Russia’s army is learning - here’s why it should worry the West | Defence in Depth

there's a bit of a myth about Russia's Army in Ukraine that Moscow soldiers are inexperienced ramshackle troops sent into hopeless charges at well- defended positions at the behest of inexperienced and brutal commanders they have little tactical sense and even less strategic vision of course some of that is true the Russians do use meat grinder assaults armored columns often run into trouble in Ukrainian minefields with pyrotechnic results and Russia frequently relies on troops with insufficient training and poor kit even today huge numbers of armored vehicles and tanks are being lost as Russian forces attempt to advance and it's a Live question how long such losses can be borne but the Russians aren't stupid and the Army does learn albeit slowly the concept for this episode of defense and depth is to shatter that myth that Russia's Army is awful in every respect in reality there's some things they do rather well we're going to look into a couple of examples and explain why they worry Ukraine and should worry the West I'm David noes and this is defense in depth let's start with glide bombs through 2022 and 2023 Russia had a problem Ukrainian air defense became adapt at shooting down ballistic missiles and drones heading for civilian infrastructure across the country these Russian missiles are expensive and stocks soon ran low for many months now Russia has been taking Soviet era dumb that's unguided bombs and adding modern satellite navigation and wings these Frankenstein weapons are then launched out of range of Ukrainian air defense and glide towards their targets for months the large and Powerful bombs have been wreaking havoc on Ukrainian cities and Military positions with a large payload they can destroy an apartment block or a bunker and currently there's little the ukrainians can do to stop them they are very simple in essence so you cannot Jam them you cannot hide from them the only way to protect yourself from them is to shoot down the bomber that carries this bomb that's what dimitro kbba Ukraine's foreign minister told the financial times just a few days ago remember the fall of aiva that's key City in the East extensive use of Glide bombs was one of the reasons Ukraine was forced to retreat at one point over 250 of them were fired by Russia in the direction of the city in just 48 Hours following the successes Russia is ramping up their usage in 2024 Russia has struck Ukraine with around 3,500 such guided bomb since the start of the year and according to the institute for the study of War Russian mil blockers have claimed that the defense industrial base is attempting to mass-produce such weapons such has been their effectiveness so far the development of of these weapons that bypass Ukraine's air defense and are relatively cheap effective and numerous shows Russia's ability to adapt to military Problems by repurposing outdated gear and overcome Ukrainian defenses they might be simple but they cause a lot of damage and in places are tipping the scales in Russia's [Music] favor moving on now this is throwing back a bit but do you remember the suran line the three-layered system of trenches tank traps and strong points of Russian defensive lines in the South constructed to stop the Ukrainian counter offensive in summer 2023 well it worked some commentators thought that equipped with the latest Western kit and trained by NATO's finest armies the ukrainians would smash through the ill disciplined Russians and roll towards Crimea dealing Putin a fateful blow German leopards and British Challenger twos were supposed to make minc meet of moscow's exhausted and demoralized armies that didn't happen very quickly ke's Advance became bogged down expensive Western provided armor was disabled and the advance ground to a halt many miles from marup and even further from Crimea there are a number of explanations planning inadequate engineering support competent Russian anti-tank guided missile teams all of these were mentioned to my colleague Roland olant we can add to that of course a disappointing amount of equipment donated by the West the fact that some of it arrived unusable the varying levels of training given to Ukrainian soldiers honestly the list goes on another reason was that the Russian defenses were wellb built the soldiers were well equipped and they knew their duties they dug deep and either stopped Ukraine's advance or reduced their progress to a crawl let's go back to what some Ukrainian soldiers told Roland the enemy had time to prepare and he prepared very well we totally underestimated the minefields just minefields laying on the ground let just say it's not like you read in the textbook when we came here we realized the Russians had adapted and evolved they're creating complex systems that even a highly qualified sapper would find challenging there are many reasons then that the counter offensive failed to achieve his objectives but one of them was a Russian army who defended well played their strengths and made their advantages in men and kit count when it mattered finally let's talk about trones you may have seen some of the videos footage of Ukrainian drones hunting down Russian soldiers before vaporizing them drones flying into hugely expensive Russian tanks or even destroying entire buildings Sheltering Russian troops Dom spoke about it a lot in the last episode of defense and depth pop quiz for Ukraine supporters this evidence is proof of the ukrainians ability to innovate develop new systems quickly and that's of course true drones whether for reconnaissance dual use or fpv that's first person view have proved invaluable in Ukraine's war effort one Ukrainian Commander told me recently that fpv drones were the only reason Russia hasn't broken through on all fronts in the arms race of drone Warfare Ukraine had a big early lead supported by Legions of dedicated volunteers but by late 2022 Ukrainian soldiers encountered a new threat a Russian drone that quickly acquired a string of valuable and expensive targets it's called the Lancet one of many reasons the Lancet is interesting is that it is homegrown although the first unveiled in 2019 the Russian company that manufactures them obviously now operates under strict Western sanctions the Drone uses microchips often sourced from the west and their small design and low heat signature makes them difficult to detect and Destroy they're an impressive and deaf piece of engineering the laip may be Advanced but with the right combination of counter measures sometimes as simple as screening targets with a mesh the threat can be reduced the point here is not so much the Drone itself but also the evident adaptability and innovation of Russian scientists continually able to produce and refine and attack drone that gives their enemies a serious headache while still under supposedly crippling sanctions that's no mean feed and should put to bed the idea that Russia doesn't and cannot innovate in this war before finishing let's add some context to all the previous points none of the things we you mentioned the Glide bombs the extensive defenses or the drones are necessarily War winners by themselves but compounded with that advantage in Manpower and Munitions they give Russia a clear advantage and in the absence of sufficient Western Aid it's starting to tell it's no secret that Russia has more men and Equipment than Ukraine it's also no secret that its allies primarily Iran and North Korea are supplying Munitions and drones more regularly than Ukraine's allies giving the tools to Moscow to push on and press home Advantage this video attempts an honest appraisal of the strengths of the Russian Armed Forces without valorization or praise and should not necessarily dismay or terrify those who want Ukraine to Prevail they're are clear obvious fixes starting with the unlocking of the US Aid Bill currently stuck in Congress let me give you anybody who doubts it right now the stakes could not be higher just days ago president zinsky said if Congress does not help Ukraine Ukraine will lose the war sunu wrote know thine enemy well the ukrainians do all too well the rest of the world should wake up to defense in depth is a regular video output by the telegraph of the big defense stories if you'd like a daily fix of content about the war in Ukraine I'd suggest Ukraine the latest our daily podcast for more defense stories we've left links in the description below and if you have a topic you would like us to cover let us know in the comments please do visit our website for the latest updates news and Analysis or failing that you could even buy the paper

Channel: The Telegraph

Views: 616,364

Keywords: Telegraph, News, Defence, defence, defense, Defense, Defence in Depth, defence in depth, Defense in Depth, Russia, Ukraine, Russia news, Ukraine news, Ukraine explained, Russian army, Russian army explained, explainer, Explainer, россия, Украина, voyna, Voyna, війна, Україна, росія

Id: NOigviXwKCU

Length: 9min 19sec (559 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 11 2024