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Military gap between Russia and Ukraine
- wffurr 5y agohttps://archive.is/sMU8F https://archive.is/sMU8F
- wffurr 5y agoNot much there, just a chart implying that Ukraine’s military spending is about 20% of Russia’s, after adjusting for some “military purchasing power parity” formula, rather than 10% as numbers might suggest. It doesn’t go as deep as trying to estimate or break out Russia’s spending on nuclear weapons vs conventional forces, which would narrow the gap even further.
- tyingq 5y agoPerhaps also that Ukraine would be leveraging everything that's available to them, but Russia has to hold back somewhat to keep military capabilities in place elsewhere.
- lumost 5y agoNot to mention Russian spending on hypersonics and naval assets which are unlikely to be useful in Ukraine.
- nradov 5y agoThe Russian navy was heavily involved early in the war by launching cruise missiles and then conducting an amphibious assault. Less useful for an ongoing occupation, though.
- lumost 5y agoStand-off weapons like cruise middles may not matter in door to door fighting. The radars and missile sites they destroy may not matter if nato provides free replacements.
- squarefoot 5y agoThis, and also Russian troops are now in enemy territory where a couple RPGs that costs a fraction of a fraction of a tank can score a win against it.
- UltraViolence 5y agoThe Russian tank losses seem to be considerable and are hampering their progress (you can't gain territory without tank support). Several T-80's with their turrets blown off were shown, probably defeated with Javelin missiles provided to the Ukrainians by the West.
- jacquesm 5y agoTurrets blown off is usually because the ammo inside the tank explodes after a hit pierces armor.
- UltraViolence 5y agoOr hit from above like with the top attack profile of the Javelin.
- manmal 5y agoReportedly it’s a bit warmer than they anticipated. Tanks have an easier time on frozen ground, or they get stuck.
- ginko 5y agoIs the maintenance of the nuclear stockpile likely to be a significant part of the Russian military's budget? Some quick googling indicates the US military's nuclear forces amount to about 7 percent of the overall defense budget.[1] [1] https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57240 https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57240
- bladegash 5y agoWell, we both have about the same size nuclear arsenals, while the US’ military budget is 10x more than Russia’s. In other words, we spend almost as much just maintaining our arsenal as they do their entire military budget. Again, same size arsenals - so yes, I’d say it’s probably a pretty huge proportion of their spending.
- mupuff1234 5y agoOr how much of the budget is actually being pocketed by politicians & generals. (although both countries are very high on the corruption index, so might be a tie there)
- nithril 5y agoOn the contrary I wouldn't be surprised if the Russian defense industry is more effective (ratio result/spending) than the US one
- 1_player 5y agoInteresting premise for an article, then it just ends without going further into the topic. Meh.
- throwoutway 5y agoYa I noticed that too. Probably a deadline, or “the weekend is here” and they submitted
- blip54321 5y agoThe population of Ukraine is 40 million. The Russian invasion force is 200,000. If every Ukrainian had a gun and instructions for a Molotov Cocktail, Ukraine would be unconquerable without general genocide. I'm not sure how close they'll get, but that's what the Ukrainian leadership is aiming for.
- rich_sasha 5y agoIt’s worth bringing up the case of the Chechen war, where Russia eventually prevailed, but at enormous human cost of to all sides and, as usual, civilians.
- rosndo 5y ago“prevailed”
- XorNot 5y agoOf course a country without infrastructure or cities is pretty much as valuable as not having conquered it at all. Though literally nothing about this war makes a lick of strategic sense for Russia.
- DyslexicAtheist 5y ago> Though literally nothing about this war makes a lick of strategic sense for Russia. see "Natural gas transmission system of Ukraine" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas_transmission_system_of_Ukraine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas_transmission_syste... the discussion about Norstream2 and to a lesser extent NATO membership: Since Russia is an oligarchy its "sense" is defined by Putin's ego such as "reuniting Russia" again as it was and ruling it as its Tsar.
- pelasaco 5y agoThe will to defend your country proved to be a strong factor to be considered in many modern wars.
- belter 5y agoNot only that but in close combat and urban environments being well supplied and locally supported takes priority. Sadly, this means unfortunately, that refugees have a short time window to get to safety. I see Russian troops getting to control border points of Ukraine so as to restrict incoming arms supplies.
- XorNot 5y agoThat's a lot of troops to put in extremely well known locations which aren't that useful to overall control of the land mass though.
- Friday_ 5y agoNah. There is math behind it. 3 to 1 attack ratio rule says there should be three times more attackers.
- risyachka 5y agoIf the morale is very low on one side and very high on other - it can easily be 5 to 1 or more.
- sph 5y agoIndeed. To me the situation is like if USA were to invade Canada. They share a similar culture, language, plenty Russians know or have lived in Ukraine or viceversa. The morale hit is enormous. Especially when these kids are told they're sent there to liberate it from the Nazi government and they see people that look, talk and shit exactly like them. How long can they follow the orders and trust the chain of command? And how long can the internal propaganda convince the Russians that their war is not a senseless massacre of cousins and friends?
- baybal2 5y agoIt is big, but military budgets alone don't mean everything. Ukraine inflicted as much casualties on Russia in 3.5 days as total Russian losses in Second Chechnya war (excluding later insurgency) And remember, Russia did not lose much advanced military hardware back then, but it did now.
- polycaster 5y ago> Ukraine inflicted as much casualties on Russia in 3.5 days as total Russian losses in Second Chechnya war. I‘d like to quote that. What‘s your source?
- baybal2 5y agoUkraine MOD. Total losses in the active phase of 2 Chechnya war were 3500 troops. The rest were due to many years of insurgency.
- srvmshr 5y agoAlso it is worthwhile to remember that a big chunk goes to paying salary, pensions and healthcare. Russia has the largest standing army if I remember right. Larger budget isn't necessarily large gains militarily. It is responsibility for larger upkeep.
- jacquesm 5y agoThe bigger gap is between the size of Ukraines fighting age population, their motivation and the 'home court advantage' for want of a better term. Scared Russian kids are fighting for crappy pay 1000's of km from their home against far more numerous people that are defending their families and their home country against an invader. The Russian losses are already mounting, but obviously you won't hear about that inside Russia.
- UltraViolence 5y agoA human life is inconsequential in an authoritarian regime. The only thing that counts is that the dictator stays in power, trumping all other concerns. This holds in both China and Russia.
- nine_zeros 5y agoThis is so true. The veil of nationalism is only a tool for the authoritarian. Individuals who fall for the authoritarian are merely "useful idiots". If you are Russian and reading this, fight to end authoritarism in your country.
- jacquesm 5y agoThat's very true. But the ability to wage war is subject to real world constraints, no matter how deranged the dictator.
- jonathanstrange 5y agoI don't think this is generally true, there are already dissenting voices quite high up in the Russian government hierarchy. The full-scale aggression against the whole of Ukraine seems to have caught many high-ranking government and military officials by surprise. The decision was made in the Kremlin. Of course, it is unlikely that these people will take huge personal risks to rectify the situation, so it doesn't make too much of a difference in the short term. But I thought it's worth mentioning.
- jacquesm 5y ago
- UltraViolence 5y agoI predict that if the war gets bogged down Putin will threaten to nuke Kiev to force them to surrender.
- yrgulation 5y agoNot surprising. If supplied well Ukraine can push russia back. Russia is propaganda and nukes.