartland where 75% of the country's population is situated this political geography puts them close enough to the front and with a high enough population to provide a steady supply of soldiers but far enough from Russia's Elite centers of influence in Moscow and St Petersburg to ensure that their losses won't be noticed too much Russia has taken this principle and applied it throughout its territory 80% of Russia's male population between the ages of 18 and 49 are considered eligible for military service but these men have not been mobilized on an equal basis logic would dictate that all things being equal most of the available Manpower would be from the European Heartland and therefore most of the casualties but in Putin's Russia things are far from equal Russia may be a dictatorship but even dictators have people they need to answer to sending a lot of coffins back to Moscow or St Petersburg is not something he wants to do a ground swell of discontent there might be the one source of pressure that he'll be forced to take heed of so he needs to make sure the affluent people there do not suffer too severely this is why the recruits mobilized for the war effort come heavily from Russia's outlying areas they are poorer than the national average and disproportionately composed of ethnic or religious minorities in the Autumn of 2022 as Putin began his first wave of partial mobilization in response to Ukraine's Battlefield successes The Economist did an analysis of available data on the Russian forces in Ukraine the publication found that the regions outside the European Heartland provided a disproportionate share of the troops for example crnas cry in Siberia saw about 5.5% of its eligible Manpower conscripted in 202 2 in contrast less than 1% of the eligible Manpower in Moscow was conscripted in the same time span The Economist also found that 23 of the 26 regions which supplied most of the Russian Manpower in Ukraine were below the national income average other sources backed the assertion that the war's heaviest costs are being imposed on Russia's poor minority and outlying populations the BBC conducted an investigation in September 2022 on 6,000 confirmed Russian deaths of these troops from the Kadar cry dagistan in the southern caucuses and baracha in the Russian Far East suffered the largest share the 2021 Russian census revealed that ukrainians made up the smallest ethnic group in Kadar cry with 2.54% of the population 5.87 were Armenians and 83.3% were ethnic Russians the same census revealed that only 12.5% of dagestan's population was ethnically Russian the other portion came from various minority groups the majority of bacha's population at 52.7% % is composed of ethnic Russians however 43.8% are minority buriats a mongolic ethnic group each of these regions recorded at least 200 deaths of the 6,000 confirmed in contrast only 15 people from the Moscow area which composes around 10% of Russia's total population were among the Dead the mobilized troops from the farflung regions proved vital in stabilizing the Russian forces while they were in Retreat and rapidly losing territory however they were often improperly trained and prepared for the hardships to come they lacked body armor some reports even suggested they lacked rifles worse many of the regular Russian troops forced them to fight in the front ranks so they will become casualties instead of the veterans vasil matanov the founder of the group Asians of Russia best summed up the situation these people are less defended if they were to start rounding up moscovites then everyone would hear about it foreign leaders even got in on the ACT with former president of Mongolia accusing the Kremlin of using its ethnic Mongol population as cannon fodder so far Putin has this reality because he can however the population in a lot of these areas is low not many people live in Siberia therefore there are only so many eligible men to be called to the colors from Russia's outlying regions with the rate they are becoming casualties in Ukraine moscow's ability to continue dumping the costs of the war on its poorest and least well-connected people is in doubt and shortages of available Replacements have already been reported by European sources the Kremlin also does not want to resume recruitment of prisoners whose ranks have already been thinned this gives us a preview about the next phase of the war conscription was not the only reason why so many of these vulnerable men joined the Russian military for the troops from impoverished regions where opportunities are few military service is the only realistic way to make money Russia now seems to be Keen to export this model abroad literally rather than conscript people from Moscow and St Petersburg and create political problems the Kremlin is looking to foreign countries to find new sources of Manpower Russia's authoritarian form of government allows it to come up with creative ways of finding Manpower without resorting to a full mobilization in response to the new casualties in Ukraine it's taken to targeting foreign students African Nationals in Russia on work visas have also been targeted the kremin has given both of these groups a new choice they can sign contracts with Russia's Ministry of defense and become soldiers or be deported to their countries of origin the UK Ministry of Defense reports that Central Asian migrants have also been targeted there are many of these in the country and their governments tend to be friendly to Russia due to Prior ties the British report that Russian law enforcement has concentrated on Central Asian migrants with coercive methods inventing criminal charges and then declaring that they must sign military contracts to avoid arrest but it's not just people working in Russia Africans in Africa have also been a keen source of interest for Russian recruiters as early as the spring of 2023 reports of African troops fighting for Russia in Ukraine began to circulate at first these troops were reported within the Vagner group's ranks during the Battle of Bak mut where the unit suffered s sever losses given Varner's long presence on the African continent this might not be surprising but Russia's ties with Africa go back to the Cold War in that era the Soviet Union invited African students to study within its borders as a way of increasing its influence in countries that only had recently achieved independence from European Empires the tradition continued after the Soviet Union collapsed and roughly 35,000 African students are studying in Russia Today many Africans have favorable opinions about Russia even now remembering that the Soviet Union supported their their efforts in freeing themselves from European Colonial rule and moscow's dogged opposition to the apartheid regime in South Africa in a March 2022 votes of the United Nations General Assembly 17 African countries including South Africa refused to condemn Russia for its Invasion instead choosing to not participate in the resolution the use of African troops expanded in 2023 as the year went on intelligence sources reported on the existence of a so-called Africa Corp in the Russian army which had a roster of about 5,000 men many of these troops had already served in the Vagner group and were experienced Fighters Veterans of the Syrian Civil War and conflicts in Libya Bina Faso and ner Russia has also simply taken to recruiting mercenaries from abroad directly again preferring Africa not coincidentally as Russian casualties were accelerating in the spring of 2024 reports began to circulate the Kremlin was redoubling its efforts to bring these foreign fighters in Ukrainian intelligence sources report that Russian recruitment drives have ramped up in subsaharan Africa the bulk of the effort seems to be concentrated in four countries Rwanda Burundi Congo and Uganda Somalia may also be a target with its long Civil War it has experienced Fighters and somalis have been a known presence in Russia's already existing Africa Corps Russian military recruiters are reportedly offering troops from these and other African countries a $2,200 monthly salary a $2,000 bonus for signing up health insurance and Russian passports for themselves and their families as generally the average annual incomes in in these nations is $2,290 in Congo $930 in Uganda and Rwanda $600 in Somalia and $200 in Burundi this offer is obviously an attractive one one Nigerian Soldier fighting for Ukraine in 2022 grimly reported that life there even in a war zone was more desirable than his impoverished Homeland where the annual income is $2,160 many African mercenaries fighting on the opposite side of the war probably think the same the population in sub Sahara Anda Africa is also growing faster than any other portion of the world it's a young source of Manpower which is notable considering that the average age of the soldiers on both sides of the war in Ukraine is in the 30s and 40s far older than wars in the past this is because Russia and Ukraine's populations are aging rapidly in Africa Putin has a source of Manpower he may be hoping to call upon in the long term it's not known how many Africans have taken up the Russian offer but their presence is growing in Ukraine Russia does not seem to be limiting its recruitment efforts to Africans or Central Asian it's reportedly tried to bring in troops from as far a field as Nepal India and Cuba Russia has had long ties to the Cuban regime stretching back to the Cold War meanwhile although India has steadily come closer to the United States thanks to ongoing tensions with China it maintains a tradition of security ties to Russia it buys Russian military equipment like the T90 tank and the S400 air defense system even risking American sanctions to do so New Delhi has also abstained from condemning Russia for the invasion in the UN General Assembly its increase purchases of Russian energy have been vital in stabilizing moscow's Financial coffers since the invasion began despite this Indian students have reportedly been targeted by Russia's military recruiters using the same coercive methods according to India's Embassy in Russia there are about 14,000 Indian Nationals in Russia with roughly 4,500 students enrolled in Russian higher educational institutions this would not be a significant source of Manpower for long so Putin's regime seems to be getting even more creative in how it's luring additional Indians to fight in its ranks at least 100 Indian soldiers have been documented fighting in the Russian army in Ukraine but Putin's regime seems to want to increase this number no matter how underhanded the methods in early 2024 Indian authorities uncovered what they called a Russian human trafficking ring the operation began with Russian recruiters offering young Indian men positions as helpers in the military establishment of Russia if the Indian men accepted the offer they would require training unfortunately for them this training was the hard form of training possible being sent to the front the Russian agents reportedly offered these men a monthly salary of around $1,800 considering the average annual income in India is $2,390 this was an attractive idea but there was a catch the Indian men needed to pay the Russian agents about $3,600 to get started since this is a sum most Indians cannot afford the men needed to get the money through a loan conveniently they were then on the hook such tactics are common in human trafficking Networks Russian recruiters are reportedly using similar tactics in Nepal the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka as of December 2023 at least 100 napole men were missing or injured in Russia with 10 deaths confirmed and four confirmed Prisoners the napole authorities suspect that they were a lot more it reached the point that the napole government had no choice but to deny permits to any of its citizens who wanted to pursue work in Ukraine or Russia why would the Kremlin go to such length to avoid mobilizing people from the main European Heartland especially in Moscow and St Petersburg to the point that it would even risk deteriorating the relationship with India one of its most important post-invasion economic partners because all wars are political Russia has a history of fighting costly wars in World War I the cost became so great that the country saw not one but two revolutions in a single year which toppled two successive regimes Putin is aware of this history putting more of the burden on the major Russian population centers risks him losing power Ukrainian sources report that the the Russian public is becoming increasingly frustrated about proar propaganda particularly among families of wounded soldiers who see their loved ones being sent back to the front According to some relatives of these troops they are returned to the battlefield even when they are sick have mental fatigue or have suffered injuries that only recently healed one mother of a mobilized Soldier asked on Russian social media what kind of storm troopers would they be if they can't even carry a gun these people are more likely to be informed of the real situation even allowing for some embellishment since the source was from Ukraine it's easy to see why Putin cannot allow more influential people to see past his propaganda it's fine for him if families from Siberia or the caucuses say this it isn't fine if these people are from Russia's major metropolitan areas the propaganda also isn't fooling some other people Russia's military bloggers have repeatedly expressed frustration that despite recent efforts the size of the invasion force is not enough to conduct the level of offensive operations needed to secure a decisive victory in Ukraine there are not enough people being mobilized or joining the ranks despite increases in payments for those who sign military contracts within Russia and the efforts to get people to sign up from abroad Russia is also losing men too quickly for the force to stabilize president zalinski said in a June interview that the Russians were suffering six casualties for every dead or wounded Ukrainian these words should be taken with a grain of salt since both sides have overestimated the casualties the other has taken in the war still Russia has undoubtedly suffered disproportionately thanks to its poor handling of his military and this poor handling is becoming increasingly difficult for Putin's regime to cover up thanks to the depletion of available men from Siberia and the other poorer regions in the country perhaps the recent Russian drives are more a sign of desperation than anything else with Putin trying to secure as much land and bargaining power as possible before the wheels come off the Russian war machine in late 2023 the Estonian Ministry of Defense laid out a clear objective for the ukrainians kill or maim 100,000 Russians in 2024 doing so the estonians said would ensure a Russian defeat in 2025 their math was based on Russia's ability to train about 260,000 troops every year losing so many men would force Russia to send units to the front with less training these troops would in turn die faster increasing the demand on the Russian system until it becomes overwhelmed there is a political side to these calculations that the estonians might not have emphasized as much as they should by overwhelming Russia's preferred sources of Manpower Putin will then need to choose between getting the troop he needs to sustain his operations or potentially risk upsetting the people in Russia's Elite cities by calling upon their as yet largely untapped reserve of Manpower this is why Putin is willing to go to such lengths to secure alternative sources of soldiers and indeed the recruitment of foreign troops puts a new item in this equation by bringing foreign Fighters into the war by inducement or coercion Putin is hoping he can afford to suffer more losses in Ukraine while avoiding rocking the boat in Moscow and St Petersburg but what do you think will Russia increasing use of foreign Fighters throw a monkey wrench into the estonians calculations and prolong Putin's ability to continue the war while avoiding the backlash that would come with a full mobilization of the Russian population or do you think this too will fail and Putin will eventually have no choice but to mobilize more people from Moscow and St Petersburg in a desperate high-risk gamble to win the war Russia's T90 tank is supposed to be one of the jewels in the country's groundbased forces Russia Is Running Out of All Its Best Tanks President Vladimir Putin has hailed it as the best tank tank in the world and when used appropriately it should provide Russia with a clear advantage over Ukraine and its limited tank options however over the last 2 and a half years we've seen Russia using its T90 sparingly if at all and when it does it's losing the tanks heavily over 100 of them in fact all of which brings us to the simple question why not only why is Russia losing so many t9s but why has it been so slow to deploy them and why once the tanks were in the field has Russia failed to gain a significant Advantage from them we'll answer all of those questions in this video though we'll start by answering another what makes the T90 supposedly so special after all March 2024 saw Russia receive a new batch of the T90 from rosc the state's main defense and Aerospace conglomerate suggesting it still holds the tank in high regard just a month prior to that delivery Putin stood in front of the crowd during a trip to oraon ofad and lorded it as the world's best tank while simultaneously calling on his country to develop even more advanced fighting Vehicles a mixed message suggesting that Russia sees weakness in its Flagship tank though Putin attempted to convey confidence during the statement T90 is the best tank in the world without any exaggeration he told onlookers our tankmen and the adversary recognize it as the best in the world perhaps Putin has a point entered into service in 1992 the T90 main battle tank or MBT was designed and built by orog ganad the company to which Putin gave his speech and his crude by three people the tank is a behemoth measuring 31.2 ft long and 12.4 ft High meaning it Towers over any soldiers who are unfortunate enough to come across it on the battlefield the tank itself builds upon the designs of Russia's Soviet era t- series though it's reported to offer greater Mobility more protection and far stronger Firepower than those older tanks speaking of Firepower the T90 has a single 125 mm 2A 46m smooth B gun which is fitted with a thermal sleeve and stabilized on the tank using a pair of axes the thermal sleeve improves the gun's lifespan as it regulates the Barrel's temperature during firing preventing the thermal expansion that can lead to warping inaccuracies and misfires the gun is also welld designed with its tube being replaceable without the crew having to dismantle the entire turret enabling Rapid Repairs when in the field add versatility into the mix the 2A 46m can fire high explosive fragmentation armor piercing discarding sabot and high explosive anti-tank rounds and you get a gun that can be adapted to confront almost any situation the T90 faces on the ground then there's the 9 M11 reflex anti-tank guided missile system built into the T90 that missile system has a range between 328 and 13,123 ft making it suitable for firing on opposition tanks at short or medium range it's also fast it takes just 11.7 seconds to reach its maximum speed of 13,120 Ft meaning the missile can travel at speeds faster than 1,000 ft per second the 9 m119 comes into its own when used against tanks that have explosive reactive armor or era which is designed to withstand kinetic rounds and the high explosive anti-tank rounds fired from the T90 main gun in other words if the gun won't do it the T90 can send a missile to get the job done each