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To: colonelzanders

Russia doesn’t even have 1/5 of their forces in Ukraine

Perhaps you’ve seen various accounts of the vast numbers of troops Russian has - well, they are old, maybe complied before the fall of the USSR and never updated.

Russian Ground Forces has 240,000 active troops, total, before the invasion. Naval Infantry has another 20,000. The VKF, as far as I know, does not have any infantry or mechanized vehicles. All the RGF Airborne troops, the elite, are mostly dead. There are a few Naval Infantry brigades operating in the south.

Beyond the 260,000 infantry, there is the Russian National Guard which has some 300,000 troops, but they are mostly tasked with maintaining internal order. Some of their best Spetsnaz Brigades where used, but are now mostly spent, having suffered huge losses.

Only full mobilization of former conscripts will gain more troops, and that is looking less and less likely. Should that happen, most will be killed by artillery (which is the main death bringer in this contest).

As far as the VFK goes - Russia uses them like a sort of flying artillery - CAS is not their thing. Also the bomber forces so feared is nowhere to be found. Almost all VKF activity take place within Russia; planes lob their bombs hopping they hit something. UA S-300s keep them at bay and various manpads keep low fliers in terror.


113 posted on 05/15/2022 3:29:31 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: PIF
All the RGF Airborne troops, the elite, are mostly dead.

Russia anticipated token resistance similar to what they saw in Crimea. Problem was that Crimea was Russian. So that was different. Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine. Of course, the Ukrianians were going to fight. VDK paratroopers paid the price. Russia did not use them well. And now they're gone. It'll take years to train them and that's not happening in this war.

115 posted on 05/15/2022 3:32:20 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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