historically russian military has always been "weak" in some sense. in almost every war they ever fought they suffered heavy losses. this is no military secret. main examples are napoleon wwi civil war poland wwii afghanistan chechnia and now ukraine (if we are to believe western and ukranian reports). from immediate memmory id say that only georgian army was swiftly defeated. however people seem to forget that historically russians tend to fight on despite heavy losses. exceptions being when war is led by unpopular leaders: nicholas ii gorbachov yeltsin
>people seem to forget that historically russians tend to fight on despite heavy losses.
Yeah, but only when they were defending their motherland from evil external invaders they could see and go face to face with, while now Russian territory is currently not under attack, so Russian troops have very low morale, knowing their being sent to fight Ukraine, a friendly country they have no beef with, and die there due to outdated equipment, poor leadership, bad quality MREs or none at all, and under the constat threat that somewhere out of sight lies either a Bayraktar drone or a guy with an NLAW ready to blow your shit up, all this so one maniac can have his old-age power trip.
Not exactly the combination of factors to motivate you to fight, when you could just as easily have been chilling at home in safety, like you did in the past 30 years, if it weren't for your great leader's blunder.
you are right however one could argue that historically ukraine is more russian then chechnia. also i think that plenty of russians see this war as defending against nato advancements. in eastern europe there is a popular social media joke going on that america and england will support ukraine to the very last ukranian
> also i think that plenty of russians see this war as defending against nato advancements
Those Russians viewing the war on state TV from the comfort of their homes can see it like that, but the starving conscripts driving through Ukraine in an iron coffin who have to actually walk the walk, will beg to differ, that the current situation is not worth dying for.
