Bundeswehr general: Russian capabilities underestimated
An invasion announced for a few days has turned into a war in Ukraine that has lasted almost two years. The Russian army in particular did not present a good picture during the first few weeks. Experts now have a different view of the Russian military apparatus.
According to Bundeswehr Major General Christian Freuding, some Russian capabilities were not initially recognized when looking at the war in Ukraine. The head of the Ukraine Situation Center at the Ministry of Defence told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that "at the beginning, we didn't see the Russians' resilience the way we do today".
"We also didn't see that they would succeed in what we are now clearly observing: That they are ramping up their military-industrial complex, expanding it, increasing production capacities, despite the draconian sanctions regime." Perhaps they did not see, or did not want to see, that they were in a position to continue to be supplied by allies. "Be it North Korea, be it China, even countries from the global South. And if these states only supply refrigerator lighting that can then be used for military purposes." The expectation that the Ukrainians would quickly achieve the greatest possible military successes in their counter-offensive was also "certainly exaggerated in retrospect".
Ukraine? Successful
At the same time, Freuding emphasizes that from his military point of view, the Ukrainian armed forces were successful. "80 percent of Ukraine is still free, and that after two years against a supposed military superpower. They have regained 50 percent of the territories they lost. The Russian Black Sea Fleet has de facto been pushed out of the western Black Sea." Ukraine is increasingly succeeding in "striking deep behind Russian lines with weapons systems it has built itself".
According to the Major General, Russian losses in terms of men and material are also enormous. "We assume that they have suffered losses of battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles in the high four-digit range."
Drones new "everyman" task
With regard to the Bundeswehr, Freuding, who also heads the planning staff at the Ministry of Defense, said that an important lesson from the war in Ukraine was the completely new significance of drone warfare. "We have now set up a drone task force. It should enable us to quickly introduce different types of drones and drone defense systems to the troops so that we can also start training and experimenting." This will not only be relevant for mechanized army units. "The use of and defense against drones will become a task for everyone in the armed forces," he announced.
Russia launched its war of aggression against Ukraine more than 22 months ago and was convinced that it would quickly invade the neighboring country. After massive losses and sanctions, the Kremlin had to rethink its plans, launched waves of mobilization and adjusted the arms industry due to a lack of goods.
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Source: www.ntv.de
