(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The BBC looks back at that huge Russian convoy at the start of the invasion of Ukraine [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-23 Display of some of the Russian equipment that didn't survive the assault headed for Kyiv in Ukraine Claire Press and Svitlana Libet at the BBC have a look back at the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the massive convoy of troops and armour that attempted to reach Kyiv. Details they report explain why it went so badly, and just how poorly the Russian military had planned it. The western media called it a convoy. In reality, it was a traffic jam and a major tactical blunder. Forty-eight hours after that first satellite photograph, on 28 February 2022, the line of vehicles had grown to a colossal 35 miles (56 km) long. The vehicles were stalled for weeks. Then finally they retreated, and seemingly disappeared overnight. What happened? Why did such a massive force fail to reach Kyiv? A BBC team spoke to dozens of witnesses; including military personnel, national and international intelligence services, civilians, veterans, and the territorial defence, all of whom came into contact with the convoy. It also gained access to Russian maps and documents that shed light on what the plan actually was, and why it went so spectacularly wrong. Some of the details they are reporting are intriguing: ...Contrary to many media reports at the time, the 35 mile-long (56 km) column was in fact 10 separate Russian tactical battalion units, according to the Ukrainian Armed Forces... They ended up in one huge traffic jam because they were forced to use a limited number of roads, and ended up bogged down together. By the time the column had grown as long as 35 miles (56 km) it included up to 1,000 tanks, 2,400 mechanised infantry vehicles and 10,000 personnel, as well as dozens of supply trucks carrying food, fuel, oil and ammunition. Stalled north of Kyiv and running out of food and fuel, the Russians had also underestimated their adversary. The failures came from the top down. ...According to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) (a UK-based security think tank) by keeping plans about an attack on the capital under wraps, Russian soldiers could outnumber the Ukrainian forces by 12 to one in the north of Kyiv. However, Putin's secrecy came at a cost. So successful was his deception, even most of his commanders did not receive their orders until 24 hours before the invasion. On a tactical level, this left them vulnerable. They lacked food, fuel and maps. They were without proper communication tools. They had insufficient ammunition. They were even ill-prepared for the winter weather… ...In stark contrast to the Ukrainians, the Russian forces repeatedly exposed their inability to make dynamic decisions on the ground. "The Russians were all carrying large metal boxes marked 'secret'," says Vladyslav from the 80th Brigade. "We seized one during an ambush. We found their maps marked with their entire route. After that we knew their whole strategy." Their navigation tools were also woefully out of date. In the year since the invasion, the BBC has continued to find maps left behind by Russian troops that date back to the 1960s and 70s. Whole towns exist now that were not on the maps that they were using to navigate. We also found semaphore flags, a vastly outdated way to communicate between units... READ THE WHOLE THING — it goes a long way towards explaining why Ukraine didn't fall within days, as so many expected. It also makes right-wing idolization of Russia and the Russian military look even more ridiculous. It’s a good read with some striking photos and graphics. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/23/2154586/-The-BBC-looks-back-at-that-huge-Russian-convoy-at-the-start-of-the-invasion-of-Ukraine Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/