What's behind Russia's logistical mess in Ukraine? A US Army engineer looks at the tactical level.

[Nevilledog]

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Atlantic Council
@AtlanticCouncil
In Russia’s logistics nightmare, one can see the cascading negative impacts—from junior officers down to the newest recruit—of the military leadership’s preference for operational security over shared understanding.

atlanticcouncil.org
What’s behind Russia’s logistical mess in Ukraine? A US Army engineer looks at the tactical level.
By obscuring its true goal from troops on the ground, Russia’s leadership made the military's difficulties exponentially worse.
10:30 AM · Mar 22, 2022

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/whats-behind-russias-logistical-mess-in-ukraine-a-us-army-engineer-looks-at-the-tactical-level/

By now, it’s no secret: The Russian military is experiencing logistical difficulties in Ukraine—from the now-infamous stalled convoy outside Kyiv to reports of Russian soldiers looting grocery stores for food. Experts have debated whether the problem is due to corruption, poor planning, or both.

While Moscow’s military planners shoulder at least some of the blame, their senior political leadership may have forced utterly unrealistic goals upon them. The original Russian plan was apparently to capture key political, military, and transportation nodes in about three days. This was based on flawed assumptions about Ukraine’s will to fight and its military’s capabilities.

Whatever the root of Russia’s logistical difficulties, approaching the problem from the perspective of a junior US Army officer tells me one thing: By obscuring the true purpose of its military mobilization from its troops on the ground, Russia’s leadership made those difficulties exponentially worse. This is especially true for the Russian forces advancing south into Ukraine from Belarus.

In the dark

Most of those units came from east of Russia’s Ural Mountains, unlike the forces currently attacking Ukraine’s east and south. They lacked immediate ground lines of communication to their bases in Russia and were reportedly told that they were only traveling for a military exercise. Think about that: The soldiers who were packing bags, filling containers, and drawing weapons and ammunition at their home bases did not know they were preparing for a war.

*snip*

[patphil]

1. You only lie to your soldiers when you know they aren't going to support the truth.

Once the lie is unmasked, as it was in Ukraine, it gets real hard to regain the trust of your soldiers.

[tanyev]

2. I'd be willing to be that even the original plan called for a lot of looting.