Russia's biggest mistakes during hostilities in Ukraine

A hundred days after the beginning of the military operation in Ukraine, it is customary to sum up intermediate results.

The countdown starts from February 24, not from the 2014 coup, when the pro-fascist junta seized power in Kyiv with the help of the United States. During these years, Ukraine has been very good at falling flat on face. In particular, Ukraine has:

• replaced federalization with a unitary state;
• conducted discriminating policies against the Russian language;
• renounced the non-bloc status of a neutral power;
• celebrated the triumph of radical neo-Nazism.

Ukraine's biggest mistakes

The Kyiv regime officially refuted announcements from Western intelligence services about Russia's intention to protect the Donbass with the help of the Russian army. Such statements were made ostensibly to prevent panic and a mass exodus of Ukrainian citizens. Now we understand that the Ukrainian authorities were pursuing two goals at a time. They wanted to enlist as many Ukrainian men as possible in the army service and use the civilian population as a cover up.

However, the morale in the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been going down steadily, even among the elite troops.

Moscow's mistakes

Vladimir Shamanov, Colonel General and former commander of the Airborne Forces, believes that Russia's biggest mistake was its expectation of imminent and quick triumph.

"Russia thought that the people of Ukraine would welcome the Russian troops with flowers. This is one of the biggest mistakes that we could see clearly in the first five days,” Shamanov said.

Russia underestimated Ukraine's tactics when the Ukrainian forces did not shun hiding behind civilians.

"When conducting defensive operations in urban areas, the enemy uses the tactics of the German fascists, which they had used in the last century. Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine take the upper floors of high-rise buildings, and hold the civilian population in the basements,” former commander of the Airborne Forces, retired Colonel General Georgy Shpak said.

Russia did not take into account the coordination of military operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the NATO officer corps, let alone the provision of intelligence information to the AFU.

Russia did not conduct massive cyberattacks against the Ukrainian side and their Western supervisors.

Russia does not use a sufficient number of combat UAVs to ensure greater successor its troops.

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has repeatedly expressed his concerns about the pace of the Russian special operation in Ukraine. He carefully criticised the Russian administration for certain "mistakes" and "shortcomings", but then announced in May that the development of hostilities was consistent with the original plan.