The Economist magazine reports that the Russian army is now in a deplorable state and is exhausting its already meager resources in the battles for Bakhmut. However, the journalists of this publication should have found out on Wikipedia what is the area of the territory of Russia, how many people it has and what kind of mobilization resource it has.
This was told to Channel 24 by a military expert, deputy director of the Army Research Institute Mikhail Samus. According to him, if someone believes that Russia has meager opportunities, he is mistaken. She has many more reserves and resources.
Russia's dictatorial regime easily mobilizes the population
He noted that thousands of armored vehicles remained in Russia from the time of the Soviet Union.
Yes, it's scrap metal, it barely drives and shoots. But he brings death. Yes, they use even the tactics of the First World War, throwing their infantry into the attack. But they have this “cannon fodder”, unfortunately, a lot, – said the military expert.
According to him, there is a dictatorial regime in Russia that can easily mobilize the population and throw prisoners, psychiatric patients or bank debtors against Ukrainian positions.
How Ukraine can defeat a million Russian army: watch the video
Ukraine has a chance to break the back of the Russian army
“That's why we tell our Western partners that we are facing not a meager army, but a million strong. And that's why we need thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, and please give us aviation,” Samus emphasized.
He noted that one could say: they say, why do Ukrainians need all this equipment, they will defeat the “minor” Russian army with one left. And it doesn't matter that Russia has 140 million people, while Ukraine now has about 30 million.
We must convey to our Western allies that now is a key period in this war, and Ukraine has a chance to break the back of the Russian army. But this requires modern weapons, which will help us in this asymmetrically within the network-centric approach. – said the military expert.
He stressed that we are not trying to act symmetrically, because Russia can put up a million army, and we, say, 100,000.
“But it is necessary that these 100,000 be formed into modern units using intelligence, a situational awareness management system, thousands of drones, aviation, ammunition, artillery, etc.,” Mikhail Samus summed up.
Arms supply to Ukraine from allies
- Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that Ukraine is negotiating with European partners to obtain air defense systems, ammunition and shells of 155 mm caliber. It is this weapon that is a priority for Ukraine.
- Josep Borrell announced that EU defense ministers will consider political decisions to provide Ukraine with ammunition. These are immediate, medium-term and long-term measures.
- US President Joe Biden noted that Ukraine does not need F-16 fighters now. At the same time, according to CNN, the US is already evaluating the skills of Ukrainian pilots. But this could mean that Ukraine will get the F-16s when it needs them.
