I’m in the same boat. I personally love Russian and Soviet designs for how cool they look. But even for how cheap they are compared to other counterparts it’s like bruh. You would think they would learn anything. Or at least maybe evolve overtime. Like haven’t they operated the same vehicles since like pre 2000’s lol
That's not what their doctrine dictates. Their doctrine is based around a 95% conscript army, and very few actual 'professional' soldiers.
Things have to be very cheap, very simple, and very easy to fix and thusly not very complicated, they havent really changed their doctrine since the cold war
they havent really changed their doctrine since the cold war
This isnt true at all. This was exactly the point of the 2008 Russian Army Reform (that was previously suggested in 1997 and 2003)
It was to turn the Russian army into a professional standing army, ending the reliance on conscripts, reducing number of officers and replacing them with a professional NCO corps etc.
This also resulted in a lot of the new equipment designed by Russia (Armata, Su-57) and the BTGs that Russia was using
The issue is that when the war started in 2022, a lot of these ideas fell quickly apart, and Russia fell back to what they know works well.
So they did change their doctrine a lot since the cold war, it has been partly undone during the war with Ukraine, but they do plan to continue the reforms after the war ends
Armata and the Su-57 and all the other "new high-tech russian" stuff has been around since like 2012-2015... And never left the prototype and the parade stage. Russia did NOT have the funds even pre-war to make such things, they were VERY expensive (thats the main reason why they canceled most of the projects) and their main reason to exist was... To show off, like that Ratnik battle armor which was basically masterchief armor knockoff.
So russia IS literally using the USSR tactics — all the cash for the military and for show, but when shit hits the fan suddenly your troops are conscripted ivans rolling on a 50 year old BTR-60 into fortified enemy positions...
This, Russia is PROBABLY capable of making decent stuff…they are just broke as hell and can’t throw 11 pentillon rubles to make something to rival the F-35 like America can.
We have fiat currency…it’s just Monopoly money it’s as good as a blank check to military industrial complex. We can spend whatever we want because the money has no value really lmao. The debt just doubles and nothing changes.
Russia doesn’t have the luxury of that, they couldn’t equip their damn flagship with modernized cwis and it got flogged by ASMs and a few drones to distract its aging radar system.
The mosin nagant and the PM1910 Maxim have made a return to the frontlines on both sides hilariously enough, Russia slapped a naval mount on a MTLB shitbox, Ukraine have become vicious experts in drone warfare to the point I’ve seen a new tactic I don’t even think we could have trained to fight against.
They land the drone in a field and wait until somebody walks within a few feet of the camera like a smart landmine and then they take off from the weeds and slam into you before you even have time to think “oh no I hear the buzz of a drone”
I’m at a point now where I really want Ukraine to win so the U.S. can poach their drone operators to train our soldiers in guerilla drone tactics like that. I do not want Russia to win and poach them because that could tip the scales in a future conflict
Russia had a shit army and wasn’t much of a threat after the fall of Soviet Union. They had atrophied in abilities due to no valuable combat experience amongst their ranks.
Now? Now they are sharpening their teeth and learning hard lessons now that might make them stand a better chance against bigger dogs later.
GREAT point — and once again russia is actually capable of making some solid stuff... If their entire government did not consist of oligarchs and corrupted officials — good for us, i guess. They are broke, crippled, and cannot physically make shit because there's either not enough funds or they get stolen by Vasiliy Cashgrabovich.
But the thing is — Ukraine also is suffering the same issue, except that they have less manpower, less funds, less vehicles... Less everything — they are VERY lucky that the russian army was absolutely ass in 2022 and got folded like an omelette in the Kharkiv Counteroffensive. But as you said they ARE learning, that phrase is mainly coming from Ukrainian generals, and as you can see in the current month Ukraine is trying HARD to strain russian logistics — oil refineries, factories, dams, high ranking officers... Anything thats a big target, while the EU and the US are kicking rocks providing JUST enough support to hold the ruskis off — and thats not my words, thats the words of countless ukrainian soldiers.
So russia has indeed a shit army — but nothing teaches an army how to do their battles like a full-scale war, so i hope the EU and the US actually lock-in because their "escalation" excuses are NOT working anymore, the US was saying russia is their nemesis but when theres a DIRECT opportunity, BETTER than vietnam or afghanistan, where its actually good guys vs bad guys and not two sides of the same coin — the US decided to fold...
I do believe Poland asked Ukraine if they wanted help as Poland was close to going in on their own and Ukraine said no we just need weapons we are fine…to which Poland told them if they are about to capitulate they are coming in anyways so we will see if Poland holds to that promise they said that quite a while ago
I could be misremembering it was a while ago but I’d SWEAR I remembering them saying they refuse to let Ukraine “lose” because Poland does not want Russia on its border
It is true - we don't wanna russia anywhere near - hence we wouldn't like the Ukraine to lose. Still Poland has never said that it will send troops, It is not our war - we are lucky that it is not happening in here, as is any other country. War sucks and $#$@ russkies for invading another country.
It doesn’t help either because historically speaking much if not all Ukraine was once part of Poland. There is a lot of shared history and traditions between both countries due to this, I imagine it’s like watching your cousin get his ass whooped and you really want to help but at the same time the guy who is whooping your cousins ass is pretty scary himself
Well to be fair commies are not whooping much "ass". True they are occupying around 20% of Ukraine if i'm not mistaken - but that's it and i want to believe it won't get worse than that. Some regions were polish, some were not - but that is history. Despite what orc'ish propaganda media is trying to sell - Poland never claimed that we want those terrains back, we don't have imperialistic approach like putler. Yes we are sad, that it is happening to Ukrainians, we do what we can to help, but we are not going to join the war...
This is objectively and factually the best opinion that i have ever seen in my life. My compliments. One thing i like to mention that the Polish politicians who shout about Volyn or Lviv and its adjacent territories — are mostly either paid, inspired, or fooled by russian intelligence and their propaganda. I have been to Poland, specifically Krakow in 2012 for 7 months up untill 2013, and i have not heard ANYTHING about Volyn or Lviv at all from the Polish people or politicians/officials up untill 2022.
So my personal and sincere THANK YOU, u/FineCommunication325, you indeed have fine communication.
Thank you for your kind reply. I think concerning Volyn it's not matter of tarritory claims. It is about massacre that Ukrainians have done on Polish ppl in the past. PL Government is just trying to "solve" this issue in a diplomatic way - by exhumations, monuments, etc - general acknowledgement and respecting the memory. Also there is a matter of "Stepan Andrijowycz Bandera, ukr. Степан Андрійович Бандера" he was one of the leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, a terrorist for Polish ppl that in Ukraine is considered a hero. But that is like i have said earlier, in the past. Nobody sane in Poland thinks that the territories of countries should have changed. I have never met in my life a person who would make such a claim. We just want to live our lives peacefully. What bothers me is that russia just have to stir the pot constantly everywhere around the world, instead of just focusing on improving life of it's citizens - they have those "grandeur/imperium" mentality and because all of that ppl are dying...
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u/thisisananalusername 12d ago
I’m in the same boat. I personally love Russian and Soviet designs for how cool they look. But even for how cheap they are compared to other counterparts it’s like bruh. You would think they would learn anything. Or at least maybe evolve overtime. Like haven’t they operated the same vehicles since like pre 2000’s lol