Mighty Russian Army – The world experiences yet another history in making. The 21st century seemed to be an era of change, settling on a new world order where action was in silence through trade wars, sanctions or at large, cyber warfare until Russia renounced the conventional method of war, battlefield with gunpowder.
It was not until early hours of February 24th 2022 that the world expected a war to occur. Russian President, Vladimir Putin announced a “special operation” on the Ukrainian soil to “liberate” the Ukrainian people and “De-Nazify” the country. What happened thereafter was simply not ignored by the world. It has been months since the war is going on without any conclusion, destruction of life and property has occurred ever since on a mass scale.
The Mighty Russian Army
Russia is the largest country in the world along with vast military power. According to the 2022 Military power ranking, Russia was ranked second 2 of 142 in terms of military strength. It has never left an opportunity to showcase its military strength whether it be naval drills in the black sea or domination in Syria to beautifying and presenting in the annual victory day parade.
According to sources, Russia spent around 1.7 trillion roubles ($26.4 billion) between January to April of 2022 on its armed forces. It is no wonder that being a permanent 5 member of the United Nations and a huge country of the world, Russian armed forces are heavily equipped but what came as a shock to Russia was the Ukrainian resistance and heavy damages to the mighty Russian army.
The Plight
Ukraine has the second largest army in the region after Russia, ranking 22 of 142 according to the 2022 military power ranking. Despite being severely outnumbered by the Russians, the Ukrainians did not seem to be losing, on the contrary, sometimes it was the Russians who had to take a step back even after launching a full scale invasion.
It became clear after the first initial mobilization of Russian troops that Ukraine would fall on its knees in front of Putin’s intentions, but soon huge reports started being circulated about the damage being done to the mighty Russian army. The Internet was flooded by pictures and videos of Russians facing heavy damages while on ground, they still had hold of significant locations in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian resistance is not merely just that of Ukraine but of several other nations who pledged military, humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine from onset of the war whereas Russia relied heavily on its own diverse forces and on alliance with Chechnya and Syrian fighters along with Belarus support for acting as a corridor from North to enter Ukraine.
Several countries extended their arms to Ukraine amidst the crisis providing it with extensive advanced weapons which made the Russians pay heavily. Any direct involvement would have led to a world war, therefore Russia-Ukraine is not just a war on the battlefield but also a war of minds.
Over the course of months, heated dialogues have been exchanged between nations notably Putin directly warning the west of “disastrous consequences for intervention”. As per the RAND researchers, the mighty Russian army has a problem of professionalization.
According to recent updates, the mighty Russian army is pulling back from North-Eastern areas of Ukraine and has significantly lost its force. However it may be, Ukraine is already in ruins while the Russian army is no longer called “mighty” elsewhere. Whatever happens in the future will surely set the new world order and thus more space for heavy geopolitics in multiple spheres. As it is said, History is written by its winners, whether the Russian army will gain a flight or suffer in plight is for the world to see.
