At the time, there were clear, if surprising, reports of Russian failures, tactical missteps, logistical complication, supply problems and a clear “inability” to successfully close in on Kyiv. While there are many reasons why this somewhat unanticipated measure of Ukrainian success captured the world’s imagination, such as Ukraine’s tactical success ambushing advancing
Russian troops with anti-armor weapons, one clear reality was also simply that the invading Russians lacked the “will” to fight. This would make sense, as many of them were reportedly told they were on a training mission, yet the Russian morale problems were even larger than some expected. There were numerous anecdotal reports that Russian soldiers lacked food, supplies and any kind of coherent command and control. Also, just what exactly would Russian soldiers want to fight for?
The Pentagon says that now, months into the war, Russian morale is still a problem and may at least in part explain why Russian progress in Eastern Ukraine has been marginal.
“Ukrainian morale and will to fight is unquestioned and much higher, I think, than the average morale and will to fight on the Russian side. So I think that gives the Ukrainians a significant advantage. After all, more than 40 million Ukrainians are fighting — the stakes are existential for them. They are fighting for the survival of their country,” Colin Kahl, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, told reporters Aug 8th, according to a Pentagon transcript.
Kahl added clear specifics pointing to this ongoing Russian morale problem, saying the Russians have had as many as 4,000 armored vehicles destroyed and “probably taken 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months.”