missile weighs 51.5 lb with the missile system even capable of targeting low-flying and relatively slow moving aerial targets such as helicopters the hollow charge Warhead is extremely damaging with the missile also being loaded with a laser beam riding guidance system to help it reach its Target again we see versatility meaning the T90 is packed with Weaponry that should in theory allow it to tackle both groundbased and aerial targets add a 12.7 MM air defense machine gun and a 7.62 mm coaxial pkt machine gun to the mix and the three-person crew has a lot of options when it comes to firing on the enemy of course these options would mean little without adequate protection a tank is a slow moving Target even if it packs a big punch so Russia had to ensure the T90 was capable of standing up to enemy Firepower a combination of the previously mentioned era and conventional armor plating make up the bulk of the t9s protection the stora one defensive Suite adds to this armor is designed to offer early warning systems and help to conceal the T90 when it's under threat of attack features of this Suite include a laser warning system that uses four receivers to inform the crew of incoming threats an infrared Jammer can help to disrupt Weaponry that's on course to strike the t9s and the ster 1 even has a grenade discharging system rather than being used to attack the enemy that system generates an aerosol screen intended to Shield the T90 from Vision all of this is controlled with a computerized system on the maneuverability front the T90 comes with an 840 horsepower fourstroke V12 piston engine fueled by a combination of diesel and either Benzene or kerosene it carries several fuel tanks which are armor plated and combined to hold up to 351 Gall of fuel but perhaps the most interesting feature is its snorkel system designed for deep riding the system can be activated within 20 minutes and allows the tank to forward 16.4 ft of water as long as it's loaded with the appropriate equipment so the T90 when looking at its specifications alone is an impressive piece of equipment several other countries certainly seem to think so the Indian army started ordering t9s from Russia in 2004 rechristening the tank as the bishma in the process according to Army technology India has purchased 300 1990s from Russia and currently operates 1,100 of the tanks with the rest having been built internally using Parts provided by the Russian military Algeria is also a regular buyer of the tank as shown by a March 2006 order for 180 of them Uganda has at least 44 t9s with Saudi Arabia also buying 150 of the tanks in September 2009 this base T90 model has gone through numerous upgrades in the years since its introduction culminating in the t90m model 2017 also known as the pro of 3 it's this upgraded version that Putin believes is the best tank in the world designed in the wake of Russia's counterterrorism operations in Syria in the 2010s the t90m has a more powerful engine than the T90 upgraded to 1,130 horsepower compared to the standard versions 840 and is equipped with the P&M sner U gun viw system this gives the t90m all- weather capabilities while improving its targeting tracking upgraded era and a new steering wheel have been built into the latest variant of the T90 as has a removable turret bustle allowing the tank to store eight additional rounds the t90m is also faster than the base model as it's capable of reaching speeds of up to 37.2 mph and it can cruise for up to 341.50 to get their hands on it no wonder Putin claims it to be the best tank in the world but there's a problem for as powerful as the T90 and t90m appear to be on paper it's proven somewhat ineffectual in the war in Ukraine so ineffectual in fact that Russia has lost far more of them than it could have ever anticipated on July 16th 2024 Newsweek reported that the t90m tank losses had reached a grim Milestone it was on this date that those losses hit the three figure region with Newsweek quoting the open source War track oric as claiming that Russia has lost 100 of its t90m since the beginning of the Ukraine war however that 100 number may be a misnomer oric says that it only records a loss when photographic or video evidence is available meaning the actual number of T90 and t90m losses may be significantly higher than recorded here even so these 100 T90 losses are now part of the 3,235 tanks Russia has lost during the war 2,199 of which are confirmed to be destroyed that is recorded Ukraine's defense Ministry says the number is much higher putting Russian tank losses at 8,227 more than double the amount that orex has been able to visually confirm assuming the defense Ministries numbers are accurate this would suggest that Russia has actually lost more than 200 of its t9s in Ukraine this wasn't supposed to happen speaking to the keev independent Martin J doy the author of aircraft tanks and artillery of the Ukraine war points out that the T90 is a combination of the best parts of the t72 and the t80 The forers Proven chassis combined with the advanced weapon systems built into the t80 to create a tank that should be more than capable of handling operations in Ukraine this should have been a winning combination Dy says and until the invasion of Ukraine the overall impression was positive looks are clearly deceiving which brings us to another question why is Russia losing so many t90m and earlier variants of the tank in Ukraine there are several possible reasons starting with something that often goes unstated in Russian rhetoric when describing in the T90 the tank wasn't built to handle the newer generation of top attack weapons that Ukraine has been deploying to counter Russia's tanks that's according to dowy who points out that the T90 defenses were developed to counter traditional threats with those defenses carrying over to the fourth generation t90m that lack of top- down defenses is something that Ukraine has been able to capitalize on that's according to Warrior Maven which noted in a July 2023 report that Ukraine has been using an anti-armor weapon called an En law to take out tanks made by S buff for's Dynamics the weapon was a joint venture between the UK and Sweden both countries that are providing military aid to Ukraine and is a lightweight and portable missile that can be fired by dismounted infantry in other words soldiers on the ground can use it in ambushes against patrolling troops buildings and light armored vehicles the weapon is also effective against tanks though the nlaw won't always fully penetrate a tank's armor the fact that it's a top- down weapon means that it can be lethal as long as a soldier targets the tank from an elev position add to this the fact that an nlaw can fire a high explosive anti-tank round and you have a weapon that Ukraine can use to counter the t9s seemingly impressive defenses still there are other factors at play according to Dy one that goes under reported yet plagues the entire Russian army is the issue of poorly trained Crews remember that the t9m requires a crew of three highly trained soldiers if it's to be used effectively however several encounters between Russian and Ukrainian forces have shown the Russians to be tactically inair for instance February 2023 saw Russia attempt to take the town of Vadar which sits about 93 Mi Southwest of bakut that offensive resulted in Russian soldiers fleeing leaving behind over 30 armored vehicles reporting on the incident The Institute for the study of War says that footage of Russia's assault demonstrated highly dysfunctional tactics suggesting that the Personnel deployed were not only poorly trained but were operating under poor command Russia has been attempted to overcome these training issues by simply throwing more soldiers at his assaults the tactic has worked on several occasions but it also means that Russia absorbs massive losses both in people and equipment in the process the t90m is increasingly becoming a victim of that approach as Dy points out losses can also be attributed to mishandling by inept commanders so some of the t9m losses can be put down to Ukraine countering them with weapons for which the tanks defenses weren't designed others are a result of tactical ineptness commanders aren't using the tanks correctly and at least some are likely being by soldiers who have inadequate training but there are other reasons why t9m losses are increasing one of which is extremely logical it's sending more of the tanks into the battlefield writing for Forbes in October 2023 military expert David ax points out that Russia's heavy t90m losses may not be the good news it appears to be for Ukraine instead he argues it's a sign that Russia has been increasing the numbers of its Flagship tanks in Ukraine suggesting that its production is increasing to the point where it believes it's able to replenish the tank quickly in other words Russia is willing to risk its t9s because it has more in reserve than it did at the beginning of the war ax argues that the tanks manufacturers orol V gonod have had time to manufacture several hundred more T90 variants since the Ukraine War began and he uses increased losses as evidence look closely says ax as he points out that Russia's losses of its Soviet era t-62s peaked in October 20122 that was followed by a peak in losses of its t8s in June 2023 followed by the peak win now seeing in T90 losses the argument is that Russia relied so heavily on its older tanks during the early stages of the war to give itself more time to manufacture the more dangerous T90 now it has sufficient numbers it's deploying more of its modern tanks which means it'll naturally lose more of those tanks is that really the case ax says it all depends on how many t90m Russia is producing with numbers varying depending on the source for instance Bulgarian military reported in January 2024 that Russia is taking delivery of 130 t9m tanks annually as of the end of 2023 that would suggest production is approximately matching the number of t9m losses in Ukraine as reported by orx however the outlet also notes that this is the same as the number of t90m being produced before the war and that it's possible that Russia is actually making fewer than 130 The International Institute for strategic studies or IIs digs deeper in June 2024 the I published an article in which it outlined quarterly deliveries of of the t90m to Russia it suggests that at least 13 batches of the tanks have been built since February 2022 with each of those batches containing between 11 and 15 tanks all told this would amount to at least 231 t90m having been built between April 20120 and May 2024 up to a potential maximum of 267 During the period how does that stack up to the 130 perear estimate looking at I's 2023 figures we can see Russia took delivery of at least 11 t90m in January a further 11 arrived in May with two more deliveries of 11 each in July and October December saw two deliveries one of around 15 and another assumed to be 11 tanks that adds up to 70 tanks 50 fewer than the 130 per year Russia was making before the war however there's a caveat here Russia's pre-war t90m production likely factored in tanks being made for sale to other countries given that Russia is selling less of its weapons with the war ongoing it may have scaled back T90 production to save money while still building enough of the tanks to match pre-war stock that it was keeping for itself the is also points out that many of the t90m entering Ukraine could be upgraded versions of t90a upgrading those old models would cut production times though it also comes with the issue of dwindling stocks Russia may have as few as 50 t90a in storage as of late 2023 with a further 100 in active service by early 2024 so what does all of this mean for Russia and its t90m losses in Ukraine it's clear that Russia is building more of the tanks even if the rate at which it's doing so is disputed as David ax points out it's already burned through much of its stock of the older t62 and t80 tanks meaning it has fewer of them available to deploy all of this means that more t90ms are heading into Ukraine which when considering Ukraine has n laws to counter them and the crews of those t90m are possibly poorly trained would naturally lead to a spike in t90m losses for Russia a logical conclusion however it also can't AP noticed that Ukraine has been coming up with increasingly novel ways to destroy the supposed best tank in the world we've already covered end laws and how they give Ukraine top- down attack capabilities that can overwhelm a t9s defenses but in the absence of nlaws Ukraine has shown that Russia's Flagship tank has a surprising array of vulnerabilities that allow it to be taken out by less conventional means for instance there's at least one recorded instance of Ukraine defeating a t90m with armored vehicles in January 2024 Forbes reported on on Drone footage captured in Stova which is just outside ABD divka the town has been a key location since the beginning of the war with Russia finally managing to take it in February 2024 but at the time the footage was shot fighting was still ongoing and intense the footage shows a pair of M2 Bradley infantry fighting Vehicles circling a t90m tank the vehicles which weigh about 30 tons each should have been no match for the tank and its Superior weapon systems however the m2s were doing well one acting as a decoy rattled off a few rounds from its 25 mm automatic Cannon before speeding away from the tank as the second came to within feet of the t90m to open fire with its own 25mm armor piercing rounds the tag team was doing well until a near disaster struck the m2s ran out of armor piercing rounds that should have made them easy pickings for the t90m which had withstood the initial Onslaught well however the crews of the m2s wouldn't give up both switched to high explosive rounds while that sounds like a better alternative the high explosive rounds are less power awful than the armor piercing ones or at least in the context of trying to pierce a tank's armor worse yet the m2's armor piercing rounds hadn't lived up to their name the T90 M's reactive armor had repelled them long before they reached the several inches of composite base armor lying underneath then an idea one of the M2 crew members who gave his name as Siri to Forbes decided to change his Target rather than penetrating the T90 M's armor he would hit its Optics I started blinding him so he couldn't leave he claimed afterward what followed was the t90m taking a battering from explosive autoc Cannon rounds which triggered its explosive reactive armor to the point where the armor itself destroyed the Tank's Optics the turret went into an uncontrollable Spin and the tank rolled away hitting a tree before the three-person crew bailed with the crew gone Ukraine was free to destroy the t90m with a drone the next day this incredible footage showcases two of the issues we've touched on already in the video first the T9 M's defenses aren't as impressive as they first appear especially when stacked up against unexpected tactics and weaponry second it's clear that well-trained Ukrainian troops can defeat the poorly trained Crews Manning many t90ms a pair of M2 armored fighting Vehicles should have been fodder for the supposed best tank in the world instead they managed to take it out using clever tactics and by exploiting vulnerabilities in the t90m defenses this is far from the only instance of Ukraine taking out t90ms with interesting tactics in May 2024 Newsweek reported on new footage that showed several Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles or uavs descending on the location of a t90m tank somewhere along the front lines of the war published on telegram the video showcases a kamakazi UAV flying directly onto the Tank's engine followed by a second one that maintained distance to shoot at the Tank's turret the assault damaged the T90 M's guidance system essentially immobilizing it before several Ukrainian units tried to set fire to the vehicle that didn't work so it was up to another drone operator to finish the job in a statement released after the footage of emerged Ukrainian Fighters said we got tired of watching this referring to the attempts to set the t90m a blaze and one of our Pilots decided to show a master class hitting clearly between the turret and the hull of the tank that was all it took the t9m burst into flames and Ukraine had proven that it could take out Russia's Flagship tank using nothing more than a handful of inexpensive drones and a lot of skill nlaws m2s and uavs a combination of weapons and vehicles that have proven to be useful against a t90m in the case of two of those weapons the Ord and uavs Ukraine has shown that the best tank in the world isn't fit for purpose in a modern war at least it's not as dominating as Russia believed it would be as its defenses fail to account for Innovation that allows it to be hit from the top as for the victory using m2s Ukraine has showcased that several of Russia's t90m losses come from the tank Crews not having tactical nouse needed to take on the better trained Ukrainian enemies and then there are the t90m that Russia has lost simply because their Crews have abandoned their positions 2 months after Ukraine took out a t90m using nothing but uavs the KE post published a report that soldiers from the country's Hunter Brigade had managed to capture a fully working t90m Wolverine tankers from the hunting Brigade named after Alesa dobush on one of the sectors where soldiers perform combat tasks managed to capture a tank in practically full up working condition a report stated after the capture the report also provided photographs of what it claimed was a large scale assault by Russia that descended into a complete Fiasco that Fiasco resulted in the t98 either being abandoned or somehow left uncrewed allowing a member of the Ukrainian Hunter Brigade to Simply sneak up jump inside and drive it back to Ukraine's position that was in addition to the capture of a t80 and a bmp2 armored Fighting Vehicle both of which were also captured and driven back the report concluded with a chilling message now these trophies will mercilessly destroy their previous owners again we can only put this incident down to the inadequate training cited earlier in the video combined with poor command as a combination of both would have led to the Fiasco in this case Russia's soldiers failed enormously so much so that they left a valuable asset unguarded allowing Ukraine to steal it from right under their noses by now we have a good picture of why Russia is experiencing so many t90m losses in the war it's maintaining some level of production likely between 70 and 130 t9m per year which is allowing it to slowly introduce more of its best tanks to the battlefield but more tanks lead to more losses as a natural outcome of War it's also being spurred on to introduce more of its t90m because it's losing so many of its cheaper Soviet era tanks as their stockpiles dwindle Russia is using newer and more expensive tanks then of course there's Ukraine's ability to counter the t90m threat Russia's tank can't stand up to en law fire and it's being shown to be vulnerable to uavs and even well-trained soldiers operating the kinds of vehicles the t90m should easily be able to destroy throw inadequate training and inconsistent command into the mix and you have a recipe for losses there's only one question left to ask what can Russia do next right now its t90m losses aren't so heavy that it can't replenish them Over time however it's also manufacturing new tanks in such limited quantities that the t90m will only ever see a limited role in Ukraine still it also has an even newer tank that it claims is even better than the t90m the T14 so why haven't we heard much about this Tank's exploits in Ukraine the answer is simple in April 