...is that they're being bitten in the ass with logistics.
Let's say the average Russian soldier needs two gallons of water a day and two pounds of rations. A gallon of water weights 8 pounds, so that's 16 pounds of water and 2 pounds of food a day. 18 pounds total.
Let's say an infantry division has 15,000 troops in it. That division therefore needs 135 (standard US) tons of food per day. Let's say the Russians have a truck that can haul 8 tons. That means you need 17 trucks a day to arrive with just food and water.
But the food and water is coming from a supply depot 20 miles behind the lines. So those trucks have to drive maybe a hundred miles to get to the rear of the column, which is 40 miles long. But that part of the world is largely rural, with minimal roads. How do the trucks get to the front of the column? Especially when the column is taking up the entire road?
Well, they have to try to navigate side roads of questionable quality. I guarantee the road signs have been mostly removed or better yet, switched, so the Russians are trying to navigate via GPS or paper maps. And if the roads are dirt, then the traffic is also increasingly turning them into mud, as they are supporting far more traffic than the normal farmers and locals normally put out.
The supply trucks aren't cruising at 60mph down a six-lane superhighway in America,they're crawling through country roads at maybe a fast jog. Remember, hostile territory; they have to keep an eye out for ambushes, mines, snipers, and booby traps. Plus whatever the locals might decide to do, like dump a pile boulders on the road.
So what would be an easy two-hour drive on I-80 in Nebraska turns into an all-day, maybe multiple-day trip. But the division is still eating food and drinking water. So you need several convoys of trucks so that one convoy arrives PER DAY, with several more in transit.
So now 17 trucks have become... 34? 68? Just to keep that one division in food and water. And then there are losses due to enemy action, accidents, or mechanical breakdown. So maybe you really need 136 trucks looping from the supply depot to the head of the column.
And now you need fuel! All those vehicles get crappy gas mileage! Lots of fuel!
Okay, a 40-mile long convoy. Let's assume they're two-abreast, and the average spacing of the vehicles is 80 feet (front bumper to front bumper). That's... 5280 vehicles on the road. Tanks, trucks, APCs, SAMs, flak guns, howitzers, etc.
Let's assume... 5 miles per gallon per vehicle, fleet average. That means you need nearly 4 tons of fuel per mile of advancement... and I may be generous with the fuel consumption! So you needs tankers also moving back and forth.
Plus the ammo and everything else the army needs! All running back and forth to a supply head in Russia.
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