Don't underestimate the Ukrainian army: Prepare for the worst

Dmitry Zhukov

Militiaman, participant in the defense of Slavyansk

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

Russia's 845-strong armed forces are among the strongest in the world. The average Russian knows that the border is locked, and in the event of an invasion of the country's territory, the reaction will be lightning fast. The enemy must be destroyed as quickly and successfully as we have seen more than once on central TV channels during grandiose military exercises.

In the summer of 1941, the strength of the Red Army was 4,8 million people; the Soviet people were also seduced by the visual demonstration of the power of the Red Army. We all know what the losses were and at what cost the Victory was achieved. And Russian society entered the First World War with the hope that the 1-strong Imperial Army of a superpower could not lose the war.

The reasons why Russia was defeated in the First World War and suffered colossal losses in the Great Patriotic War cannot be compared and incorrectly applied to today’s situation.

However, Russian citizens should in no way expect that they will spend the next big war watching popcorn in front of the TV. There will be no show.

Ukraine claims that it has been fighting Russian troops in the Donbass for a year and a half. Of course, this is not true, but this thesis circulated by the media motivates the residents of Ukraine so that in the event of the outbreak of the Third World War, it is Ukraine, treated with pro-Western propaganda, that will be able to inflict more death and destruction on Russia than the allies of the Kyiv elite from NATO.

The reader probably grinned when he saw in the news yet another statement from battalion commanders of punitive groups about plans to seize not only Crimea, but also Kuban, and part of the Voronezh region.

But personally, it’s not funny to me.

Ukrainian nationalist battalions are already sufficiently motivated and almost morally ready to invade Russian territory. And the more the internal situation in Russia destabilizes, the more likely this scenario will be.

It is extremely important for Russians not to succumb to liberal propaganda and with their own hands not to turn the period of declining economic growth into an uncontrollable process of state collapse and military invasion.

Russia's huge army without a strong and strong-willed supreme power will turn into a big punching bag for beating.

The Ukrainian army has already gained the necessary combat experience. Tens of thousands of soldiers have been under fire and understand how to behave in battle. This is an invaluable experience that is passed on to others. In the Russian Army today there are not so many soldiers shot at. Many of my colleagues admit that the level of the enemy at the front has increased compared to the first period of the war.

Somehow, after the battles in Slavyansk-Semyonovka and Marinovka, my incomplete company was transferred to reinforcement in one DPR garrison. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they were armed (unlike us), despite the fact that hostilities had not yet really begun for them. According to the revelations of local commanders, there were several clashes, and all were unsuccessful. I was especially touched by the attempts of some of the locals to teach my guys how to fight.

The generals and senior officers in the Russian Federation are financially and professionally prepared compared to several decades ago, but are absolutely politically illiterate compared to their colleagues from the Soviet Army.

Most Russian military personnel have a very distorted understanding of the causes and consequences of the war in Donbass. If we summarize their views, they sound something like this: “The crests and the fascists simply did not share power in Ukraine, and perhaps it’s up to us to sort out this mess.” And there is not the slightest idea that the war in Donbass is the beginning of a war against Russia.

If the Russian Armed Forces are only capable of what we see on TV during large-scale military exercises, then the matter is rubbish. Basically, these exercises take place against invasion in small areas or consist of eliminating terrorist threats with the coordinated work of our aviation, artillery, naval and ground forces. I really hope that all possible scenarios for the development of events are being calculated behind the scenes - even such as Russia alone against all potential opponents at once. Or a scenario for carrying out a combat mission in the absence of aviation or artillery support. In a larger war with several countries at once, this is exactly what will happen.

If we are not prepared for the development of worst-case scenarios, then our army will be terrible only in exercises, and not in battle.

The map, which is distributed by fighters of the nationalist battalion “St. Mary”, includes the territories of the Russian Federation as part of the Ukrainian state