Even if Russia seems certain to win -- Ukraine can hurt them badly enough to make Putin think twice. But Ukraine has to be willing to actually fight -- and make certain the world knows it.
Even if Russia seems certain to win -- Ukraine can hurt them badly enough to make Putin think twice. But Ukraine has to be willing to actually fight -- and make certain the world knows it.
In a conventional war sense the Ruskies do hold the winning cards. But in a guerilla war, where just about every Uke wants to kill them and have the means to do so, the Ruskies won’t last long.
As long as the Ukes remember what Stalin did to them years ago it won’t take much to motivate them to put a target on every Ruskie soldier and try and kill them.
Let it be their second Vietnam, but I don’t think it’ll sell well with the Russian populace once they see their boys dying in large numbers.
Ukraine's military is completely hollow. They maybe have 10,000 actual front line capable troops - the rest are interior police and general rabble. Yanukovych was possibly even working in concert with Russia to make sure Ukraine had no meaningful defensive capabilities.
Ukraine could not even use the fraction of their armor that is actually serviceable in any kind of conventional formations since the Russian air forces would quickly gain air dominance and savage anything the Ukraine could assemble in the open.
Russia's military is also not nearly as capable as this chart makes it appear. Maybe 10% of Russia's military is 1st world capable, but they'd still quickly overcome anything the Ukrainians could throw at them.
The Ukraine would have to fight a guerrilla/partisan type conflict which surrendered land in exchange for harassing and bloodying Russian troops and pro-Russian militias. Much like the Russians themselves have done in the past against enemies advancing against them through the Ukraine.
The question, should Russia actually invade, is do the Ukrainians have the stomach to fight a prolonged guerrilla type campaign that saps the Russian will. Since Russia would probably only seize and attempt to hold the heavily ethnic Russian regions, it might be very difficult for the Ukraine to do much of anything other than try to get the West to admit them into the EU, etc.
“Ukraine can hurt them badly enough to make Putin think twice.”
How much of that Ukrainian hardware actually WORKS???
Why didn’t they evacuate the helicopters and jets from Crimea?
Remember, the corruption in all institutions in Ukraine has been on a level that would make even a Russian Oligarch blush.
“Ukraine can hurt them badly enough to make Putin think twice.”
Sadly, not with the outdated equipment they possess. During the Gulf War, Iraq looked really good on paper, but the equipment they had was obsolete and we destroyed it like a hot knife through butter. The Russians will do the same to the Ukranians....it is their old stuff and they know how weak it is.
Also, I do not believe the training and morale of the Ukranians troops is good.