LONDON — Ukraine is “humiliating” Russia on the battlefield and “wiping the floor with them in terms of world opinion”, the BBC quoted a UK military expert as saying.
Professor Michael Clarke, former director of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, says: “The Russians are making almost every tactical mistake it is possible to make.”
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he explains: “They (Russian troops) look like forces that were completely unprepared, that hadn’t thought through what a major campaign might look like.
“The Ukrainians are stalling the Russian advance in all areas and even operating now quite effective counter attacks. The Russians are losing a lot of equipment and troops.”
Clarke says Ukraine has a “NATO standard” battlefield command and control system, built with help from Nato countries since 2014.
The attack on a plane maintenance plant in Lviv on Friday morning makes it “clear the Russians are going for the infrastructure that is keeping Ukrainian aircraft in the air”, he says.
Striking the western city just 70 km from the Polish border is also “an attempt to frighten the West out of helping Ukrainians as much as they have been”, Clarke added. — IANS
