JAKE THOMAS
AU.S. think tank says newly uncovered documents from an abandoned Russian command post underscore how weakened Russia's military had become as Ukrainian forces scored significant victories against its larger foe over the summer.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reacted to a Reuters report detailing Russia's retreat from a town in eastern Ukraine, saying the "investigation of a document trove found in an abandoned Russian command post ... supports ISW's longstanding assessments about the poor condition of Russian forces."
Previously published Western intelligence has described dysfunction and poor morale among Russia's armed forces. The Reuters report published Wednesday shows this dysfunction through the lens of a doomed Russian post.
The report is based on a thousand pages of documents left behind by Russian forces fleeing the town of Balakliia as the Ukrainian military liberated the northeastern Kharkiv region in September. Before being driven out, Russian forces saw their jamming devices malfunction and poorly trained soldiers scrambled to learn how to operate non-military drones as Ukraine approached, the report found. It also described a shortage of basic supplies.
An armored anti-aircraft vehicle abandoned by withdrawing Russian forces and marked with the Z symbol of the Russian military is seen in the northeastern Kharkiv region on the edge of Balakliia, Ukraine, on September 28, 2022. New reporting sheds light on the extent of the Russian military's dysfunction as it was driven out of the region.SCOTT PETERSON/GETTY IMAGES"However many machine gunners you change, the machine gun still won't work if it has no bullets inside," reads an excerpt from the notebook of a Russian staff officer obtained by Reuters.
Russian forces in the area had seen their ranks drained by death and desertions, according to the report, with two units operating at just 20 percent of their full strength. The report describes how a soldier intentionally shot himself in the hand, and another was ordered by his commanders to keep his position in the small village of Hrakove as it was being overrun.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces continued their advance against their demoralized opponents, using High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to target Russian command posts. By early September, Ukrainian forces had succeeded in pushing the Russian military out of most of the Kharkiv region, one of the biggest upsets in the war.
"ISW has long assessed that the conventional Russian military in Ukraine is severely degraded and has largely lost offensive capabilities since the summer of 2022, that Russian strategic commanders have been micromanaging operational commanders' decisions on tactical matters, and that Russian morale is very low," the think tank said in research published Wednesday.
ISW said the Reuters report revealed how depleted Russian combat units had become near Balakliia and how "poor morale, bad logistics, and overbearing commanders contributed to Russian forces' poor performance."
A senior Pentagon official told reporters during a briefing on Monday that Russia's military was increasingly unable "to sustain large-scale combat operations in Ukraine and to train, equip and then get these mobilized forces to the battlefield."
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