Russia Needs More Than a Massive Military Advantage Over Ukraine to Win the War

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

Despite its widely observed and much discussed setbacks, logistical failure, tactical inefficiencies and morale problems, the Russian military remains a massive force in terms of sheer size soldiers, hardware, vehicles and weapons systems.

However, Pentagon observers say Ukrainian fighter are overcoming this deficit with effective logistics, tactics, unit more and sheer will to fight.

Russian Military

“They are performing very, very well on the battlefield, their unit cohesion is not an issue, their command and control is not an issue, their logistics and sustainment has been nothing short of historic,” a senior DoD official told reporters, according to a Pentagon transcript.

Despite their heavy losses, visible setbacks and inability to seize and hold territory, the Russian military is still known to be massive in size and scope with more than 12,000 tanks and four times as many active duty soldiers, according to Globalfirepower.com. The 2022 assessment on Global Firepower reports that Russia operates 850,000 active duty forces, compared with Ukraine’s 250,000. 

There are also enormous discrepancies in other key areas such as attack helicopters, armored vehicles, fighter jets and artillery. For instance, Russia operates nearly six times as many Self-Propelled Howitzers, three times the amount of towed artillery and a massive advantage when it comes to Mobile Rocket Projectors. 

The Russians have 3,391 Mobile Rocket Projectors, compared to 490 Ukrainian systems, according to Global Firepower. This numerical imbalance might help explain why the Russians continue to fire so many missiles into Ukraine and underscore the importance of why Ukraine has needed the US artillery systems they now have.

“The Russians still have available to them a significant amount of their amassed combat capability from back in the fall. They still have a numerical advantage, they still have a lot more military capability available to them. I mean, we just need to bear in mind that the Russians do have a significant amount of their combat capability left to them.