December 30, 2024: Ukraine is using some unique tactics to defeat the Russian invaders. The most damaging tactic is that when Russian troops attack, they suffer substantial casualties as the Ukrainians continually retreat before the Russians can reach them. During World War II the Germans used similar tactics towards the end of the war when the Russians were on the offensive. The Germans would build substantial front-line defenses and then secretly withdraw their troops to a second fortified line as the Russian artillery bombardment hit empty trenches. The advancing Russian troops would advance past the empty trench line and run into the second one that was full of Germans who used machine-guns and mortars to slaughter the advancing Russians. This happened at the end of the war the Russians were advancing on Berlin, which they captured. During the war the Russians lost about three times as many troops as the Germans, even though the Germans were on the offensive for most of the war.

Russia was victorious during World War II, which they called the Great Patriotic War. Russia didn’t fight a similar war, against a well-armed, well led and determined opponent until they invaded Ukraine in 2022. As is usual with such invasions, the attacks believed it would be a quick victory, but it never is and that was especially true in Ukraine. By the end of 2024 Russia had lost over 700,000 soldiers dead, disabled or missing. Casualties reached a million if you count the lightly wounded and deserters who were not reported by officers unwilling to admit to their superiors that they could not inspire and command their troops successfully in combat. Over a million military age men fled Russia to avoid being forced to join the military and die in Ukraine.

The Russian military, like the rest of the country, is experiencing an ever expanding culture of corruption. It even extends to the military, where troops receive substandard equipment when they receive anything at all. Medical and food supplies are stolen and sold on the black market by supply sergeants, while Russian officers sell drugs to their troops. They don’t want to win the war, just get rich as long as the fighting lasts. For too many Russian officers, including generals and government defense officials, corruption is their primary activity.

So many Russian soldiers have been killed that Russia had to hire 12,000 North Korean mercenary troops. These soldiers are also being robbed by their own government, which keeps most of the pay these troops are supposed to receive and apparently told the Russians that these soldiers were expendable and they could do whatever they wanted with them. By the end of the year the North Korean soldiers were in combat and when hundreds of wounded North Korean soldiers were taken to Russian military hospitals it was discovered there were few, if any interpreters who could translate for the medical personnel to treat wounds. This complicated treatment led to many avoidable deaths. There were few translators in combat, which led to at least one incident of North Korean soldiers firing on Russian troops. To the North Koreans the Russians and Ukrainians looked similar, spoke similar languages and wore similar combat uniforms. The lack of interpreters led to the North Korean troops becoming a liability to the Russians as well.

Recently Russia’s problems multiplied with Russian troops being chased out of Syria by a surprise attack by a reinvigorated HTS Islamic terrorist group in northern Syria. These attacks quickly ran all foreign forces out of Syria except for some American bases on the Iraq border and Turkish forces in northwestern Idlib province.

Russia has growing economic problems back home. The new American president Trump vowed to bring peace to Ukraine and end the war. The Trump plan involves Ukraine getting back come but not all of the Russian occupied Ukrainian territory. If Ukraine doesn’t agree the Americans will cut off all military and economic aid. The United States has been the major source of this aid. If the Russians do not agree, American economic sanctions will be increased to the point where the Russian economy is a wreck. The Russian economy is already in bad shape and more American pressure has disastrous consequences for Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin.

Russia has had to sell nearly half of its gold reserves since 2023. The National Wealth Fund has also been depleted. This fund is for emergencies and is expected to be empty before Russia runs out of emergencies. It gets worse as the price of the primary Russian export, oil, has fallen and with that Russia finds itself with insufficient income to keep its economy and war effort in Ukraine going. The war has already had a catastrophic impact on the economy, causing labor shortages and production bottlenecks because of sanctions. China was unable, or unwilling to replace all the items Russia used to get from Europe and North America.

The Ukraine War has impoverished Russia. The leaders, like Vladimir Putin who ordered the invasion, have been indicted as war criminals for the Russia atrocities committed in Ukraine. While Ukraine receives substantial military and economic support from NATO countries, Russia received a ruined economy and proof that Russia cannot be trusted because, in 1994, it agreed to never attack Ukraine in return of Ukraine giving up its Soviet era nuclear weapons. Despite all this, Putin claims he will keep fighting for as long as it takes to make Ukraine Russian again. Putin ignores the fact that many of associates and supporters in Russia are losing faith in their leader.