Western military experts have been astonished by the failures and the level of incompetence of the Russian military as it struggles to crush Ukraine and its people and government. The problems have been both strategic and tactical: bungled logistics, failure to suppress Ukraine's air defences, very poor co-ordination of different arms, especially air/ground, poorly maintained equipment and vehicles. 

And crucially, the failure to cut off supply routes of weaponry and other items from the West, which are continuing to funnel a steady stream of sophisticated anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems that have been used by the Ukrainians to devastating effect.

Then there is the low morale of the Russian troops, including many conscripts, revealed by intercepted unencrypted communications, along the lines "what is this about?"; "what the hell are we doing here?".

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