2023 Reuters reported on the debut of this new tank in ukra Ukraine however we've heard little about it since because Russia is using it in an extremely limited capacity production of the tank which has an unmanned turret operated by a crew in an isolated and armored chamber within the Tank's Hull is likely less than 50 per year according to the British military as for its usage it appears the T14 is being kept behind the front lines from where it occasionally fires on Ukrainian positions it's not front and center in the war in the same way the T90 is the reason for that is twofold first it's an extremely expensive tank with Newsweek reporting that production is so slow simply because Russia doesn't have the money to make more add to that some concerns on Russia's part it's already seen Ukraine destroy more than 100 of its t90m with more likely to come which has exposed the tank as being weaker than it was believed to be perhaps the T14 has similar vulnerabilities resulting in it being kept out of the battle so Russia can claim it's the world's most advanced tank without having to prove it whatever the case may be the T14 is a nonf factor at the time of writing this video while the t90m is proven to be less effective than Russia hoped Ukrainian Innovation Ingenuity and tactical superiority have shown that it doesn't matter if you have the best tank in the world if your Crews can't operate it and the tank is vulnerable to weapons it was never designed to combat what do you think about The Saga of the t9m has Ukraine exposed it by finding so many novel ways to take it out or is the T90 M's failure in Ukraine due to Russia's poor tactics and lack of training Russia often parades itself as a military colossal boasting the world's second Why ALL Russian Weapons Are So BAD! largest army that's brimming with an Arsenal that should dominate on paper it has the second strongest Air Force only behind the United States and an inventory of tanks and artillery that no other country can match its naval fleet loaded with more Corvettes and submarines than anyone else should make it a Titan in conventional Warfare yet the ongoing conflict in Ukraine paints a drastically different picture despite overwhelming numerical superiority and massive Firepower Russia struggles to secure decisive victory over a significantly smaller opponent this glaring discrepancy between expectation and reality begs the question just how effective are Russian weapons on the global stage part of the reason may come down to Russia's tactics with another reason being that Ukraine has received substantial support from Western countries as it tries to fend off President Vladimir Putin's Ambitions but there's another reason why Russia's Army isn't as strong in practice as it is on paper many Russian weapons are bad so bad that they failed to keep up with what the West is producing leading to Russia's soldiers in Ukraine facing heavy losses it wasn't this way in the past at the height of the Cold War Russia's weapons had a reputation for being robust and wellmade they may have well lacked all the bells and whistles associated with American weapons but they did what they needed to do on the battlefield they worked take the t-34 tank as an example introduced in 1940 the t-34 went on to become Russia's most successful tank it was also a masterclass in innovation becoming the first modern tank to feature sloped armor which makes it harder for anti-tank weapons to penetrate the vehicle's shell and featuring an independent suspension system that made it more maneuverable that innovation in design coupled with a focus on functionality would be a Hallmark of Russian Weaponry for years to come the country built nuclear submarines fighter jets and could compete with the best the United States had to offer and perhaps most famously the AK-47 Kalashnikov often considered one of the world's most reliable rifles the AK-47 and its iant have sold 100 million units and according to military.com is still the standard infantry weapon for 106 countries those kind of sales don't happen for a poor weapon they're also indicative of Russian military exports in the past through the 1980s Russia was one of the world's leading weapons exporters only trailing the United States in terms of pure volume sold visual capitalist provides interesting data here demonstrating that Russia's weapons exports hovered around the $40 billion per year mark throughout much of the 1980s before falling to the $30 billion points in 1990 and never recovering again those kinds of sales don't happen unless the buyers are happy with the product and a happy buyer in military terms should indicate that a country is producing good weapons or in Russia's case was producing good weapons the fact is that Russian weapon sales have been declining steadily for years we saw a hint of this in the 2010s with visual capitalist showing that Russia's exports dropped below the 20 billion Mark between 2000 and 2004 less than half of the sales being achieved during the 1980s a recovery in the years that followed pushed Russia's exports back up to the $30 billion mark But in more recent years Russia's weapon exports have declined dramatically of course some could argue that this is only logical Russia is engaged in a long conflict with Ukraine so it's only natural that the country will be stockpiling weapons to send to its troops rather than selling them to other countries and that would make sense were it not for the fact that the decline began long before Putin invaded Ukraine according to GI S A geopolitical analysis and forecasting company Russia's share of the global arms Market dropped from 22% between 2013 and 17 down to 16% between 2018 and 22 you'll note these are the four years leading up to the Ukraine war showing that the world's opinions on Russian weapons were declining well before the conflict began the loss of so many sales to India has been the lowlight of this period of decline for Russia's arms industry between 2018 and 22 sales to India dropped by 37% this mirrors the level of sales to seven more of Russia's 10 largest customers which collectively dropped by an average of 59% only China and Egypt were buying more weapons from Russia between 2018 and 22 than they were between 2013 and 17 this leads us to an obvious question why the decline an April 2024 article in Politico theorizes that the Ukraine war has exposed Russia's weapons for what they really are revealing its military and weapons making competence to be a myth simply put those weapons don't live up to the reputation they had during the Soviet era it also points to India as its main example of the global attitude toward modern Russian Weaponry the country spent $60 billion on Russian weapons over the last 20 years but the figure is declining dramatically between 2009 and 13 Russia accounted for 76% of India's weapon Imports between 2018 and 23 that figure was halved Russia only accounted for 36% of the weapons India bought the reason Russia's weapons are old and failing that's according to a dossier compiled by Ukraine's Ministry of Defense which examined Russian weapons recovered from the battlefield to reveal that most are unreliable at best and utterly fail to meet modern standards at worst the dossier claims that Russia's helicopters and armored vehicles are so weak that many are unable to withstand Small Arms Fire Plus its missiles are inaccurate Ukraine claims they only have a 33% chance of hitting their targets in an August 2022 statement a global Affairs analyst named emis sakuru Artis honed in on the KA 52 alligator attack helicopter as an example often lorded as Russia's most modern helicopter the KA 52 is supposed to be equivalent to a flying tank that has a cabin capable of shrugging off direct hits from 12.7 mm caliber bullets with no problems the reality is much different as donatus explains however as it turns out in practice the KA 52 can be disabled with a 7.62 mm machine gun that's a far cry from a flying tank showing that Russia's weapon weapons often don't live up to the claims the country makes about them perhaps that's why so many countries are looking elsewhere to Source their weapons they can see through Russia's smoke screen especially once they have these failing weapons in their hands the KA 52 is just one example let's move on to a more in-depth examination of some of Russia's weapons starting with a piece of equipment that's meant to be a jewel in the country's Crown the T90 tank created during the late Soviet era the T90 was a massive upgrade over the older t72 and T8 tanks in Russia's Arsenal and for the time at least it was among the best tanks in the world featuring reactive and advanced composite armor along with a 125 mm gun and a fire control system that was as modern as they came it looked every inch the modern tank on paper but long before the Ukraine war it was already starting to be exposed Russia's conflicts in chcha and Syria revealed that the T90 was susceptible to most modern anti-tank systems once drones became more prominent on the battlefield it was proven to be even more vulnerable according to the National interest the Chan and Syrian fighters who came up against it say that you don't even necessarily need a modern form of attack to take out a T90 a standard rocket propelled grenade or RPG will do the job more often than not the Ukraine war has exposed the T90 even further not only does it have to face the RPG fire that the Chans and the syrians use to destroy several of the tanks but it also has to contend with modern anti-tank systems like the javelin striking from above the javelin is capable of easily penetrating a t9s armor leaving it a destroyed shell Ukraine had received 7,000 javelins from the United States by April 2022 and it's used them to wreak havoc on Russia's tanks ever since Russia hasn't been able to respond effectively to this type of anti-tank Weaponry in October 2023 Forbes reported that Russia had lost over 2,100 tanks in Ukraine up to that point with the T90 accounting for about 60 of those losses that in itself is revealing if the T90 is supposed to be Russia's best tank why is it sent so few into Ukraine compared to its other much older tanks the situation has gotten so bad according to Forbes that Russia has been forced to reactivate t-72s t-62s and even t-54s and t-55s some of those tanks are around 70 years old and it gets worse so desperate is Russia to defend its tanks against modern anti-tank weapons that it started relying on what the media mockingly calls cope cages Vice reports that these cages which appear to be hastily built using everyday materials before being haphazardly placed over the Tank's turret were first seen in November 2021 when Russian tanks started rolling into Crimea lacking any uniformity in their design the cages appeared to be a desperate attempt to defend against weapons like the javelin the concept is simple enough a javelin that would otherwise hit a tank hits the cage with the explosion that follows failing to penetrate the tank the cope cages haven't worked if they did Russia wouldn't have lost well over 2,000 tanks in Ukraine the entire situation points to Russia having failed to update its tanks so they're capable of dealing with modern anti-tank weapons in the case of the T90 it's not necessarily a bad tank certainly not in the context of the Ukraine war as Ukraine has been forced to rely on t62 and t72 models according to a Ukrainian Lieutenant named Alexander romanuk it takes two or three of those older tanks to stand a chance against the T90 rather it seems like the T90 is a relic of a form of War that's increasingly not being fought anymore it may still come out on top when stacked against many other tanks especially those designed before it but it's a crowning Jewel from the Soviet era that's being repeatedly Shattered by anti-tank weapons against which it was never designed to have a proper defense let's switch Focus to Russia's missiles earlier you heard emis sakuru daus's claims that Russia's missiles aren't particularly accurate he dug deeper into this claim back in 2022 claiming that expert evaluations of Russian missiles in Ukrainian territory found that the 3m4 Calibur Cruis missile which was launched from the sea had just a 33% chance of hitting its Target worse yet around 30% of these missiles hit civilian targets rather than the military targets at which they're aimed a March 2022 report published in Reuters seems to back those claims up it quoted two US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity and their claims that Russia's missiles were suffering failure rates of up to 60% during the first two months of the war reuter speculated that these failure rates could be why Russia failed to establish early aerial control despite having a much larger military furthermore it's why Russia struggled to capture targets quickly in the days before Ukraine was receiving regular support from the West for context the US estimated that Russia fired 1,100 missiles into Ukraine up to March 25th 2022 if the 60% failure rate is accurate that means 660 of those missiles either failed to hit their targets or didn't detonate when they did according to the military experts Reuters spoke to a failure rate of 20% would be considered High a rate of 60% is catastrophic defense news speculates that much as we've seen with Russian tanks the country's missiles have failed to keep Pace with modern developments in May 2023 it noted that Russian missile strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure were becoming less frequent that was after a year of the country growing increasingly reliant on Missile strikes which was less a sign that the strikes were working and more aign that Russia wasn't achieving its objectives the outlet claims that a typical missile heavy strategy would see an early bombardment as we saw during the first months of the war that would slow down once the missiles had done their job of destroying vital infrastructure and Military locations that's not what happened a combination of poor Russian intelligence and a lack of modern targeting capabilities defense news says is responsible for this simply put Russian missiles are too easy for Ukraine to shoot down assuming they even reach their targets in the first place perhaps that's why Russia is increasingly relying on older weapons such as its Glide bombs to wreak havoc on Ukraine the country has been taken to converting old 1.5 ton Fab 1500 and 3.4 ton Fab 3000 bombs by attaching Wings to them the bombs are launched from behind the front lines with the wings allowing them to Glide somewhere close to their targets they're not particularly accurate at least compared to the modern accuracy such a modern missile should have but even if they don't hit their target exactly they produce such a large explosion that they still cause massive damage while you could say the use of these old bombs represents a stroke of in uity by the Russians it's also an unintentional confession our missiles aren't doing the job so we've had to come up with other ways to attack Ukraine so Russia's tanks and missiles are clearly showing their age and are failing at rates nobody expected before the war in Ukraine began but it gets worse for Russia its Air Force is struggling just as much as its ground troops in February 2024 the BBC reported that Ukraine has shot down a staggering 342 Russian planes along with 325 of its helicopters that's an embarrassing figure for a country that's supposed to have the second strongest Air Force in the world and again EMAs sakaru donatus highlighted one of the reasons why this might be happening when speaking about the k52 earlier Russia's flying tank can be taken down with fairly standard Munitions and it doesn't stop there according to an October 2023 article on breaking defense the Russian Aerospace forces or vks are struggling with availability rates after losing so many of its aircraft but even more worrying for the vks is is that many of the planes it's losing aren't its older Soviet era shokoy and Mig Fighters the more modern shokoy models are just as prone to being shot down as the outdated Jets it's sending into Ukraine breaking defense goes on to report the accumulation of flight hours in many of Russia's older planes such as the s34 were already in excess of the country's pre-war projections those craft are being forced to log more hours in the sky than they were designed to manage essentially meaning they're running on fumes from a mechanical perspective that increase in hours also creates a need for more maintenance with the UK's Ministry of Defense pointing out that this is a problem for the vks 2 this need for extra maintenance is Complicated by a shortage of spare parts because of increasing demand and international sanctions an August 2023 report by Rand offers more details it says that Russia finds itself in a position where it's still trying to transition away from the Soviet era aircraft that made it such a powerful aerial force during the Cold War era it's also struggling to bring new aircraft online around half of Russia Fleet is made up of upgraded Soviet era planes because it isn't able to build new aerial assets quickly enough so we see the same situation that we saw with Russia's tanks the country is relying on technology from a bygone military era which could explain why the vks has been so unsuccessful in Ukraine as for fly Towers the Soviet era platforms Russia is using so extensively in the war are generally designed to fly for between 2,000 and 3 1/2 th000 hours that's far below the 3 and 1/2 to 4 1/2 th000 hours most modern military air craft can manage and even with upgrading efforts potentially extending lifespans Rand says that many of the planes Russia is losing are already deep within the last 1,000 hours of their service lives by the summer of 2024 the organization says the vks will be down to 75% of its pre-war strength due to combat losses and many of its aircraft's airframes simply aging out even more worryingly for Russia the story doesn't seem to get much better for its newer planes take the s57 as an example a stealth fighter that's supposed to be among the best fifth generation fighters in the world today the s57 basically hasn't been used in Ukraine part of that is down to Russia simply not having many of the aircraft it only had 10 available to the vks at the beginning of 2023 but even then 10 Su 57s should have been able to wreak havoc on Ukraine Russia claims the jet is one of the best of its kind as well as being the first Russian jet to feature stealth technology it should be featured in the war but it isn't and the reason may lie in the array of technical issues the jet had faced during it development on paper the sc57 is supposed to be a combination of attack aircraft and fighter jet capable of destroying Targets on land at sea or in the air its body is made using Composite Materials including fiberglass polymers and a special aluminium used to create loadbearing honeycomb filters it can also carry up to four k77 M missiles each radar guided and being launchable from Beyond visual range a combination of twin engines calleded by Isel 117 or al41 F1 Turbo fans and 3D thrust vectors should give it immense maneuverability while still allowing it to reach Mac 2 without engaging afterburners however the reality is much different production problems mean that the s57 which was first flown in January 2010 didn't enter service until December 2020 a full 10 years after it first took to the skies and when it did several Aviation experts noted that it's far from the stealth fighter Russia claims it to be one of those experts Chris Bolton took to social media to point out that the jet has a radar cross-section similar to the fa18 Super Hornet that's notable because the Super Hornet isn't a stealth fighter the F-35 is and