Back to Blog
Ukraine victory day6/6/2023 ![]() As he noted to the thousands of soldiers assembled in their parade uniforms in Red Square to commemorate victory over Nazi Germany, “you are fighting for the homeland, for its future, for no one to forget the lessons of World War II”. Putin directly linked the wartime sacrifices of the Soviet Union to contemporary operations in Ukraine. This was a speech designed mainly for domestic audiences. A quiet mobilisation of an expanded military force is a distinct possibility in the near future. ![]() But the Russian Army is in deep trouble in Ukraine and will need a larger force if it is to hold the territory it has already captured. A declaration of war is something that is necessarily public and would have significant diplomatic implications. However, just because Putin announced none of these things on the parade, it does not mean they are off the table. Mobilisation is unlikely to address these cultural issues. After all, the problem with the Russian army in Ukraine does not stem from its size but from its poor leadership, brutal behaviour, poor combined arms integration and terrible supporting services. Importantly, an expansion of the current Russian Army does not offer any guarantee of success in Ukraine. This would have been a significant challenge given how the sanctions regime has cut Russia off from many of the advanced technologies necessary for modern weapons manufacture. And it would require Russia to increase its output of military hardware to replace losses in Ukraine and equip an expanded army. Mobilisation would also demand a huge influx of resources to train and arm a force that has suffered hideous losses of people and equipment since February 24.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |