Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine – On the battlefields of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, a truism echoes repeatedly: “A small Soviet army cannot defeat a large Soviet army.”
But fighters in Kiev told the Post this week that a small NATO-trained force equipped with the latest Western weaponry could definitely defeat a large Soviet army, and it did. He said there is.
Ukraine has survived, and often thrived, in a war that many in the world never expected to last two weeks, let alone two years. Military officials credit much of their success so far to superior technology and NATO-standard training provided by international partners.
“The arithmetic of war is clear: To achieve the set objectives on the battlefield, we need either numerical superiority or technological superiority,” Ivan Havrylyuk, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, exclusively told the Post. Told. “It is important to talk about improving the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
Russia has numerical superiority in spades; Number of active members: 1.32 million of that army. (There are thought to be around 900,000 people in Ukraine.)
But despite the odds, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week that about 31,000 Ukrainian troops have died in combat since Russia invaded the country on February 24, 2022. The total number of Russian military casualties is now approaching 180,000.
“31,000 Ukrainian servicemen died in this war. Not 300,000, not 150,000, not what Putin and his gang of deceivers are lying about. But nevertheless, each of these losses is for us It is a huge sacrifice,” President Zelenskiy said on “Ukraine.” “2024” Forum was held in Kiev on February 25th.
Officials here assured the Post that Russian troops were outnumbered by Ukrainian forces by a ratio of roughly 6 to 1. A U.S. intelligence report declassified in December estimated that about 315,000 Russian troops, about 87% of the number who initially invaded Russia in 2022, were killed or injured. The number of people is probably just as large.
dignity and depravity
While the Kremlin is throwing hundreds of thousands of its own citizens into Ukraine as cannon fodder, Kiev values the dignity of its defenders, soldiers told the Post.
As a result, thousands of Ukrainians have volunteered to defend their country, while Russia has turned to hardened criminals to fill the gap in trained troops.
One of the commanders of fire support forces in Donbass said on Tuesday that Russian troops piled up the dead and even the living but wounded to use as a protective barrier during the most brutal battles of trench warfare. He told the Post that he saw him there. of this war.
“It’s a medieval way of treating soldiers,” said the commander, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid possible retaliation.
But treating the military is not just about respecting human rights and the laws of war. The United States and its allies are well aware that the treatment of troops makes a huge difference in combat effectiveness. American defense officials frequently say that fighting spirit alone gives Ukrainians an advantage on the battlefield.
“We have to continue this fight,” one Ukrainian soldier in the Donetsk region, which has been partially occupied by Russia since 2014, told the Post. “This is our democracy. This is our freedom. What choice do we have?”
Moreover, Ukraine has no spare combatants to lose. In the fight against an enemy whose territory spans his two continents, each soldier’s life is of great importance.
Knowing this, soldiers interviewed by the Post described some of the modern weapons provided by the United States and other Western partners, including heavily armored, mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, M109 “Paladin” howitzers, and Bradley fighting vehicles. He was glowing with excitement. .
Abandonment of Soviet weapons – and ideas
A Ukrainian military commander, who was granted anonymity for his family’s safety, explained how MRAPs are specifically designed to plow through minefields, withstand explosions and move troops safely to forward positions on the front lines of his troops. I explained what was being done.
“My unit is confident in this,” he said of the unit’s MAXXPro MRAP. “They provide fire support and also help with evacuation.”
The same applies to Western howitzers such as the M109 Paladin. Borislav, the commander of a unit fighting with M109s in the Donbass region, said that unlike their Russian counterparts, “these machines were developed not only to end the lives of the enemy, but to save lives.” he said.
Get the latest information update The Post broadcast live coverage of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
American-made armored howitzers are designed to accurately fire artillery while keeping troops inside safe. The M109 has a capacity of about seven people, but Borislav said he carried twice that many in his armored cab on his recent evacuation mission.
“We’re not only saving our own lives, we’re also saving lives by providing fire support to neighboring units,” he said.
Another soldier in Borislav’s unit exclusively shared with The Post a video of a recent firefight in which an M109 was hit by Russian artillery fire but was able to escape to safety.
Western weapons also have better accuracy and precise strike capabilities, especially at a time when U.S. military aid shipments have been disrupted for more than two months and Ukraine faces dwindling ammunition supplies. is important.
“Russia has more soldiers and machines, but we need to have better soldiers and machines,” Borislav said. “This type of vehicle quickly and accurately destroys enemies, tanks and other vehicles, so you don’t have to spend hours on this mission.”
The captain estimated that about three shots of standard NATO weapons could do the same damage as 10 Soviet-era cannons in Moscow.
Steve Donnelly, an American who has been training front-line medics since the early days of the war, said the benefits of high-quality Western equipment extended to the medical field.
When Donnelly first arrived with a group of volunteers in May 2022, he was struck by the Soviet-era medical kits used by the Ukrainian military on wounded soldiers. Their tourniquet, for example, was “basically just a thick rubber band” and could have led to an otherwise avoidable amputation.
Another American volunteer, Navy veteran Chet Lyon, said that when he joined the Foreign Legion to fight against Ukraine, his new brothers-in-law didn’t have enough even basic things like night vision equipment. He told the Post that he was shocked to learn. Used to target the enemy when artillery fire intensifies after sunset.
Putin’s worst nightmare
The war’s strengthening of Ukraine’s ties with the West was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s worst nightmare. Just over two years ago, he cited Kiev’s ambitions to join a powerful transatlantic military alliance among his reasons for invading all of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The dictator ordered Ukraine to remove NATO ambitions from its constitution, but Kiev refused. Putin then demanded that NATO pledge never to allow the country to join, which would violate the alliance’s founding documents. The document declares that any country has the right to apply for membership if it can meet certain criteria.
Since the invasion, the alliance has expanded by two with the addition of Finland and Sweden, bringing NATO closer to Russia’s doorstep.
Moreover, the Ukrainian military is closer than ever to operating in line with NATO standards. NATO standards are combat procedures that each member nation’s military must use to be most effective, especially when working together.
“…NATO [has] Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a statement Wednesday that it had provided Europe with the longest and most reliable period of security, and called on allies to “combine and strengthen our experience.”
“We have shown that it is possible to defeat even the most powerful enemy in the world,” Zelenskiy said. “If other countries cooperate and people are willing to recover, any country can defend itself. We can be successful,” he said.
“Everything that makes us good partners weakens Putin. That’s why he invests so much in divisions and crises – knowing exactly what’s in his interests. I know,” he added.
But each time the House of Representatives postpones a vote on an additional funding bill that would provide some $60 billion to Ukraine, Ukraine’s continued modernization and alignment with the West are at risk.
In the absence of military aid to Kiev, the modernized Ukrainian military’s superiority has begun to decline, as seen in the recent withdrawal from Avdiivka.
Havrylyuk warned that “Russia is many times superior to Ukraine in terms of economic resources, human resources, strength of the defense industry and weapons production.” “Kremlin military spending is setting new records.
That’s why additional support from the United States is so important to us. ”
