The biggest differentiator seems to be that the Ukrainians are willing to fight.
“In most places both sides are too evenly matched for the fighting to be anything but a tough slog, even resembling WWI more than anything else.”
We are learning a lot about what a peer-to-peer conflict looks like. It is very different than any war we have fought in the last 50 years.
Missiles negate tech. Armor is vulnerable and you can’t send your $50 million planes and $500 million ships anywhere near to the front.
That reverts the conflict to infantry and artillery.