> These draftees won’t even have bulletproof vests. Maybe not even helmets and boots. <
I recall reading something like that about the battle of Stalingrad. Follow-up Soviet troops had to gather equipment from comrades who had already been killed.
Regardless, it’s worth noting that the Soviets won that battle. So ya never know.
The leadership is not the same as n WWII. Russia has already spent its wad on their class A troops and heavy weapons. Unlike Stalin, Putin has no lend lease from the USA and England nor has he the political propaganda to deprive the Nazis out of the fatherland. This is Russians being the invaders and committing war crimes.
He’s painted himself into a corner. The public has discovered they are now in their own Vietnam on the border Russia started.
Stalingrad was 80 years ago. Why do people think today’s Russians see Ukraine as the existential threat that was Hitler’s Germany. This is a generation who did not grow up with Ukraine as part of Russia.
The Stalinist comparisons sound nice, but they are devoid of any factual basis.
“Regardless, it’s worth noting that the Soviets won that battle. So ya never know.”
They were fighting, for them, an existential war. Much like the Ukrainians are doing now. One tends to be more committed when one is fighting to defend one’s country, home, and family.