It appears that the Russians may have made a strategic error which could cost them their victory.
Putin's Colossal Strategic Error in Ukraine | Newsroom What Robert Patman labels a colossal error, I think is possibly an over statement. However he is correct in that it is a stuff up.
"More than two weeks after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it is increasingly evident Putin’s Russia has made a huge strategic misjudgment that potentially threatens the political survival of the authoritarian regime in Moscow.
Having failed to obtain a lightening, blitzkrieg style victory the Putin regime expected, the Russian military has resorted to encircling Ukrainian cities and blindly pounding them with artillery and missile strikes.
To date, Putin’s war has already destroyed an estimated $US40 billion plus of infrastructure in Ukrainian cities and caused the deaths of nearly 600 Ukrainian civilians.
If Putin’s regime seems willing to commit war crimes in the name of its so-called “de-Nazification” campaign, it is clear that Russia’s larger and heavily armed military has struggled in combat with a smaller, but tactically aware and highly motivated opponent.
Russia has lost large amounts of equipment and sustained thousands of casualties, almost as many in two weeks, according to some estimates, as America suffered in Iraq during seven years of war after Washington’s 2003 invasion.
Moreover, three highly decorated Russian generals have been killed by Ukrainian forces."
Ukraine has resisted the might of Russia so far denying it any significant victories on the battlefield and after nigh on four weeks that has to be eating the liver of Putin and his supporters. It won't be doing the confidence of the Russian High Command any good either.
It's
been suggested that the Russians don't appear to have an overall theatre commander on the ground and retired Australian
General Mick Ryan says: "
If there is a senior Russian Ukraine commander, he has performed terribly. If there isn't, the Russians may be even more inept than we thought."
Also the Ukrainians have upped the pressure on Putin by claiming that Bortnikov
could replace him. Vladimir is paranoid enough at the moment and this will just paly on his suspicions. If it was Uncle Joe (Stalin) Bortnikov would be dad now. Stalin was that paranoid he'd shoot his own shadow on the suspicion that it was spying on him.
One other thing of note was the
unusual coordinated flights on 17 / 18 March, of the Russian "Doomsday" Il-96-400VPU aircraft and an Il-96-300PU Presidential aircraft, both of which are operated by the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment. It is not known why these flights occurred.