Putin promises that whatever the troops need, they will get it
Whatever you need, we’ve got you covered. That was Vladimir Putin’s promise to his troops in a nutshell today.
He had heard the criticism about the supply – some of it legitimate, some of it “emotional”, he said – and he would make sure the armed forces learned from their experience and didn’t miss anything going forward.
This applies even to any military personnel who have access to drones – an interesting nod to the widespread role that drones play in Ukraine, in combat and reconnaissance, on a scale not yet seen in modern warfare.
Whether all that support materializes is an entirely different story.
Corruption has long been endemic in Russia’s armed forces, part of the reason that in the past few months, ordinary citizens have been shelling out huge sums of money for kit such as body armor and tourniquets for their mobilized relatives.
This “special military operation,” as Putin still insisted on calling it, showed that the Russian armed forces were simply not the high-tech, ultra-modern army he made them out to be.
Its factories are up and running and additional supplies are coming from Iran, North Korea and Belarus.
Sanctions make things difficult on the defense side, even if Russia is good at finding workarounds.
Saying you will have everything money can buy is not the same as delivering it. But it shows that he has no intention of giving up.
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