Thread by @RyanMcbeth

Is the Russian Army becoming hypothermic? A companion thread 🧵 to my video? #ukraine, #ukraineRussiaWar #hypothermia #osint
youtube.com/shorts/4b-q5L2…

The Russian Federation Army does not have any special ability to fight better in winter. An Army tends to reflect its population and 75% of Russia's population lives in urban areas.

As in all armies, the poor tend to have greater representation, it is certainly possible that there is a larger percentage of soldiers who know cold weather survival and fieldcraft from their time growing up hunting and farming.

And there is a big difference in knowing how to stay warm while waiting 10 minutes for the train and knowing fieldcraft.

Unless this training is passed on by rural soldiers to to soldiers from urban areas and the soldiers have the proper cold weather equipment, all of that institutional knowledge won't matter.

Also note that winter makes everything harder. Soldiers need more calories. Vehicles need more Class III POL (Petroleum, Oil and Lubricant). It becomes more difficult to dig trenches and starting fires to keep warm could cause your position to be revealed.

The area near Kherson will be wet and cold this week - which is a recipe for hypothermia. If we see an uptick of vehicles going to field hospitals, that could indicate that dome Russian soldiers do not have the cold weather protective clothing they need.