the s57 has a radar cross-section 1,000 times bigger than America's Main stealth fighter that poor crosssection is a major problem after all a stealth fighter that shows up so prominently on radar isn't a stealth fighter at all perhaps that's why the cremin hasn't deployed it over the Skies of Ukraine it knows that there's a good chance that one of its 10 Su 57s will get shot down leaving it with egg on its face as it tries to explain why a stealth fighter it claims is veering into the sixth generation of jets was so easily taken down by a country that shouldn't be prepared for it so we see the problem of Russia relying on Old Soviet ER Tech again in the war against Ukraine only the s57 adds another issue even Russia's newest technology appears to be incapable of operating at the expected capacity hence Russia doesn't dominate the Skies over Ukraine but what about the seas in pure numbers Russia has the world's largest navy with nearly 750 assets it should have been able to bring that Navy to Bear against Ukraine via the Black Sea with its dreaded Black Sea Fleet anticipated to help Russia claim the only Waters that lead into Ukraine but again that didn't happen instead Ukraine's Navy which is around a seventh of Russia's size has somehow managed to decimate the Black Sea Fleet according to the guardian it had destroyed a third of the fleet by March 2024 with one of its latest strikes taking out the costantin alshansky and amphibious Landing ship that was stationed in Russian controlled sevastopol in fact all Russia's Navy has managed was an amphibious incursion into Odessa during the early weeks of the war since then Ukraine has managed to defend against the Black Sea Fleet by using Coastal attacks to Peppa Putin's surface ships with missiles and Munitions Warrior Maven points out that a problem that has already been highlighted in other Russian weapons affects its Navy an over Reliance on Old Soviet technology for instance the Admiral naimov a Russian battle cruiser is still armed with Firepower developed during the 1980s it has no Hypersonic missiles and despite being almost as large as an Iowa class battle cruiser it packs far less Firepower than comparable ships the US Naval Institute or usni digs deeper it points out that the Russian Navy underwent an extensive period of modernization beginning in the aftermath of the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia in the 14 years since the end of that war and the beginning of the one in Ukraine Russia should have had plenty of time to produce new Surface combatant and submarines as well as upgrade the capabilities of its existing Fleet the investment was provided yet the Russian Navy though growing in size is still far behind where any would anticipate it to be part of the reason according to the usni lies in Russia's approach to its Navy historically the country has always focused its ships on Continental security concerns perhaps leaving them ill equipped to deal with something like a waterborne invasion of Ukraine but more worrying for Russia are the periods of neglect that the Navy has been through for in instance the collapse of the Soviet Union saw Russia reduce its Navy by 75% placing it in a position where it needed to catch up once Russia reached a point where it needed ships again we see that in the aftermath of the war with Georgia Russia had to invest heavily to bring its Navy anywhere near being close to par even then the usni points out that Russia's modernized Navy isn't much different from its Soviet era Navy strategy still revolves around land-based active defense resulting in the construction of ships that are perhaps less capable of attacking positions on land again the Ukraine war provides an example of this with the usni saying that Russia is seemingly incapable of providing direct Naval support to its Army's flank from the water that's surprising given how well Russia used that very tactic throughout World War II it all adds up to a Navy that though impressive on paper is far less capable than it appears still where you could be justified in thinking that Russia's Naval failings are as much due to strategy as Weaponry even if it's still relying on Soviet ships and Tech there's no excuse for the body armor issues the country experiences those issues were evident from the beginning of the war in May 2022 Newsweek reported on a call intercepted by the security service of Ukraine that supposedly saw a Russian soldier speaking to his mother on the phone about the state of his body armor the mother asks the soldier what he needs the soldiers reply body armor it's just what we have now is terrible but that's nothing compared to an October 2022 report published in Forbes it points out that 2017 saw Russia announced that it was to receive 200,000 sets of its ad Advanced ratnik 2 body armor suits with deliveries up to 2020 leaving it with 300,000 sets similar to Western body armor the ratnik 2 features aramid soft armor which is supposed to protect against shrapnel and low velocity bullets as well as ceramic plate inserts to guard against rifle rounds that armor hadn't found its way onto the Ukrainian Battlefield by October 2022 instead Forbes claims Russian troops were being issued body armor that was either inadequate or in some cases fake there are reports of a replica of Russia's stand body armor designed for Airsoft and paintball purposes being delivered to soldiers that armor wasn't armor at all it had no bullet resistance in this case it's possible that corruption lies at the heart of Russia's failings rather than inadequacy for instance 2021 saw a Russian Captain get convicted for stealing and selling 56 body armor sets on avito Russia's equivalent to eBay which raises the question of how many other sets have simply gone missing Forbes also suggests that some new Russian recruits are being forced to buy their their own body armor rather than it being supplied as standard so Russia appears to have a two-fold problem in this area not only is it issuing fake body armor to its soldiers it appears to be running so low in its supply of real body armor that it's forcing conscripts to buy what they need still if all else fails at least Russia has its nuclear weapons right Putin has claimed several times since the beginning of the Ukraine war that he's considering using tactical nukes in the fight plus he's made several threats to Nato and its members about the possibility of nuclear war if get directly involved but even Russia's nuclear threat may not be as strong as it's perceived as wed points out nobody really knows if the decades old nukes that make up much of Russia's Arsenal still work anymore after all nuclear weapons require maintenance the components inside them have expiration dates they're subject to oxidation Decay and metal fatigue there's also the tritium problem this essential isotope is used in hydrogen bombs and has a half life of 12.3 years even if Russia has stockpiles of this isotope which sells for $34,000 per gram those stockpiles are subject to that same level of Decay given what we've seen already with Russia falling back onto so much of its old Soviet Tech to make up for its modern weapons either performing poorly or not at all in Ukraine can anybody guarantee that it's been maintaining its nuclear weapons or is it sitting on a decaying stockpile of nukes many of which would deliver little more than a fizzle if they were launched but we can only speculate what is clear is that corruption a focus on developing Prestige weapons such as as the s57 that don't appear to work and a Reliance on Old technology are the main reasons why Russia's weapons are so bad the Ukraine war has simply exposed how bad and perhaps serves as a practical demonstration of why so many countries that used to buy billions in Russian weapons exports are now looking elsewhere but what do you think are Russia's weapons really as bad as they appear or is the country's struggle to take Ukraine down to Tactical factors will Russia still win the war even if it's relying on outdated weapons it's been more than 2 years since Russia brutally invaded Ukraine that's 2 years The True State of Russian Army more than Russia's President Vladimir Putin thought the invasion would last Putin believed keev would fall in a matter of days clearing his path to complete control and yet Ukraine still stands having inspired Global solidarity and Joint resistance against aggression the country has not only defended its sovereignty for two long years but also managed to deal numerous decisive blows to Russia so much so that the country once hailed as the second strongest military force in the world is now considered by many the second strongest military force in Ukraine but is this true so what is the true state of the Russian armed forces in 2024 that's what you'll find out in this video If you were to inquire about the true state of the Russian armed forces in 2022 or even 23 you would have received a much different answer as mentioned Putin was nowhere near prepared for the resistance and resilience shown by Ukraine this allowed the invaded country to thwart initial Russian advant es and inflict significant losses on Russian forces these losses were so great that in 2023 us intelligence officials claimed that it would take at least a decade for Moscow to recover German experts gave Moscow a little more Credence estimating that Russia's military would need 5 to 8 years to fully recuperate but in a shocking turn of events Moscow seemingly needed months not years to regain significant strength Western military leaders experts and observers can only look on as Russia displays an extraordinary ability to Ure severe punishment and recover at a rate no one could have anticipated these superhuman reconstruction efforts are fueled by one thing besides Putin's spite a massive military budget to begin to understand just how massive all you need to know is that Russia's defense budget for 2024 accounts for as much as oneir of all government spending so how much money is Putin pouring into his War Machine a staggering 7% of its GDP a record high since the Cold War era to put this figure into perspective the US the top military spender worldwide is allocating 3.4% of its GDP for defense purposes China another major spender is using only 1.7% of its GDP for its military interestingly the only country spending more in terms of GDP percentage in the top 10 is Ukraine with a remarkable 37% of course we're missing the gdps of these countries to get the full picture so let's talk numbers the mentioned 7% of Russia's GDP amounts to1 140 billion that's how much Russia is investing in reconstructing its military and that's just the beginning the budget signed in 2023 actually spans the next 3 years during which military spending is expected to surpass the $400 billion mark from these figures alone it's evident that Russia has no intention of ending its invasion of Ukraine anytime soon quite the contrary the country is obviously intending to overwhelm Ukraine in the coming years however it's also becoming increasingly apparent that Putin is ushering Russia into a state of perpet ual war with the amount of money he's pouring into the military he has enough funds to impose martial law or call for a full mobilization virtually whenever speaking of large-scale mobilization this is precisely what helped Russia recuperate its military strength after initial setbacks though calling Russia's losses setbacks might be an understatement as the country is estimated to have expended almost 90% of its pre-war troops as of December 2023 and yet the numbers we're seeing now suggest that Russia's military is bigger than ever how is is possible the answer is simple Russia is focusing on quantity not quality in late 2022 Russia enlisted 300,000 new troops to fight in Ukraine by June 2024 it plans to mobilize another 300,000 people for the same purpose so numbers-wise it appears Russia's military is flourishing however this emphasis on quantity comes at a cost and a major one at that you see the new recruits are hastily trained at best and lack the experience and expertise of seasoned solders soers so yes Russia is replenishing its ranks at an impressive speed constantly sending new troops to the front lines but as things stand these troops are sent there to die however Putin doesn't seem to care just like he doesn't care where these new troops are coming from that's why there have been reports of Russia Mass recruiting foreign Nationals into volunteer formations under a short-term contract Russia has also reportedly mobilized prisoners for assault squads using six-month contracts then there are mercenaries from the ammat group of the ch Special Forces and the Vagner group The Notorious Russian state funded private military company just the crem de La Creme don't you agree but again Russia isn't particularly picky the Kremlin doesn't care about the methods as long as it achieves its desired outcomes that's why many of the currently contracted Russian soldiers were actually forced into signing a new contract of course this isn't the case for all the contracted soldiers in the Russian army some of there consciously motivated by patriotism and a sense of Duty however a large chunk of the soldiers who' join the Russian army willingly are there to improve their poor financial situation there are even some soldiers who joined Army branches that aren't involved in the war thus essentially hiding in plain sight all in all there were around 470,000 troops in Ukraine at the beginning of 2024 that's roughly 13% of the total Russian military which is estimated to have 3.57 million Personnel of course this number accounts for both the active and Reserve personnel which comprise 1.32 million and 2 million personnel resp effectively the rest of the Russian military consists of paramilitary formations despite the heavy losses Russia only plans to expand its military by the end of 2026 the number of active duty Armed Forces is expected to grow to 1.5 million people out of these troops half would be staffed by contract servicemen however Russia expects to reach this number of 750,000 contract servicemen by the end of 20124 now if you think these figures sound too good to be true you're absolutely right the ever accelerating recruit Pace would be challenging to pull off even for a nation with a stable and thriving economy let alone one grappling with sanctions and internal strife the truth is that this Mass recruitment is nothing but a bureaucratic campaign that aims to achieve the desired Army size on paper with no regard for how sustainable or effective it will be in practice that's why the 300,000 new servicemen Russia plans to mobilize in 2024 will probably suffer the same fate as the initial 300,000 thrown to the front lines in 2022 as mentioned Russia lost almost 90% of its pre-war troops by December 2023 these losses account for up to 120,000 troops killed and roughly 200,000 soldiers wounded but how is it possible for a country as militarily powerful as Russia to lose so many soldiers when battling a smaller and less equipped Nation like Ukraine the answer primarily lies in Russia's highly attritional military tactics the country's troops are often pushed to the point of inoperability before being rotated out Russia also also often relies on human wave attacks which lead to massive casualties as soldiers are sent into battle with little regard for their survival these types of attacks were used around places like bakut and adiva costing thousands of poorly armed and trained Russian soldiers their lives as they rushed entrenched Ukrainian positions to understand just how great these losses are all you need to know is that Russia lost more soldiers in the 4-month campaign for a divka than it did in a decade long war in Afghanistan but Russia's Army isn't only degraded in terms of human losses the attritional tactics have also taken a severe toll on its equipment and resources with this in mind let's see how Russia's Armed Forces stand in terms of military equipment in 2024 first up Russia's land power the ground is generally where Russia is perceived to be at its most powerful look at any category that matters in this regard the number of Tanks artillery or armored vehicles and you'll see that Russia is either number one or in the top three countries in the world however having many ground military assets also means there are many assets to lose this especially Rings true for Russia which has been recklessly deploying its land force in Ukraine in tanks alone Russia has lost over 3,000 units since 2022 this is roughly the number of active tanks the Russian military was operating pre-war some reports even indicate that the number of lost tanks is twice as high over 7,000 units but despite the heavy losses Russia still securely holds the number one position in total number of Tanks worldwide the country owes this position to a massive stock pile of Soviet era tanks many of which have returned to service after years of inactivity so as of 2024 models like the t55 and t62 tanks can be found in active service despite being decommissioned years ago but like with the number of added troops we have another quality versus quantity dilemma Russia May boast a large number of Tanks but many of them were in need of replacement even before the war in Ukraine began so just imagine how well these units Faire in a modern combat scenario though you don't have to imagine as the reports coming from Ukraine paint quite a vivid picture for instance Russia lost 31 tanks in a single day May 13th 2024 just a day before it lost another five units on April 7th the number of Russian tanks was reduced by 17 March 28th wiped out another 10 tanks from Russia's inventory while trying to seize control of adiva in February 2024 Russia lost a staggering 400 tanks January 28th took 10 more tanks from the Russian army and the list goes on and on the country started the year with about 160,000 infantry fighting Vehicles making it the third largest Fleet in the world but each of the attacks described above also wiped out a portion of Russia's Fighting Vehicle inventory since the beginning of the invasion Russia has lost around 8,800 of these vehicles primarily consisting of mtbs bmps and btrs despite their Cold War Roots these vehicles have served Russia's military well for decades providing mobility and Firepower to its troops the same can't be said for the d10 and D20 howitzers which have previously been decommissioned however just like the mentioned Soviet era tanks these artillery pieces returned to service to make up for the heavy losses suffered in this department at the beginning of 2024 Russia was estimated to have over 6,200 self-propelled artillery pieces and over 8,300 toad pieces though it's lost quite a few throughout 2024 it seems that the situation with artillery shells is more urgent than the one with artillery pieces themselves that's why Russia significantly ramped up its production volumes dipped into its stock piles and even turned to North Korea and Iran for imports over 300,000 artillery shells were shipped over the Caspian Sea from Iran to Russia in as little as 6 months North Korea has sent 10 times as much since September 2023 providing a major Lifeline for Russia's land forces the Reliance on countries like Iran and North Korea which undoubtedly have their own geopolitical agendas underscores the length to which Russia is willing to go to per severe in the war against Ukraine Russia has relied on these countries in other regards as well for instance Moscow has extensively employed Iranian drones instead of cruise missiles as the latter are significantly more expensive and decreasing in number at an alarming rate now let's discuss Russia's air power in 2024 given how important drones are becoming on the modern Battlefield let's discuss