Ukraine has a decent amount of troops and weapons not so different than the Russians. Yet Ukraine is unable to halt an invasion of eastern Ukraine, is unable to recapture Crimea, and might not be able to hold Kiev if the Russians pushed deep.
The question of whether Russia could pacify Ukraine is another question altogether. But that isn't primarily a question about Ukraine's military state.
Corruption (lack of rule of law) crippled Ukraine's military:
The Russian behemoth outmatches its smaller and weaker neighbor, intrinsically. But the gap did not have to be so stark. Nor did the task of confronting irregular separatist militias have to be so hard. At fault is what drove the Maidan protesters to the streets in the first place: corruption. Ukraine is a case study in one of the ways corruption threatens international security: it guts armies. It makes them useless for defending their borders and as allies. United States officials in their rush to aid the Ukrainian military should resist the temptation to turn a blind eye to lingering venality. Ukraine’s future depends on some tough love.
To give credit where credit is due, I droned on about it after first reading about it on Strategypage. But it is vital. And as a result, Iraq is having trouble clearing al Qaeda from their Anbar lairs.
Russia has symptoms of corruption too that hamstring their military. But not nearly to the degree of Ukraine. And Russia has the numbers and air power to make up for some of that failing. Plus some good troops to spearhead the operations.
Ukrainians responsible for the military sold their souls to get rich. Oddly enough, the Devil showed up in Crimea to collect--and keeps pointing to the contract in eastern Ukraine.
UPDATE: Strategypage has a timely post:
Islamic terrorist groups in Iraq have grown more powerful since U.S. troops left in 2011 and the reason why is rather too embarrassing for politicians or the media to touch. It got so bad that by 2013 Iraq was asking the U.S. for help. The U.S. sent some ammo and intel on the Islamic terrorists, as well as some advisors to report back on what had gone wrong since the Americans left in 2011. The problems were easy to find and came down to the fact that without the Americans to do the work Iraqis have been unable to operate the logistical (supply and maintenance) system required to keep most military equipment functional. As a result Iraqi security forces became much less effective. Thus the growing requests for American operated and maintained equipment.
Worse, the inability of the government to provide things like supplies, medical evacuation, and fire support when and where the troops need it; the inability to make sure troops are equipped (with the equipment maintained), paid, fed, and housed; the inability to use money allocated for training for actual training, all combines to undermine the solid achievement we did make while there--training the trigger pullers at the pointy end of the stick to fight. And fight they did when they had our support. Without that support, the Iraqi troops don't fight as hard or go AWOL rather than fight without the things they need to fight.
This is why I wanted to stay in Iraq. This is why I want to stay in Afghanistan. Heck, remember the Libya War? This is why we were needed by our European NATO allies to put even small allied air contingents into battle.
I swear, the best thing we could do for Ukraine's military after this crisis is over is to help pay for a logistics system for Ukraine's military provided by a private contractor--with a NATO-provided inspection cadre to make sure there is no skimming. This would make sure Ukraine uses what it has to maximum effect.
