Russia’s Failure to Take Down Kyiv Was a Defeat for the Ages; Ukraine’s Surprise Strike on Russian Fleet Hobbles Putin’s Donbas Strategy; Eight Russian cruise missiles fired from Belarus shot down: Ukraine air force, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

Russia’s Failure to Take Down Kyiv Was a Defeat for the Ages:

Kyiv was a Russian defeat for the ages. The fight started poorly for the invaders and went downhill from there.

When President Vladimir Putin launched his war on Feb. 24 after months of buildup on Ukraine’s borders, he sent hundreds of helicopter-borne commandos — the best of the best of Russia’s “spetsnaz” special forces soldiers — to assault and seize a lightly defended airfield on Kyiv’s doorstep.

Other Russian forces struck elsewhere across Ukraine, including toward the eastern city of Kharkiv as well as in the contested Donbas region and along the Black Sea coast. But as the seat of national power, Kyiv was the main prize. Thus the thrust by elite airborne forces in the war’s opening hours.

But Putin failed to achieve his goal of quickly crushing Ukraine’s outgunned and outnumbered army. The Russians were ill-prepared for Ukrainian resistance, proved incapable of adjusting to setbacks, failed to effectively combine air and land operations, misjudged Ukraine’s ability to defend its skies, and bungled basic military functions like planning and executing the movement of supplies.

“That’s a really bad combination if you want to conquer a country,” said Peter Mansoor, a retired Army colonel and professor of military history at Ohio State University.

For now at least, Putin’s forces have shifted away from Kyiv, to eastern Ukraine. Ultimately, the Russian leader may achieve some of his objectives. Yet his failure to seize Kyiv will be long remembered — for how it defied prewar expectations and exposed surprising weaknesses in a military thought to be one of the strongest in the world.

“It’s stunning,” said military historian Frederick Kagan of the Institute for the Study of War, who says he knows of no parallel to a major military power like Russia invading a country at the time of its choosing and failing so utterly. —>READ MORE HERE

Ukraine’s Surprise Strike on Russian Fleet Hobbles Putin’s Donbas Strategy:

Attack on navy ships at Berdyansk port could limit Russia’s ability to fire on eastern Ukraine, analysts say; ‘major logistical blow’

A surprise Ukrainian strike on a Russian ship at a southern port city last month could curb Moscow’s plan to expand its hold on the Donbas region, eliminating a key military advantage in the Russian attack plan, Ukrainian military analysts and U.S. officials said.

The March 24 offensive against Russian navy ships docked at a captured port in Berdyansk on the Azov Sea was the first major strike on the Russian fleet, Ukrainian and U.S. officials said. The attack destroyed a ship laden with supplies, drove others back into the sea, and damaged the port facilities.

The strike ended the presumption that Russian ships could attack without the threat of a Ukrainian reply. And it has limited Russia’s ability to fire missiles and artillery as it pivots its assault toward Donbas in Ukraine’s east, said retired Adm. James Foggo, who commanded U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa.

Hours after the strike, Russia moved its ships in port out to sea, making it harder for them to attack Ukraine’s cities and preventing them from supporting ground forces.

“It’s a major logistical blow,” Adm. Foggo said. “It’s an ‘aha!’ moment for the Russians. Despite the damage they have done inside Ukraine, Ukrainian forces are still capable of conducting offensive strikes with precision.” —>READ MORE HERE

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