them first interestingly Russia was slow to realize the importance of over Battlefield drone aircraft which is why it initially lagged behind other countries countries in developing and deploying drone technology however Russia came to its senses and as of 2024 it's estimated to have over 3,500 drones but most of its locally made drones are used for reconnaissance missions while the attack aircraft have been primarily imported from Iran in the Drone Department Russia has fared pretty well having reported almost no losses in 2024 the same can't be said for the country's other aircraft in 2024 alone Russia lost eight Jets and one helicopter here's a quick overview of the Lost aircraft number one the berv A50 a Soviet era Airborne early warning and control aw and C aircraft since this aircraft was lost Over the Sea of azov the Russian Air Force now has 12 more units in its arsenal number two the uian ill 22 a Soviet era airliner this aircraft was damaged by a surfac to- a missile leaving the Russian Air Force with only one functional unit three the ilin ill 76 a Soviet era multi-purpose turb ban strategic airlifter this shot down aircraft was one of 120 in Russia's Fleet number four the Shuki S35 an air defense fighter after this multi-roll fighter was shot down over eastern Ukraine Russia is in possession of 117 of these Jets five another Su 35 shot down over the AZ of sea bringing the total to 116 number six another A50 lowering the total number to 11 number seven the shiko su27 a Soviet origin twin engine supersonic fighter aircraft designed for air superiority missions Russia still has over 50 of these Advanced jets in its inventory number eight the tupv 222 m a supersonic Maritime strike bomber an engine fire caused this aircraft to crash near stavole leaving the Russian Air Force with 66 total units though these losses are significant the sheer number of remaining aircraft in each category should tell you that Russia still has a rather sizable Air Force in total this Air Force consists of the following over 800 fighter jets over 700 attack aircraft over 400 transport aircraft over 100 special Mission aircraft almost 20 tanker aircraft and over 1,500 helicopters of which more than a third are Attack Helicopters of course Russia isn't able to actively employ all of these aircraft at once for several reasons the availability of Pilots with sufficient experience is among the primary Ones Still Russia has been able to maintain air superiority over Ukraine for the entire 2 years since the Invasion the only event that could potentially change this is the highly anticipated arrival of the western made F-16 Jets which Ukraine should receive in June or July 2024 with these Jets Ukraine will be able to challenge Russia in the air more forcefully and potentially down more aircraft as the year goes on though to be fair Ukraine has done a pretty good job at keeping the Russian Air Force at Bay especially considering the inferior nature of its own air power however there's another theater where Ukraine has worked wonders with almost no power the naval theater despite having virtually no Navy Ukraine has managed to wreak havoc on its oppressor Naval capabilities sinking dozens of its vessels Ukraine has made such advances that it's virtually freed the Black Sea of the Russian Black Sea Fleet making many experts wonder whether Crimea can be back under Ukraine's control soon so far in 2024 Ukraine has managed to damage three Russian vessels number one a Taran tool class Corvette r334 ivanets one of 20 in the Russian Navy possession however this loss doesn't change the fact that Russia has the highest number of Corvettes in the world with over 80 in total number two a reput a one-class landing ship cesak kunov one of 15 in Russia's arsenal number three a Mangus class Patrol boat one of 62 Russia owns if Ukraine gets its hands on the F-16 jets these numbers could also exponentially rise but for now Russia still has a pretty solid Navy with almost 800 total vessels some of the highlights include 65 submarines 47 Mine Warfare vessels 14 destroyers and 12 frigs however it's important to note that not all of these vessels can reach Ukraine with turkey's blockade of the Black Sea and Ukraine's decisive actions in the region the local Russian Navy seems less than impressive worst of all Russia can't simply produce new vessels for the Black Sea Fleet as this would take substantial time and resources both of which Russia currently lack but what about Russia's production efforts in other departments well they're well underway like Russia's population the defense industry has been fully mobilized as arms manufacturers are urged to work Round the Clock and just like with the troops impossibly High numbers are being thrown around production-wise once again Russia is doing all in its power to project an image of overwhelming strength and resilience but in reality this staggering production growth can be explained by two not so desirable practices number one production efforts heavily rely on stocks of materials and components Russia has previously accumulated but naturally the these stocks are finite so it's only a matter of time before they deplete and number two Russia is resorting to cannibalization cannibalization is the practice of refurbishing or repairing equipment using Parts salvaged from other units often resulting in compromised performance and reliability since neither of these practices is sustainable Russia is struggling to maintain an impressive rate of production in 2024 lowering the industry's capacity to support the ongoing military operations for now the annual output of the Russian defense industry is expected to reach 1,500 tanks 3,000 armored vehicles up to 5 million artillery shells up to 1,500 longrange missiles up to 4,200 one-way attack drones as mentioned Russia is also relying on allies for the weapons it can't manage to produce or components for the equipment it's currently producing besides North Korea and Iran China has been a major Ally in this regard supplying components for helicopters jamming technology for military vehicles components for defense system systems and parts for fighter jets all things considered it becomes clear that the Russian armed forces can fight for quite some time but what about the commanders of those forces Russia can put up a front of unwavering leadership all at once but the number of replaced commanders since the beginning of the invasion suggests that the country's military hierarchy is severely fractured and Putin is less than satisfied with the military's performance in 2024 alone there were two major dismissals indicating the true state of the Russian armed forces number one Admiral nikolaiev manov the commanderin-chief of the Russian Navy the 61-year-old Admiral got the boot after allowing Ukraine to sink a string of Warships in the Black Sea he was replaced by Admiral Alexander MV in March 2024 number two and arguably the biggest Kremlin shakeup since the invasion began sergy shyu Russian Minister of Defense of 12 years shyu was Putin's close Ally and the longest serving member of his cabinet still he was dismissed and replaced by a civilian no less his replacement is a technocrat economist Andre basov who's likely been chosen to bring fresh perspective to the military leadership after the defense budget has been ratcheted up to 7% of Russia's GDP plus it helps that he's unconnected to corruption allegations that are currently being investigated by Russian authorities so where do all of these contradictory data and actions leave us in the famous quote from HBO's limited series chobble not great not terrible on the one hand the Russian armed forces are doing much better than any Western Observer could have predicted in 2024 at least for now the country seems to be holding its own against Ukraine and its West allies maintaining its position as a major military power on the other hand the progressive military depletion and prioritizing quantity over quality is bound to catch up with Russia at some point though the Kremlin believes it can sustain the current attrition rate through 2025 it's likely that by 2026 Russia will have exhausted most of its available stocks and resources leading to significant challenges in maintaining its combat power and Effectiveness in the long run but again we're talking about Russia and with Russia you never know some high-ranking officials believe that Russia will continue strengthening its Armed Forces at the same rate with the end goal of challenging a NATO member state but what do you think can Russia truly maintain its aggressive stance in the long run or do you believe it's only a matter of time before the country's Armed Forces crumble and let us know how you perceive the state of the Russian armed forces in 2024 a remarkable show of resilience or a crumbling facade the invasion of Ukraine How Many Russian Soldiers Have Really Died in Ukraine by Russia in 2022 escalated a conflict that began with Putin's annexation of Crimea in 2014 transforming it into a full-blown War marked by substantial losses on both sides the question of how many soldiers Russia has lost looms large while Putin may present figures suggesting minimal losses evidence from Ukraine and Western media paints a starkly different picture of Russian casualties yet the toll of this conflict extends beyond the battlefield casualties significant damage to equipment weapons and lost territories underscores the war's broader impact what do these losses indicate about the current state of Putin's war in Ukraine and its possible future trajectory let's dive in from the outset Putin believed it would be a relatively short war lasting a few weeks and with minimal casualties what followed were months of fierce attritional fighting with both sides and independent reports claiming higher and higher casualties with the severe underestimation of the duration and extent of the war it was likely that Putin believed that Russian casualties wouldn't reach more than a few hundred or a few thousand but then the true figures started rolling in with a large chunk of the world focused on the ongoing Conflict at least until Israel declared war on Hamas it's understandable that both Russia and Ukraine would want to twist the narrative in their favor indeed one of the first reports from Russia in June 2022 spoke of only 5,900 deaths in the Russian Armed Forces on the other hand reports from the US and UK suggested that the actual figure was closer to 15,000 Ukrainian reports went further still stating that as many as 30,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the first few months of the war so which figure is correct there's no way to know for certain but a study published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal pnas suggested that there's a method to how each country displays its losses on average Ukraine reports nearly double the number of actual Russian Russian deaths but doesn't have a bias towards reporting their own deaths this is possibly in an attempt to gain further support from the Count's sympathetic to Ukraine's cuse such as members of the EU and NATO that are supplying Ukraine with military aid on the other hand Russia severely under reports deaths of their own soldiers at a rate of roughly 0.3 per one actual death any figure from Russia therefore should be nearly tripled to get a value that's close to correct additionally the Russian media reports Ukrainian deaths at a ratio of a staggering 4.3 to1 meaning that Russians are led to believe that more than four times as many ukrainians have died than have in reality as a result getting accurate figures on Russian casualties from either Ukrainian or Russian media can be a serious undertaking considering the number fudging that the state media Outlets do to further their own War agenda luckily that's where unofficial reports from Russian media outlets and military or reports from Independent Media Can Shed light on the whole truth one of the most notable reports coming from the Russian side was that of the Vagner group a private military group funded by the Russian government in a May 2023 report that was mostly unauthorized by the state media the then leader of Vagner yevi progan revealed that the Vagner company lost around 22,000 troops and had 40,000 more injured based on that report and extrapolating from the size of Vagner compared to the Russian military reports from the UK and Us Media suggested that Russia lost around 120,000 Soldiers by August 2020 23 with another 170,000 wounded this could support the numbers outlined in the pnas study which suggested that the actual deaths of Russians by February 2023 were around 77,000 as such estimates by the UK and Us Media were on the right track though the actual numbers are much more difficult to confirm that's where BBC Russia and media Zona an independent news Outlet joined forces to investigate wartime deaths thoroughly unlike traditional reports based solely on field reports and those from the militaries the BBC delved deeper and tried to individually document every death on either side of the conflict this was done through not only reports but required actual military records the circumstances that led to the death and reports from the person's local area all of which would likely be more nuanced and detailed in many cases reporters went all over the country to extract information about the recently deceased from graveyards parades and War memorials scouring for new names and Graves the investigators also searched for posts on social media from the deceased relatives and friends or obituaries published in local newspapers the essence of the detailed search was that each death had to have a name attached no longer were the numbers just figures that would pop into someone's head only to be forgotten a few seconds later they were now real people who had died for their country no matter how flawed the cause this stringent set of criteria led to many of the deaths being overlooked due to the investigator's inability to confirm whether what was in the report from either Russian or Ukrainian Outlets was actually true however with the BBC's backing of the data the BBC Russia media Zona report is considered the closest to the actual count of Russian soldier deaths if not going under the real figure due to the aforementioned difficulties in obtaining the correct figures if someone's name was on the list then that means the person most likely existed and died during the Russo Ukrainian War the figures reported in October 20123 by BBC Russia suggested that Russia had lost around 88,000 soldiers 20 months into the war BBC Russia didn't provide an estimate of the injured in that period but the US news outlets reported around 170,000 injuries around August 2023 which was the most realistic estimate at the time better yet the report was so detailed that the outlets could track down the deceased soldiers to the exact unit they served in this served to create a detailed analysis of Russia's wartime efforts as well as the average number of soldiers present in the Russian military the reports from the early months of the war roughly correlated with what you'd expect most common deaths to be younger soldiers on the front lines with the average being a 21-year-old male professional Soldier however the figures from the later months in the report suggested that there was an increasing number of former prison inmates in the Vagner group and Pilots dying than usual this is important for two reasons first it showcased that the Russian military despite a widespread effort to conscript more soldiers was bolstered by those most likely unwilling to actually fight for the country and were coerced into stepping onto the front line lines inmates accounted for roughly 18.6% of all deaths recorded by BBC in media Zona this highlights the extent of desperation present in the Vagner group to bolster its trained military with people considered Expendable meat shields for the more vital soldiers in the units second the deaths of Pilots meant that Russia was being drained of Highly specialized military troops that it couldn't train in time to replace the deceased in some estimates it takes roughly $3 million and multiple years to make a pilot combat ready this means that each pilot taken down by Ukrainian forces results in the grounding of a part of Russia's Air Force another independent Outlet Medusa worked alongside the previously mentioned media Zone to conduct its own study on the Russian casualties during the war unlike the investigation done by the BBC Medusa relied on information from the Russian probate Registries which are used when Real Estate or cars are inherited when their original owner dies by going through the number of open cases that use the probate registry Medusa could approximate the excess mortality in the Russian population this methodology is akin to the estimates used during the covid-19 pandemic where Russia obfuscated the number of deaths in the country for similar reasons since the pandemic wasn't over in 2021 Medusa had to fall back down to data prior to 2020 the news website published its full methodology alongside the sources the outlet used to make their claims according to its study Medusa reported that Russia had 25,000 excess deaths by the end of 2022 which was likely most if not all from the Russo Ukrainian War similarly the outlet suggested around 47,000 excess deaths by May 2023 just 5 months after the first report showcasing that the deaths sharply increased in 2023 if we take these figures to be true then the estimate by the BBC of 88,000 deaths in October is probably as close to reality as we can get but those are figures from mid to late 20123 and the war is still going what are the most recently updated figures according to the latest data presented by BBC Russia the total Russian death toll could be as high as 107,000 as of February 2024 and that's not all when compounded with the estimates of severe injuries that cause soldiers to be discharged from the service the total losses of the Russian army could amount to as many as 321,000 this figure closely aligns with the numbers published by the US news outlets suggesting around 315,000 losses this accounts for more than 85% of the troops in Russia's Invasion available forces which were around 360,000 of the estimated 107,000 casualties over the course of 24 months the war resulted in 53,500 casualties on the Russian side alone compare that to the other notable Wars and the figure is higher than the war in Iraq 2013 to 17 50,9 deaths per year and the Syrian Civil War 2011 to present 43,7 36 deaths per year when combined with the losses suffered by by Ukraine the death toll is a staggering 95,000 per year this makes the Russo Ukrainian War the deadliest conflict in the 21st century beating out the Tigra war in Ethiopia but the number of human casualties paints only part of the picture of the true losses suffered by Russia as a result of invading Ukraine also devastating have been the other military losses during the war that of equipment and infrastructure according to a February 2023 report Russia lost roughly half of its battle ready tanks a year into the war crippling its ability to mount a unified offensive this partly led to the drawn out conflicts going on today yet another report in April 2023 suggested that Russia has lost over 10,000 pieces of vital military equipment including tanks trucks artillery and drones in some cases the losses were so severe that the Russian military was forced to redeploy some Soviet and Cold War era tanks which were veritable Museum pieces in 2022 this is a huge down downgrade in Russian military capacity while the t-54s were among the peak tanks in the 20th century their usefulness sharply dropped with new anti-tank weapons being developed in the late ' 80s and '90s today a