Corruption, subpar logistics to blame for Russia’s military failures in Ukraine, says UK MoD
Deep flaws in Russian military laid bare by recent mobilization drive (Photo:Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)
Corruption and poor logistics remain the main reasons for the failures of Russian troops in the war against Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defense said in its Twitter update on Oct. 15.
This was once again laid bare amid the preparation and deployment of the first mobilized Russians, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, the level of provision of personal equipment to mobilized Russian troops is lower than the already poor provision of already deployed soldiers.
"Many reservists are likely required to purchase their own body armor, especially the modern 6B45 vest, which is meant to be on general issue to combat units as part of the Ratnik personal equipment programme," UK defense intelligence noted.
Allegedly, this vest is sold on Russian online shopping sites at a price of RUR 40,000 (about $640) compared to about RUR 12,000 (about $190) in April.
In 2020, Russian authorities announced the supply of 300,000 sets of Ratnik body armor to the Russian military, which was enough to equip the forces currently deployed in Ukraine. However, this amount is not enough to supply the newly mobilized.
Putin announced a "partial mobilization" in Russia on Sept. 21. The call-up came after the Russian army suffered a heavy defeat in Ukraine, losing swathes of formerly occupied territory in Ukraine’s Kharkiv Oblast.
According to official data from the Russian Defense Ministry, the plan is to draft about 300,000 reservists. However, the part of the published decree ordering the mobilization dealing with the number of draftees is marked only “for official use.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu estimated the mobilization resource of Russia at almost 25 million people.
According to media reports, one million people are planned to be drafted in Russia.
After the announcement, Russians began to buy tickets abroad en masse to avoid participation in their country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 14 that the current "partial" mobilization in Russia would end in two weeks. He also admitted that those drafted into the Russian army less than a month ago are already at the front. Ukrainian intelligence said the number of those mobilized was more than 100,000. The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine noted that it is still unclear why Russia overstated these figures.
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