ANDREW NEIL: Turn Russia back into a Great Power? This shambolic invasion has done exactly the opposite
, President Putin is still no nearer anything that looks like victory. Astonishingly, it is even possible he is staring defeat in the face.
The Russian airforce still does not control the skies over Ukraine, and its navy seems to be baulking at amphibious landings on Ukraine's Black Sea shores. And the scope for reinforcing the troops currently on the ground in Ukraine is diminishing by the day. With 75 per cent of its Battalion Tactical Groups — the Russian army's basic fighting unit — already deployed, sending in more effectively leaves much of Russia defenceless, in terms of conventional forces.
A school, pictured today, in the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, destroyed after Russian forces' shelling It therefore came as something of a shock to the conscripted men, who had been told it was just a big military exercise, that they were invading a foreign country and expected to kill people. Of course, it is still possible for Putin to secure a victory of sorts by razing Ukraine's towns and cities, as he's done before in Syria and Chechnya .
It all adds up to the Russian military's worst nightmare. To prevail in such circumstances Western military experts reckon the invading force needs a superiority of around of 25:1 — in other words, 25 invaders for every local defender. Russia could only muster around 4:1. No democracy and no self-respecting business that wishes to retain its ability to operate in the West will be able to deal with Russia as long as the current Russian president remains in power.
So it's hardly surprising that Putin looks and sounds not just increasingly isolated but increasingly deranged. This week his broadcast to the Russian people was full of neo-fascist meanderings about 'self-purification' and the 'cleansing of the nation', with internal enemies being 'spit out like flies'.
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