t-54 is no match for the most devastating weapons fielded by Ukraine that the UK France and the US have been steadily providing to the front lines furthermore the t-54s 100 mm guns struggle to penetrate modern armor making them relatively useless in tank-to-tank Warfare cons considering that is a relatively rare occurrence the t-54 still poses some threat to infantry and light unarmored tanks and vehicles such as the Soviet era grad launcher both sides are still using to this day comparatively Ukraine has reintroduced most of its old Weaponry such as the t55 but its fleet was upgraded with modern 105 mm L7 guns capable of piercing through contemporary armor Ukrainian tanks have also upgraded engines and tactical equipment putting Russia woefully behind in technology on the front lines According to some reports Russia is even holding back its tanks for later use and trying to stockpile as many tanks as possible this includes the newly built t9s and the older t62 t72 and t880s that Russia has pulled out of Cold Storage as a result most of the forces currently fighting on the front lines are purely infantry and Russia is acre more losses by the day this could point to Russia trying to accumulate enough tanks for a final push in the future and is using its infantry as cannon fodder to try and lower Ukraine's defenses as much as possible before that happens while this might sound like a dubious plan by Russia's military command the fact is that Russia has roughly four times the population of Ukraine while of course not everyone can be conscripted the attritional nature of the war could lead to Russia gaining some ground in the long term since it can absorb heavier losses and regroup its efforts later however this has led to multiple waves of conscription efforts in the country usually focused on Lower density regions this is partially due to the comparatively lower salaries outside of the major cities usually around $500 per month compared to $1,200 in Moscow additionally a military contract provides up to $2,500 per month making it lucrative to lower earning people in remote provinces as a result other reports from Medusa suggest that people in far off provinces are much more likely to be the casualties of the Russo Ukrainian War the outlet states that for every moscovite that dies in the war 275 people in baracha and 3 50 people in tuva die which are some of the poorest regions predominantly inhabited by various minorities it's not just the poor that have suffered over the course of the war the conscription efforts have shaken the country to its core resulting in waves of people immigrating from Russia to avoid being conscripted if that wasn't the primary reason then many more have suffered from Russia's attempts to subvert the public on how the war is actually going in some extreme cases the authorities have forbidden people from creating memorials for the Fallen ones or spreading information about Russia's War efforts According to some estimates more than 900,000 Russians have left the country since the invasion these are mostly people with the means to book prohibitively expensive flights or find other methods to legally escape the country as such they are primarily middleclass citizens usually in it and service sectors that brought significant income to the country via taxes this is a huge blow to Russia's economy but it's not the only one due to Russia's plentiful supply of oil and natural gas and the eu's previous lack of those resources the country could command high prices on the market and invest significant funds into building a pipeline infrastructure however due to the invasion and most of Europe's siding with Ukraine that trade has trickled to a portion of what it used to be and has stopped altogether in some cases this led to Russia needing to find an alternative source of funding to power its War Machine that's where China entered the picture as a resource demanding country with pretty much no access to oil and gas as well as precious building materials and minerals internally China has previously used overseas oil importers from the Persian Gulf recent geopolitical influence from the US in the area made China hesitant to fully rely on the gulf as its sole source of oil and gas for that reason they had to diversify former Soviet countries such as Tajikistan account for a noticeable fraction of China's oil imports but the country saw an opportunity in the new conflict between the Russians and ukrainians China positioned itself as one of Russia's biggest allies throughout the war at least on the surface it has not condemned any of Russia's military operations inside Ukraine and has consistently abstained in negotiations and discussions in the UN regarding Russia additionally China has negotiated a significant trade deal with Russia for its oil gas and resources from the Siberian Far East faced with losing a bulk of its export funding from the West Russia was forced to accept exporting oil and gas to China at prices roughly half of those the resources had with its Western Partners despite that the Russian economy is still still going relatively strong even if it's becoming obvious that a bulk of it is solely oriented toward its War efforts but it's still suffering from the inability to trade properly with other countries and extreme losses in Manpower and equipment that requires a lot of funding to replace as a result Russia's Central Bank reported in 2023 that the country's inflation rate is roughly 11.1% however the actual prices paint a much Grimmer picture of Russia's economy some economists suggest that the actual inflation rate in Russia is closer to 60% with food prices spiking up to 75% compared to the figures from 2022 if this continues Russia could end up with a runaway inflation problem that threatens the entire country's economy with collapse this is bolstered by the fact that interest rates in Russia's banks have so to 15% the interest hike is not the first in the history of the Russia Ukrainian War shortly after the invasion Banks set the interest rate to 20% but lowered them to normal levels shortly afterward however it looks like the current economic situation is dire enough that the interest rates will stay as is it's forced many residents to move their disposable income into savings accounts with estimates putting the deposit rates at 32% much higher than those in the Western World such as in the UK with only 9% The increased savings deposit can lead to a domino effect with a significant chunk of money locked away in savings accounts the Russian economy or more accurately its citizens won't have enough disposable Capital to maintain itself regardless the Russian media consistently reports that the country's economy is doing well and the rest of the world begrudgingly agrees the IMF reported that Russia's economy grew faster than any country currently on the G7 list France Germany Italy Canada Japan the UK and the US this paints a bleak picture and suggests that the war might extend for a couple more years but is this growth actually sustainable by any standards the short answer is no while Russia's economy is arguably doing well enough to support its War efforts all measures taken by Russia's government are ultimately Patchwork solutions that will create an unbalanced highly centralized economy focused on the big Russian cities additionally if the conscription efforts continue there's probably going to be a lack of available recruits from Russia's poorer areas this will mean that Russia will finally have to aggressively recruit from Moscow and other big cities these are the same places that are powering Russia's propaganda machine currently moscovites don't feel the effect of the war on their daily life apart from slightly increased prices in the country's Capital their standard of living hasn't been affected yet but if Russia is required to pull their recruits from the same people that are propping up the Russian economy and are completely oblivious to the real state of the country the wall of Illusion will break rapidly with that comes the potential acknowledgement that Russia has lost more than just Soldiers the economy is being supported artificially China has basically made Russia accept any and all terms in order to have their plentiful oil and gas exported at any price the rest of Europe has seen that PU 's regime is no longer as Ironclad as it used to be and is heavily dependent on the core of Russia being none the wiser about the reality of the war and fate of the country if that happens the consequences for Russia could be catastrophic the current prognosis on the war is that Russia can't make a meaningful push into Ukraine in 2024 due to consistent setbacks in obtaining the right equipment most of which is being imported from China that means that Russia is facing another year of uncertainty where it must push more people into the wars meat grinder to maintain a semblance of superiority over Ukraine at least in the eyes of its most devoted populace as such the future is uncertain China's moves in recent years suggest that it might consider attacking Russia for the precious resources and drinking water of Siberia however it's more likely that China will keep up with an endless stream of Demands to either prolong the war or enforce its own peace terms on both countries to get the best deal regardless it's most likely that Russia will become nothing more than a Chinese puppet either exporting most of its resources to China in return for complete influence both technologically and politically alternatively China will actually invade Russia and take the country's resources for itself in either case Russia will likely cease being a meaningful player on the world's stage and be forced to Pander to Chinese whims of course even these scenarios aren't certain with the US hinting that China is not a severe threat to the world it's likely that the US military has already poised itself to take advantage of any moves China makes and retaliate appropriately but how by cutting off the country's resource supplies to the South before it can recuperate from praying on Russia that puts everyone in a state of stalemate in any case Russia has lost more than 1 million people overall whether due to death injuries or widespread immigration and its economy stands to lose even more the fate of the country rests with Putin's current regime and whether it can gain a meaningful victory over Ukraine and enforce peace terms that enable the economy to bounce back otherwise Russia May collapse in the same way the Soviet Union collapsed three decades before but what do you think is going to happen with Russia February 24th 2022 Russia TRUE Reasons for Russia's INCOMPETENCE invades Ukraine in what was designed as a smash and grab military Mission the objective was simple catch the ukrainians by surprise overwhelm the country's forces and take keev in doing so Russia would control the rest of Ukraine depriving it of the independence it had held since the breakdown of the Soviet Union in the process and it almost worked President Vladimir Putin's troops got as far as the outskirts of Kei before Ukraine managed to organize its defenses and fight back support from the International Community started flooding in bolstering Ukraine's forces and giving them access to the equipment ammunitions they needed to repel the Russian invasion and even launch counterattacks but it shouldn't have been enough even with all of the support flowing into Ukraine Russia's military is supposed to be strong enough to defeat a nation that is a fraction of its size and strength so why hasn't it why is Russia's Army so weak when for years it's been touted as one of the world's strongest militaries after all the statistics paint a picture of a country that could bulldoze almost any other on the planet according to Global Firepower or gfp which ranks countries annually based on the strength of their militaries Russia is the second strongest in the world it only just falls behind the United States and is ahead of China with a military so massive that it should be the Envy of most other countries just take a look at the numbers when it comes to Shear Firepower Russia has 1.32 million active military personnel with a further 2 million sitting in reserve that's not to mention paramilitary forces such as the infamous Vagner Group which is 250,000 members strong throwing conscription which the country has started to enforce since the beginning of the Ukraine war and Russia has access to a further 46.4 million people outside of its active military that it could push into service on the surface it also has the second strongest Air Force in the world gfp says it has 4,255 aircraft in stock with 2,766 of those being in a state of combat Readiness again the only country that beats Russia's Air Force is the United States at least in sheer numbers and yet we've seen Russia fail to take advantage of its aerial superiority time and time again in Ukraine more on that later for now let's focus on Russia on the ground again the numbers show its supposed might a staggering 14 1,777 tanks the most in the world and 161,162 multiple launch rocket systems then there's it Navy on paper it's the largest in the world with 781 assets it has the most submarines 65 and the most Corvettes at 83 Russia is also heavily Adept at Mine Warfare with 47 vessels frankly Ukraine shouldn't have stood a chance if Russia's military is as strong as it appears on paper its ground troops should have steamrolled through Ukraine supported by an Air Force that would make it incredibly difficult for Ukraine's Ground Forces to fight back Russia's Navy should also have held the Black Sea allowing the country to send more troops into Ukraine while also buffeting its coastlines with attacks but none of this happened instead we've seen Russia get bogged down in a war that's lasted for over 2 years at the time of this video's creation its Black Sea fleet was roundly defeated its Air Force has failed to establish aerial dominance over Ukraine and even its ground troops though they've slowly managed to gain ground in the country have suffered massive losses that some sources estimate to be veering close to 500,000 people in short we've seen Russia exposed as a paper tiger a military that looks dominating on paper but is revealed to be much weaker when an actual War all of which leads us to the key question we'll answer in this video why is Russia so weak there are many reasons behind Russia's strength deception starting with the corruption that runs rampant through not only its military but also in the general Russian leadership structure in a March 2022 article examining Russia's failure to take Ukraine quickly Politico highlighted the effects of corruption on Russian troops it cited reports that some of the country's soldiers had received rations that expired in 2015 noting that there's a connection between yevi progan the late main patron of the Vagner military group killed in a mysterious Jet crash in 2023 and many of the companies that make these rations the implication was that prian was taking the money he got from Russia's government and using it to line his own Pockets former Russian opposition leader alexe navali practically said as much when campaigning against Putin claiming that pran's companies essentially operated a cartel that gamed the Russian bidding system to land huge contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars very little of that money would go towards supplying the food and equipment Russia's troops needed as for navali he was imprisoned in 2021 on charges of embezzlement around 18 months later he went missing from his cell for 3 weeks only to be found in another prison located in the Arctic Circle by February 2024 he was dead Russia is Accused by many Western governments of having killed him politico's article goes on to report that Russia's troops involved in the initial invasion of Ukraine were held back by a lack of fuel they needed to push forward again corruption was likely the cause of this problem Russia is one of the most fuel rich countries in the world even with the many sanctions placed against it by Western countries in the wake of the Ukraine war it's still the world's third largest oil producer and yet it couldn't keep its own troops stocked up with the fuel they needed to complete their mission embezzlement may have been the issue here as well Russia's military often refers to fuel as its second currency indicating long-standing knowledge that the fuel that's supposed to go to the military is often siphoned away to line other people's pockets these are just a couple of examples and it gets worse for Russia on the corruption front in a 2020 report Transparency International and its government defense Integrity index placed Russia in band D that indicates a high risk of corruption owing to a lack of external oversight on budgets policies and the activities of the institutions the country relies upon to provide for its military it's a real life example of the idiom when the cats away the mice will play Only In this case the Russian State cat turning a blind eye to the many mice in its military system allows those mice to severely undermine the strength of the country's military Kickbacks and theft are common place according to action on armed violence with Russia's military reflecting its social hierarchy rigid brutal corrupt a trio of issues leads to those at the top getting richer while constantly having to watch their backs while those on the ground in Ukraine have to deal with situations that shouldn't affect any modern military but corruption is far from Russia's only military problem there's also the fact that the invasion of Ukraine wasn't even a military decision it came from the Kremlin to understand why that matters you need to know what the Kremlin is though the term Kremlin is often interchangeably used with military when it comes to Russia the two are separate the Kremlin is actually Russia's government and it was this group that planned and launched the operation in Ukraine not the military that creates problems of its own like in the military hierarchy those in the Kremlin are both subject to corruption and fearful of the possibility that they may lose their position the latter issu was especially important to what we see in Ukraine according to GIS the research organization suggests that Putin's Kremlin advisers were likely too scared to inform their masters of the true state of Russia's military leading to Putin heading to Ukraine with a misinformed view of his military's true might it's because of this lack of communication within the Kremlin that we've also seen so many Russian logistical failures inside Ukraine GIS highlights one instance that it says is symbolic of Russia's logistical failings near the beginning of the war a column of soldiers from the Ros bardia the kremlin's National Guard unit was sent toward Ukraine in lightly armored vehicles those soldiers weren't equipped with guns or similar military apparel instead they went in more as Riot police than soldiers being given Shields batons and helmets their objective was to control the streets of keev the reality was that they were essentially Lambs to the slaughter for the city's Defenders showcasing the kremlin's complete lack of understanding of what its military actually needed to take the city this singular instance of poor planning is symptomatic of what's happened throughout the 2 years that Russia has been fighting Ukraine Rand expands on this pointing out that the Kremlin utterly failed to anticipate the invasion's logistical requirements going as far as to suggest the Kremlin may not have even had the capacity to understand this requirement it points out that Russian troops rapidly ran out of equipment and ammo in the early months of the war making it impossible