Breaking an Army

The idea that it doesn't make sense to help Ukraine resist Russia's invasion is nonsense.

I've long argued that Russia needs to pay a price for their aggression against Ukraine and that helping Ukraine fight Russia is the way to do it.

A report indicates that the year-long war is straining Russia's military. Do read it. It isn't long.

The war has been low level against a small fraction of Ukraine's combat forces, yet Russia is compelled to bring in troops from all over Russia, compel draftees into becoming "contract" soldiers, putting troops from different units together to form battle groups for the Donbas, and even using Interior Ministry troops behind the lines to keep Russian troops from retreating.

And this is aside from the financial cost.

Also interesting is that the Russians have sometimes provided command and control and specialist troops and sometimes committed their troops to the front. This may reflect my uncertainty about what the Russians were doing--they did both depending on the time.

It is not futile to help Ukraine fight Russia. By insisting it is futile, we only help Russia win by compelling Ukraine to give up through lack of alternatives.

UPDATE: I found the article in that now-dead link at the Internet Wayback Machine.