Read a WW2 account from german soldiers about russians. They started feeling pretty sorry for themselves because the russians seemed to have unending supply of artillery , tanks and troops. Everyone seems to agree battle for stalingrad in late 1942 was turning point of war and yet, it wasn’t until may 1945 that they planted their flag over berlin. War can be a slow grinding process. The germans in WW1 never captured verdun but forced french to bleed their forces white defending it. I think it’s a pretty good parallel to bahkmut battle.
WW2 is not a good comparison with this war
1. Russia was on the defensive fighting on its own soil for 3 years.
2. Germany was fighting on 2 fronts and US came in about 6 months after Russia was invaded.
3. At the time in 1941-45, Russia was the largest country in Europe. It had a large wartime economy and produced an incredible number of T34s.
4. The distance covered by the Russian army from the outskirts of Moscow, the Volga, and Leningrad to Berlin was much greater than eastern Ukraine to Kiev.
The Russians performance in WW2 was far superior that it has been in this war.