to either seize territory or maintain control over territory they had already taken and the situation isn't getting much better in a November 2023 report published in prava the news Outlet reported on the UK's Ministry of defense or mod and it claims that Russian military personnel on the front lines in Ukraine faced terrible living conditions supposedly soldiers who had returned from the front lines had been wet from head to toe for several weeks and were even unable to light fires in their camps after all doing so could alert Ukrainian forces to their positions meaning they were forced into eating monotonous and perhaps outdated rations in the mud while they waited for orders it all adds up to Russia failing to provide its Soldiers with what they need corruption is part of the reason for that the equipment just doesn't exist in some places but the kremlin's failure to plan its special military operation properly seemingly just operating under the assumption that Russia would achieve an easy win led to a poor logistical setup in other words even the equipment that Russia can provide to its soldiers on the front lines either isn't getting to them or isn't usable once it's there let's take a deeper look at the equipment Russia has Inc increasingly relied on Old Soviet stock to attack Ukraine according to European security and defense or esnd Russia's initial February 2022 Invasion saw its best trained soldiers going in with the most modern equipment the country could provide it was the ukrainians who are forced to rely on outdated Soviet era technology at least until the support started pouring in from the global Community by the summer of 2022 the situation was starting to reverse that's when the first losses of the demoth Bol tanks tanks that were previously left to rot in storage before being used in the war were recorded we've seen Russia using t-62s in Ukraine as well as t-54 and 55 tanks some of which may have been built as far back as 1946 in its attacks esnd also points out that Russia has pulled about 40% of its Soviet era tanks and armored vehicles out of its baracha base for use in Ukraine Russia has reasons for using this old equipment they were deployed to provide non-precise artillery fire to support ground troops which is itself indicative of the fact that Russia had lost a lot of its tube artillery those older tanks were also kept in territory that Russia already occupied allowing them to strengthen the country's defenses in anticipation of Ukrainian counterattacks some of the t-54s and t-55s were even used as kamakazi Vehicles being loaded with explosives before they were sent to Ukrainian positions still the fact that they're being used at all suggests Russia is running out of more modern equipment take the sner U thermal imaging system systems that were built into the country's t72 tanks at the start of the war those are becoming less and less common as the war goes on with the t-72s that Ukraine captures showing that Russia has started using older and cheaper systems switch Focus to armored personnel carriers and we start to see Howers that date back to the 1940s being deployed as well as Naval guns from the 1950s being mounted on some Vehicles all of this outdated equipment can be effective but it also shows that Russia's military failed to modernize to the extent it needed to handle a fullscale war if it had Russia wouldn't be using the Soviet era Weaponry at all it would have better tanks artillery and armored vehicles that were more than capable of defeating most of what Ukraine had to offer so we're starting to see a Confluence of issues leading to the weakened state of Russia's military endemic corruption both in the military structure and the Kremlin is exacerbated by terrible military planning leading into the war add to that a surprising lack of modern equipment perhaps corruption played a role there as well and it can feel like we're seeing a version of Russia from the late 1980s fighting in 2024 let's bring things down to the troop level we've already touched on how Russia's poor Logistics and planning are forcing its soldiers to endure terrible conditions on the front lines however we haven't talked about Russia's strategy of sending wave after wave of untrained or drafted soldiers to the front lines in many respects it appears to be employing a cannon fodder strategy in which it tries to overwhelm Ukraine with masses of poorly trained soldiers there's plenty of evidence for this in September 2022 Forbes published an article in which it claimed that Russia's practice of drafting untrained soldiers was equivalent to the Kremlin committing premeditated murder against its own people that report built on another earlier in the month that suggested Russia was about to draft 300,000 soldiers none of whom it would be able to train properly Putin's announcement of that draft came with the caveat that only those who've previously served in the armed forces and have particular military specializations would be drafted with the goal being to boost active forces up to 1.4 million that announcement met with protests in Russia which were exacerbated when the Kremlin ordered that Russian Airlines could no longer sell tickets to any man between the ages of 18 and 60 while problematic in its own right that ruling alone shows that Putin wants all able-bodied Russian men to be available to him more worrying for those draf e is the lack of any real training according to Forbes Russia's initial training for soldiers is by Design with most of the training intended to happen on the front lines with experienced soldiers showing recruits the ropes once they arrive that's a shaky system at the best of times because it splits the focus of Frontline troops but in a war like Russia faces in Ukraine it can have a devastating effect not only are the troops on the front line already struggling with a lack of supplies and equipment but many of them can't exactly be considered veterans themselves a new draft e may end up being trained by someone who only has a few months more experience experience when the training works it's because the recruits work alongside a brigade's thirdd battalion which is often reserved for training while the brigade's other battalions are fighting but in Ukraine those third battalions are all fighting as well meaning there are very few soldiers left over to help the draft e the result is an inconsistent training system that's entirely reliant on the quality and positioning of the unit to which a drafty is dispatched a brigade that has no veterans and limited equipment as is possible given Russia's logistical and Corruption issues isn't going to be able to properly train a draft e that brings us back to the Forbes article suggesting that this approach is tantamount to murder it cites the institute for the study of war or isw when it says that mobilized men with a day or two of training are unlikely to meaningfully reinforce Russian positions as for the training those new soldiers receive on the front line it's often non-existent as the isw discovered when speaking to a then recent draft to Russia's first tank regiment that draft e claimed that he'd received no new training in the day since he'd arrived at the Kona Blast in Ukraine he was operating based on the one or two days of training he'd received before he deployed it gets worse if new draft EES are essentially cannon fodder due to their lack of training some Russian soldiers are literally treated as such that's according to a February 2024 article in the KE post which quotes a Russian soldier from the fifth separatist motorized rifle Brigade as claiming that many in his unit are being thrown onto the front lines not because of their their value as soldiers but because they're ill he says many who are on Frontline Duty in Ukraine's Southern military District are seriously ill with many having tuberculosis and some including himself being HIV positive so here are 16 people who have hepatitis suspected tuberculosis lung disease tumors in their heads he says when describing the soldiers he's working alongside that's hardly indicative of a well-oiled fighting force untrained draes many of whom are ill are essentially being used to soak up Ukrainian bullets and artillery and therein lies another reason why Russia's military is so weak the Kremlin doesn't appear to care about its people in its desperate grab for the material power that would come with claiming Ukraine Russia appears to have started ignoring the human cost many of the country's soldiers are fighting on foot without real support with Utah State University saying the approach shows that the kremlin's tolerance for human casualties is only growing higher in other words losing tens perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people in the war doesn't matter because Russia can always replace those people with more Warm Bodies of course the inevitable happens when there's such callousness on display from leadership morale tanks The Washington Post argued in March 2022 that a large proportion of the early troops sent into Ukraine simply didn't want to be there that's supported by the number of Russians who've left their Homeland since the War Began that number could be as high as 800,000 the early days of the war also saw many videos cropping up on social media of Russian soldiers leaving their tanks begging for food and even looting footage of captured soldiers would also sometimes show their confusion over why they were in Ukraine in the first place contrast that to Ukraine's ground troops though far inferior in numbers every Ukrainian is fighting to protect and preserve their country morale May dip at times especially when Russia makes advances but motivation is never a question Russia is trying to break Ukraine's spirit with an army filled with soldiers who may not even want to be there in the first Place tack everything we've talked about so far poor training bad Logistics corruption old equipment and the kremlin's apparent willingness to sacrifice soldiers to gain ground and you have a recipe for a morale crisis those morale issues are only made worse by the disunity in Russian command we touched on this earlier when highlighting how the Kremlin launched its Ukraine Invasion seemingly without paying any heed to the true state of Russia's military the foreign policy Research Institute or fpri digs deeper with a March 23 report that claims Russia's subpar performance in Ukraine is a result of the country's failure to decentralize military decision-making every decision has to come from Putin or the small collection of his trusted advisers with those in the middle levels of Russia's military unable to make decisions for themselves this centralized approach also creates communication problems throughout Russia's entire military structure either important information gets distorted as it passes up or down a long chain of command or it simply doesn't get communicated at all as may have been the case when the Kremlin was making its Invasion decision the fpir claims that this centralization in decisionmaking is the result of a society that has rarely ever been overseen by a government to which its population wholly consents autocracy rign Supreme in Russia Putin's long tenure as the country's president demonstrates that with the Russian autocrat rarely facing legal restraints or any control mechanisms that could influence decision-making how does that manifest into Russian military weakness a Russian non-commissioned officer or NCO barely wields any power they are trained not to show any initiative or to make decisions on behalf of the soldiers that serve underneath them instead acting as little more than intermediaries between the Russian hierarchy and the soldiers on the front lines that approach is dangerous enough when you consider that all orders come from a government that may not be fully aware of what's happening on the front lines in Ukraine but it becomes practically foolish when you consider that people on those front lines have practically no way of telling the Kremlin what's happening adjustments become more difficult to make tactics and strategies can't be tweaked to react to the situation on the ground Russian soldiers are basically pointed in a direction and told to go without any consideration given by the country's hierarchy as to the situation those soldiers face in other words information doesn't flow freely and given that information is one of the most important assets that any military can have that's a massive problem for Russia's military it's also a problem that likely contributes to the country's seeming lack of tactical and strategic nouse again we've touched on this already when speaking about the terrible planning that went into Russia's invasion of Ukraine but it's perhaps most obvious in the way that Russia's Air Force the VVS has almost completely failed to establish aerial superiority over Ukraine that should have been an easy task as we mentioned earlier Russia has thousands of aerial assets with Ukraine only having around 320 with only 177 of those craft being in a state of combat Readiness worse yet for Ukraine most of its planes were Soviet era designs meaning Russia's more modern planes should have easily taken the skies above the country that didn't happen in an interview with the United States Air Force Lieutenant General Scott kinvara Cambridge Economic Policy Associates or sea announced that the US considers Russia's aerial performance to be very poor kvata cited a complete lack of planning capacity as well as Russia seeming to have no ability to coordinate aerial assaults with the rest of its Armed Forces as a key reason for that rating combined with the misuse of equipment which may stem from Bad training for Russia's pilots and you get a VVS that has failed to learn lessons dating back to the second world war kinsara says that that war marked the first time that countries started using their aerial assets to support soldiers on the ground yet Russia doesn't seem to have done that in his words the benefits were so great that they effectively resulted in 1 + 1 equal 6 and he cites endemic corruption as being the possible reason why Russia hasn't evolved to use aerial tactics that the United States has used for decades he also suggests that communication is an issue in two ways the obvious one is the lack of communication between ground and aerial forces making it impossible to run operations in tandem however kins vat also suggests that the flow of information within Russia's military has been hampered by those in command not wanting to reveal how poor the VVS had become in the wake of years of investment made into new aircraft it all feeds back into this idea that Russia is little more than a paper tiger Russia has been responding to these sentiments in Peculiar ways as Ian Williams a research fellow at the center for strategic and International Studies points out we're seeing Russia being a little more aggressive and greater risk-taking right now because they are trying to offset this perception that they're kind of this paper tiger that's in reference to several incidents in which US Air Force drones had unsafe encounters with Russian jets in July 2023 one of those encounters resulted in a Russian pilot positioning themselves in front of an American drone before engaging their Jets afterburners those encounters are somewhat provocative though no fighting will result from them they're really examples of Russia trying to prove it's stronger than the rest of the world seems to believe and therein lies the problem for Putin his war in Ukraine has exposed that Russia's military is far weaker than it looks on paper that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to lose the war even a weaker than expected Russia is still fairly strong as as demonstrated by the country's recent small yet significant gains in the kiv region but Russia isn't the Juggernaut that people believed it to be if it was it would have steamrolled Ukraine long before any International intervention could have prolonged the war in the country to the point where it's been going for over 2 years now Russia appears to be in a position where it's trying to save face while asserting dominance all while the world's other militaries continue to gain insight into what the Russian war machine is really like but what do you think about the Russian military is it truly a paper tiger that could be defeated if it took on a country with a stronger military than Ukraine or are we seeing a Russia that's actually holding back with its true strength likely only to be revealed if it faced a larger threat the Soviet Union's notorious economic blunders led How Ukraine War DESTROYED Russia's Economy and Military to its collapse yet Russia seems to have learned little President Vladimir Putin's recent decisions show that economic mismanagement is still rampant threatening to Doom the country once again this time these mistakes might also drag down the Russian army Putin's War economy aims to sustain military operations but a fully militarized economy can only go so far before collapsing under its own weight ignoring practical realities and the well-being of the forces only accelerates the downfall poor decisions are fracturing the structure meant to project power jeopardizing military Effectiveness and National stability in this video we explore how these economic missteps are undermining Russia's military and the nation's future and this is precisely what happens in Russia and precisely what this video will look into but before we get to the unraveling let's trace the path of Putin's economic missteps and the misguided decisions setting the stage for this looming collapse though Putin has never been particularly wise in his economic strategies his ruthless invasion of Ukraine is undoubtedly what triggered the beginning of the end for the Russian army you see when Putin first launched The Invasion against Ukraine he expected ke to crumble in a matter of days securing a Swift and decisive Victory instead he was met with unyielding resistance both on and off the battlefield the resistance off the battlefield the formidable response from the International Community was what tanked the Russian economy faster than Putin expected keev to fall immediately after the invasion the economic activity in Russia contracted by 4.4% in a matter of days the Russian currency the ruble lost over 40% of its external value after that it was one thing after another Western companies soon started pulling out from Russia left and right the country's assets were frozen its energy exports were targeted and ultimately the Russian economy was isolated from the Global Financial systems the sweeping International sanctions that made all this possible had a single goal to weaken Russia's ability to wage war against Ukraine and at first it seemed that they would be successful after all there was no doubt about it Russia's economy was on the brink of collapse but in an unexpected twist these sanctions described as crippling debilitating and unprecedented by Western commentators didn't bring about Russia's anticipated downfall instead said the Russian economy displayed a surprising resilience in 2023 allowing Putin to continue his aggressive stance quite expectedly the Russian authorities bragged about the economy's 3.6% growth loudly and publicly praising themselves for avoiding a deep recession in 2022 much of this growth can be attributed to a single Factor the expansion of the military-industrial complex it's probably after seeing that the military was the one to save the Russian economy from a more severe downturn that Putin decided to make it the foundation of the country's economic strategy on paper this decision seems to be a successful one as the international monetary fund the IMF forecast a 3.2% growth