Global Courant 2023-04-19 13:48:43
A soldier of the 24th Separate Assault Battalion named Aidar trains with drones in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on April 9, 2023.Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Russian troops often made themselves easy targets at the start of the war, a Ukrainian soldier said.
They would fail to take cover and hang in their positions, he told freelance reporter Stefan Weichert.
But Moscow’s troops are now moving more frequently and seem to have learned from their mistakes, he added.
The leader of a Ukrainian drone unit said Russian troops made themselves easy targets at the start of the war, but have since learned from their mistakes.
The Russians often failed to take cover in the early stages of the invasion and would not leave their positions, said the Ukrainian corporal, known only as Petro. He spoke with Stefan Weichert, a freelance journalist who reported on the frontline last month the Daily Beast.
But Petro told Weichert that he noticed Russian troops — tanks in particular — moving more often as the war went on.
“They adapt. They start thinking about how to fight better. They learn from their problems and mistakes,” said the corporal, whose primary job is to spot Russian artillery or tanks.
The first months of the war revealed serious flaws in Moscow’s war strategy, Western observers have said. Between February and July 2022, Russia lacked competent junior leaders on the ground who could lead their units effectively Royal United Services Institute, a British defense think tank, wrote in November. Their battle formations and targeting systems often left Russian troops vulnerable to friendly fire, the think tank added.
Between 60,000 and 80,000 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in the first months of the war. the US estimated in July.
Russia too probably lost about half of its main battle tanks deployed to Ukrainethe Pentagon said in November.
As Moscow’s losses mounted, the Kremlin began to send poorly trained conscripts to the front lines as replacements, further increasing the death toll. A US official noted in January that Russia seems to stick to this failed strategy.
Story continues
Now the Ukrainian troops at the front say yes dangerously low on ammunition, reported Weichert. Petro’s unit spotted an anti-tank gun, but the responding Ukrainian artillery unit fired just one shot when it normally takes six to hit a target, Weichert wrote.
“Our biggest problem is that we’re running out of artillery shells,” Sergeant Oleg told Weichert.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned in February that Ukraine consumed its ammunition “many times higher” than the West’s rate of production.
“The war in Ukraine is consuming a huge amount of ammunition and depleting Allied supplies,” he said.
The European Union said in March it would deliver one million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine over the next year, while the Biden administration has promised 200,000 artillery, rocket and tank rounds to Kiev.
Read the original article Business Insider
