What will Putin's next military operations against Ukraine be carried out?
Despite its overwhelming superiority, Russia's military operations in Ukraine have met with more resistance from Ukrainian forces than expected. What will the next phase of military operations look like?
A senior U.S. defense official said there were signs that Moscow was frustrated by slow military progress over the past 24 hours as Ukraine's defenses were surprisingly strong and failed to achieve full air supremacy.
Britain's Defence Ministry said on Twitter that Russia's military progress had stalled. The Russians failed to make the progress they had planned, constrained by logistical challenges and stubborn Ukrainian resistance. The Russian army suffered some casualties, and some Russian officers and soldiers were captured by the Ukrainian army.
The Washington-based think tank War Institute noted that despite Russia's huge superiority in firepower, Ukraine's resistance remains very effective.
Pavel Fergenhaal, a defense analyst based in Moscow, said: "In fact, the Pentagon generals believe that within 72 hours, the organized resistance in Ukraine will collapse and then it may turn into guerrilla warfare." So they provided weapons that could really be used by guerrillas before the war broke out, such as shoulder-fired stingers, javelins, and other anti-tank weapons. ”
Analysts say The Russian military leadership was surprised by the lack of influence in its air operations. Mathieu Bulleg, a researcher for the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Chatham Institute in London, said: "It is very difficult for the Russian army to suppress the air defense and aerospace forces of the Ukrainian army," Mathieu Bullegger, a researcher on the Russia and Eurasia program at the Chatham Institute, a London think tank, told Deutsche Welle.
The Pentagon believes that Russia has now sent at least 50 percent of its troops to Ukraine, and that the country has an estimated 150,000 troops on the border.
Not only did the regular army raid the Russian army, but volunteers formed a militia organization, armed themselves with homemade Molotov cocktails, set up barricades and removed road signs to confuse the Russian army.
Most analysts predict that the current phase of the war is only the first phase of a multi-pronged strategy, and that the Russian military will now expand the scope of the campaign.
Fergenhall said: "They started with a hybrid war that everyone expected. I mean special forces, paratrooper infiltration, it's not really a classic thing that the Russian army is good at. It's not the way to fight in Syria, where they turn Syrian cities into a pile of rubble. Now they are likely to take things more seriously, be more Russian-style, and be more aggressive when it comes to using heavy weapons. ”