for the Russian economy in 2024 this prediction made in April 2024 was even higher than the organization's January estimate which saw Russia's gross domestic product or GDP rising to 2.6% what was perhaps even more shocking than the optimistic growth forecast was that Russia was expected to pass some of the strongest economies in the West in terms of GDP growth according to the IMF the US is expecting a growth rate of 2.7% France 0.7% the UK 0.5% and Germany 0.2% for the same year 2024 but let's remember one thing Russia has always looked better on paper than it performed in reality as history shows superficial economic metrics like these frequently obscure deeper vulnerabilities that can lead to sudden and severe destabilization that's why many experts warn that the talk of Russia's miraculous economic resilience is severely misguided as Mark soel the US chair of the official monetary and financial institutions Forum puts it Russia is masking a process of significant economic degradation that will continue well into the future and further marginalize its Global footprint but in a surprise to No One Putin is doubling down on his economic strategies driven by the belief that further militarization is the key to maintaining power and influence with this in mind let's take a closer look at the war economy and its main pillars exploring how it's setting the stage for the Russian Army's collapse a single principle lies at the core of Putin's War economy when public money is allocated wisely it delivers results Putin seems to believe that the wise allocation in question is massive military expenditures while the desired result is saving the country's economy rather than bankrupting it of course this principle is nothing new this economic model has been shaped by Decades of Soviet era fallacies and delusional beliefs this model is only new in the sense that Putin has never used it before the invasion of Ukraine you see when Putin assumed power in Russia it was in the wake of the 1990s liberal reforms in his early years in office he even appeared to advocate for significant restructuring and liberalization of the Russian economy today you can only find the faintest traces of liberalism in who Putin chooses to keep in charge of various aspects of the Russian finances now Anton siluanov the Minister of Finance elvera nabiulina the governor of the bank of Russia and Maxim areshkin Putin's economic adviser are in no way liberal however they can be described as rational technocrats who prioritize stability so why does Putin keep them around well Putin might be a lot of things but he isn't stupid he knows the importance of maintaining strong macroeconomic indicators and economic stability to preserve his grip on power he was well taught by several liberal economists at the beginning of his rule including Alexi kudrin and Anatoli kayas but the question is how long will Putin be able or willing to sustain this precarious balance as things stand it seems that he's gradually moving away from any balance and Diving head first into a risk-laden economic strategy this shouldn't be surprising given how strongly the people around Putin believe in Russia's so-called special military operation in Ukraine this misguided cult-like belief single-handedly fueled the conviction that exorbitant government's spending on the military-industrial complex could not only sustain the war effort but also sustain and even grow Russia's economy so how exorbitant are we talking so exorbitant that it almost reached the scale of the Soviet Era military spending during the Cold War of course we're referring to the total amount of money being spent and not the share of GDP used for what Russia shamelessly calls defense and security purposes after all it's well known that the Soviet Union spent upwards of 20% of its GDP on defense while trying to portray itself as the boogeyman to the West today only Ukraine exceeds this percentage allocating as much as 37% of its GDP to its defense admits the ongoing conflict as for Russia the country is committing roughly 7% of its GDP to defense amounting to around $140 billion for comparison's sake Russia was spending only 65 .91 billion on defense in 2021 before The Invasion which was around 3.72% of its GDP at the time even when The Invasion first started in 2022 the military spending couldn't come close to what it is today in 2022 Russia's military budget was 8637 billion or 4.06% of his GDP however it's important to note that a huge portion of Russia's federal budget almost a quarter of it is still kept secret given everything we know about Putin's plans it's safe to assume that the actual War related spending in Russia's federal budget is even higher significantly higher it goes without saying that such an absurd scale of military spending is only feasible under an autocratic regime a regime willing to prioritize Guns Over butter to achieve its end goal which in this case is Russia's special Mission if you aren't familiar with the guns versus butter model here's a brief explanation the guns are the government's investment in military capabilities the butter is civilian needs and Welfare so the guns versus butter argument simply refer ref to the trade-offs between these two competing priorities under this model an autocratic regime like Russia's can skew heavily toward guns and neglect butter almost completely after all it's not like it will face any public scrutiny or opposition to Putin's credit he hasn't entirely given up on the butter at least not publicly what he did was instruct his economists to find a balance between guns and butter his exact words were while increasing our defense and security expenditures we bear in mind that all our social obligations to the people must be fulfilled and and that our national Development Goal must be achieved in all spheres including in Social protection he further explained that he primarily referred to Education Health Care and support for veterans of course Russia's federal budget lacks the necessary money for all this butter so this part will have to be handled by the market sector which continues to function in Putin's Russia thanks to the foundation laid by the reforms of Russia's former prime minister Joo gaar over three decades ago so we have a market economy the dominant emphasis on the military-industrial complex and State interven ISM this fascinating mix has prompted many analysts to conclude that Russia is on the path of adopting an economic policy resembling military kianis if you aren't familiar with the term military kianis is an economic theory that advocates for increased government spending as a means to stimulate economic growth and employment the equation is simple invest in the military sector heavily and you'll get more economic activity jobs and technological advancements sounds familiar doesn't it for a prime example of military kinanm all you need to do is look at na Germany or the US during the Cold War in Nazi Germany extensive military spending was used to prepare for a potential war with Slavic Nations under Adolf Hitler's regime military spending reached approximately 40% of Germany's GDP by 1940 compared to 8% in 1935 this surge in defense spending was instrumental in Reviving the German economy reducing unemployment from over 34% in 1933 to under 2% by 1939 similarly during the Cold War the US invested heavily in defense and technological advancements so by the 1960s defense spending reached close to 10% of the country's GDP even then there were numerous questions about how sustainable military kinanm truly is some experts believe that spending a lot of money on military production which is essentially a form of high-tech production leads to the development of the technological sector as a whole the result the subsequent Innovations benefit the civilian economy others however strongly believe that advances in military technology have almost nothing to do with the civilian sector essentially they claim that the military-industrial complex robs the civilian economy of vital resources including workers which in no way can help the overall economy by now it's quite clear which side Putin is on the one that believes or tries to desperately cling to the notion that military spending serves as a driver of development this was made abundantly clear by the shakeups in Putin's cabinet which have shocked the World by this we primarily refer to the dismissal of Seri shyu as Russia's defense minister now don't get us wrong this move was by no means shocking from a strategic standpoint shu's departure was the culmination of mounting criticisms and failures during the war in Ukraine so there was nothing surprising about it the shocking part is that shyu has been one of Putin's closest allies for decades a trusted Confidant who had weathered many storms alongside him this had led some to believe he would be safe from such upheaval well as it turns out no one's safe when a dictator's country is unraveling after getting badly beaten by a supposedly inferior foe in such Dire Straits even the closest allies become liabilities and the once unshakable pillars of Power are ruthlessly dismantled in the scramble to salvage a crumbling regime but who is shyu and more importantly who was he replaced with s Shu a seasoned figure in Russian politics served as the Minister of Defense from 2012 to 2024 his tenure was marked by extensive military reforms and a significant buildup of Russia's Armed Forces so it's no wonder Putin entrusted him with the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 ordering him to capture keev in a matter of days to be fair this order was inherently impossible to achieve as it underestimated both the resilience of the Ukrainian forces and the complexities of urban Warfare can you really expect some 190,000 troops and tens of thousands of vehicles to effortlessly storm an area of 324 square miles with 3.5 million residents in the dead of winter though a resounding no is the obvious answer Putin was never the one to accept the obvious so he failed and shyu failed however shu's failure to secure a swift victory in keev wasn't the only issue at hand as the war dragged on and Russian losses mounted shu's position became increasingly untenable that was what eventually led to his dismissal in May of 2024 while it was at least partially responsible you see shu's failures as well as the Russian government's Crackdown on corruption among the high ranking defense officials weren't the only reason why he was removed as defense minister the move actually had more to do with who the new defense minister is rather than the missteps of the former one if you need proof all you need to know is that Shu wasn't banished from the government altogether instead he was appointed the secretary of the security Council of the Russian Federation which is quite a high-profile and dare we say lucrative position so who's the new defense minister that warrants all this Intrigue the answer is Andre bosov an economic technocrat before he assumed office as the defense minister basov served as the first Deputy Prime Minister from 2020 to 24 an aid to the president in economic affairs from 2013 to 20 and minister of Economic Development from 2012 to13 as you can see there's no mention of any military related positions in his extensive resume that's because bosov has no military experience whatsoever from this fact alone it's easy to conclude that Putin is no longer viewing the Russo Ukrainian War as a battle of military might alone now the war has become a battle of resources in other words Putin finally realized he couldn't achieve a lightning Victory and it only took him 2 and a half years to come to that realization and that he must brace for the long game of course the mere notion of Putin preparing his country for long-term Warfare terrifies both Ukraine and the remainder of Europe this move only confirms what many in Europe have feared for months Putin won't stop at Ukraine but many people fail to understand one thing it's not so much that Putin wants to continue fighting as much as he can't afford to stop what do we mean by that as Reno fukar a senior Lector at the department of Economics at Lancaster University management School explains the war in Ukraine has become the main driver of Russia's economic growth however this war is also responsible for decimating Russia's economy and other crucial cral ways so if Russia were to stop fighting it would have to deal with the economic reality of a Nation burdened by sanctions a diminished Workforce and a deteriorating infrastructure this might lead to social unrest and a potential collapse of the fragile stability that Putin's regime desperately clings to paradoxically even winning in Ukraine could spell trouble for Russia how so the country simply doesn't have the means to rebuild the occupied areas that would come under its control nor to maintain Security in them so for Russia the only viable course of action is to keep fighting in Ukraine in the Baltic in the entirety of Europe that's why Putin needs an economist as the defense minister as only an economist can navigate the treacherous Waters of sustaining a war-driven economy Putin himself stated that only an economist can make the country's military budget which has now reached gargantuan proportions efficient with Putin's comment to the long war in mind you can probably start to see why this new economic model spells Doom for the Russian army so let's finally dive into it you've probably notice that the focus of Putin's new economy has solely been on the military-industrial complex so far in other words the focus is on the weapons and equipment but what about the people handling those weapons the soldiers the officers the very backbone of any military force how are they fairing under this economic shift in short not great and that might be the understatement of the century only about 30% of the entire military budget is spent on the Army itself the rest is allocated to weapons procurement and production and not even the whole 30% is dedicated ated to military salaries approximately 20% of the budget goes to pay at the same time vast sums are siphoned off through corruption and inefficiency a problem that basov is ostensibly trying to address of course trying is the key word here as Russia's Minister of Defense still seems to act as merely an intermediary between the state budget and the military industry the industry is the one that holds virtually all the power this particularly applies to one man sery kov kov an oligarch and the CEO rosc Corporation a state-owned defense conglomerate seemingly has more influence over Putin than bosov Putin confirmed this by appointing Dennis manturov former minister of industry and trade the first Deputy Prime Minister after Bellis of's promotion manturov is kof's close Confidant which means that his promotion allows kov to continue heavily profiting from the surge in military spending and while kov and his ilk make absurd amounts of money it's the common soldier that suffers from the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th 2022 to July 19th 2024 564625796 involving over 100 million people from more than 30 countries the war in Ukraine on the other hand has only been waged between two countries for a little over 28 months the sheer fact that it's produced such staggering losses highlights the unprecedented ferocity and scale of the ongoing conflict these shocking figures underscore another thing the utmost disregard for the lives of Russian soldiers Putin seems to be hellbent on pursuing his strategic goals at any cost even if it means sacrificing the very troops meant to achieve his Ambitions that's why the most common tactic employed by the Russian army is the so-called meat grinder strategy which involves overwhelming enemy positions with massive waves of infantry prioritizing sheer numbers over strategic Precision this approach has only resulted in one thing horrific casualties as far as Putin is concerned he can always just get more soldiers after all the Boost in the economy allows him to hire contract soldiers who flock to the Russian army for the $2,300 monthly paycheck if all else fails he can just carry out another wave of forc conru rions compelling more Russians to join the ranks and fill the gaps left by the Staggering losses he did so in August 2022 with 137,000 people and in December 2023 with another 170,000 this Relentless churn of personnel underscores a grim reality for Putin human lives are expendable and as long as his economy can sustain this horrifying Soldier turnaround that's all they'll ever be mere cogs in this brutal war machine but what about bosov what's his role in all of this well as soon as he was appointed defense minister he stated that equipping the Russian armed forces would be his first priority as he put it everything that is effective in the country should be put to work to achieve Victory now to be fair equipping the Russian army isn't a futile Endeavor as many of the troops have complained about being sent into battle without adequate gear and support yet bov's focus on this aspect reveals a critical flaw he's aiming to enhance a system that already devalues human life rather than addressing the underlying issues that perpetuate the catastrophic loss of soul sers the Grim reality is that improving equipment without reforming the underlying strategy and Leadership will only make the meat grinder more efficient and more deadly the Russian Army's morale is already at a record low so no amounts of improved gear will prevent the continuing spiral into chaos and despair especially when the improvements in question are coming from someone who is a complete Outsider to the Russian army remember bov isn't a military man he's a laboratory academic who hasn't even served in the military as a conscript in fact he's probably never even held a gun so how can he expect to inspire confidence or make meaningful changes when he lacks the most basic understanding of military life and combat needs bov's background in economics and Academia while valuable in its own right simply doesn't translate into an intuitive grasp of the realities faced by soldiers on the front lines however it's also worth remembering that shyu has also never been in the military which didn't prevent him from sporting a general's uniform decked out in medals but despite his lack of personal combat experience Shu embraced the the military traditions and an image crafted to exude Authority and command respect he seemed like he wanted to run the Russian army himself and as you already know playing pretend goes a long way in Russia a country where appearances and titles often overshadow substance so while trying to get the black hole of military spending under control basov is likely to only weaken the Russian army eroding what's left of its Effectiveness and morale of course there's also the question of the long-term future of the Russian army even though Russia is undoubtedly preparing for a long fight Benjamin henstock of the KE School of Economics believes that the war must end at some point when this happens the military spending will come down again but what will happen to the army veterans will Russia have the funds to reward them and glorify them as it used to do almost religiously not likely as a result the veterans might find themselves abandoned left to face the harsh reality of what Russia truly is and with the widespread disillusionment both among those who fought and the general public comes the shattering of Russia's military Legacy once and for all so what was once believed to be the second strongest army in the world will inevitably Crash and Burn and all of this because one man decided to play real life risk do you agree is the Russian army done for or can it still recover from this catastrophic Gamble