The Russian offensive in Ukraine has been faltering as four territories that were recently annexed by Russia have been recaptured by Ukrainian forces. Russia has suffered a high estimated death toll, and lost a huge amount of army equipment in their struggle to advance in the Eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.
Despite being significantly smaller and with less military resources, the Ukrainian military has used a combination of rapid mobilization and western support a formidable battlefield force.
Former CIA Director, Gen. David Petraeus, said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s situation is bleak.
“The momentum on the battlefield is very much against Russia,” Petraeus told ABC, and referred to Russia’s attempts to mobilize more soldiers in the wake of their problems in Ukraine as “shambolic.”
He even noted that recruitment efforts in Russia were struggling, and that more men had left the country rather than join the Army.
Given the recent draft order Putin revealed in late-September, it makes sense that Russians would be fleeing. Petraeus also mentioned that a draft at this point would likely be unhelpful, as regular citizens will have to be trained before being sent into a battlefield.
The site of one of Russia’s most recent defeats was at Lyman, a key Ukrainian city which is apparently a rail hub, meaning it would have been very strategically valuable for the Russian Army to hold onto. Russia’s public statement on the defeat was that they retreated from Lyman to hold “more advantageous positions,” but the mood behind closed doors in the country is reportedly desperate and grim.
