‘Even the U.S. army is no match for Russian defense in Ukraine’, – claims an American professor

The high hopes that many in the West had for the summer campaign of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have not been realized.

The Ukrainian army had to pay a high price for its limited advances, which ultimately were negated. Now there is no doubt that the offensive has failed.

This is written by Professor Stephen Biddle of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in Foreign Affairs.

Some will blame Washington for the debacle, as it was slow to provide modern weaponry to Kyiv. Others attribute the failure to strategic blunders by leadership and the poor preparedness of Ukrainian troops. But the real issue is that Russian forces proved to be “competent defenders,” the analyst believes.

According to him, by the summer of 2023, Russian defenses had become deep, well-prepared, with extensive minefields, supported by mobile reserves, and garrisoned by troops who were not lacking in morale and stubbornly repelled attacks. As history shows, breaking through such defense is very difficult even for well-trained attackers.

Perhaps an attacking force with skills and training at the level of the US armed forces could have broken through.

“But to overcome such defense, a significant advantage in skills and motivation is necessary. In 2023, Ukraine did not possess them, and it is unclear whether even American troops would have had the skills sufficient to accomplish such a difficult task,” Biddle notes.