Ukraine’s military has NOT become “the most devastating force on the planet”.
What happened is that Muscowy seems to suck at planning, at logistics and at delegation of authority to smaller groups.
The border was barely defended, the logistics of getting fast-action troops seems to be non-existent and the troops that ARE there (like this 100 captured) have been told not to think without orders from above.
This was also the case during Soviet days that Russian units were basically told from the general down and were discouraged (putting it mildly) from thinking on their own. Having a compliant population who just follows orders has its negative sides.
Almost like LBJ telling our military what villages to bomb on a daily basis...
+1. A huge weakness in Russian/Soviet force structure is the lack of an equivalent to the US military NCO. Its just poorly trained troops who wont move without being given orders, and officers who must do all the technical work as well as provide the leadership (oh and make sure everything is politically correct, in the Soviet sense of the word).
“This was also the case during Soviet days that Russian units were basically told from the general down and were discouraged (putting it mildly) from thinking on their own. Having a compliant population who just follows orders has its negative sides.”
I’ve read the Soviet definition of initiative was “finding the best way to carry out an order”.