The Russians are having great difficulty assembling and supplying the forces needed to take eastern Ukraine.
Moscow is now recalling conscripts released from military service since 2012 to subject them to rapid training for deployment in combat units. They also speed up officer promotions.
Russian and Belarusian forces are carrying out “demonstration actions” near the northern border in hopes of securing Ukrainian forces around Kyiv.
But new Russian offensive operations in the region being highly unlikely, Ukrainian units around the capital are continuing their redeployment towards Donbass.
Troop Morale
Ukrainian intelligence reports that Russian units withdrawn from northern Ukraine are gathered in tent camps in Russia near the Ukrainian border.
Rage and discouragement would undermine their morale. And Russian military companies would be unable to meet urgent orders due to problems with supply chains disrupted by Western sanctions.
Like a horde of Mongols
Strikes once morest civilian targets such as train stations (see explanatory box below) and hospitals are not errors or accidents, but are part of Russian military doctrine, as we have seen in Chechnya and Syria.
The Russian military behaves in Ukraine like a horde of Mongols of which Putin would be the new Genghis Khan.
American soldiers have also killed civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it was not encouraged by the command.
Trump, however, felt compelled to pardon some of them, convicted of their crimes.