Potemkin village
In politics and economics, a Potemkin village is any construction whose sole purpose is to provide an external façade to a country that is faring poorly, making people believe that the country is faring better. Wikipedia
Looks like General Potemkin is in charge of the “vaunted” Russian army.
Indeed. It looks like Putin was lied to by his corrupt HQ Staff who hallowed out the Russian Army's technical capabilities by substituting cheap Chinese tires and other spare parts for the real thing while pocketing the difference.
I saw on Youtube a tire expert (worked in procurements for the US Army) talking about this. It looks like the Russian Army's equipment was a Potemkin village. Some also say that their training wasn't nearly up to snuff, either. It shows.
Nobody is more surprised by this than me.
Drawing back the curtain on Russian military weakness will draw the interest of many, including China, who might be revising expansion plans away from the Pacific and toward Northern Asia. It may go down as an historic blunder on Putin's part.