Thread by @hansdamen

I did a presentation at ##EASD on Russian logistics in the Ukraine war. Some highlights in this thread. For starters I was looking for a nice picture of logistic vehicles on Red Square. Spoiler: this is what I found. 1/14

We’ve seen the security camera coverage of Russian soldiers looting food from shops. Logically, as what they get is years past it’s ‘use by’ date and probably just enough for one day. In the eighties that was the basic load also.; just one day of food. 2/14

Using ambulances for ammunition transport is a crime against International Humanitarian Law as such, but also shows the Russian level of attention to medical support. Not a lot. 3/14

After a battle in world war 2 Russians would send troops to the battle field, not to help the wounded, but to collect their boots for recycling to new recruits. 4/14

Russian logistics heavily rely on railroads, logically given the side of the country. So they have 30.000 soldiers alone to keep the railroads running. But railroads are vulnerable. 5/14

But at some time you’ll need to leave the railway line and start driving. Spring is not a good time for that because of the mud. Someone in Russia should have read something about that from WorldWar 2. Raputitsa is the technical term. 6/14

If you cannot drive through the fields (or woods), you’re stuck on the roads. Leading to that mythical 80 mile traffic jam. 7/14

Traffic jams are vulnerable. There are reports that Ukrainians spent their anti-tank weapons more on logistics than on armor (the rarity running up 6 to 1). 8/14

Vehicle maintenance is a challenge in Russia. Maybe even more in the military. No preventive maintenace, no working materiel. If you don’t drive regularly, your tires will easily deteriorate. 9/14

In the months before the invasion Russian soldiers sold of a lot of diesel for wodka. Keeping them warm, but also shortening their (logistic) reach immensely. Tanker trucks are a prime target, so Russians started to camouflage them. They get hit anyhow. 10/14

Roughly compared Russians have only 1/3 of logistic troops and capabilities compared to Western units. Severely limiting their logistic reach to (less than) 90 miles. 11/14

MNot counting the trucks they use to steal grain and (agricultural) machinery from Ukraïne, further limiting their militairy logistic reach. 12/14

You see a lot of Russian ammunition boxes. What you won’t see is material handling equipment. They just have to do all the loading and unloading by hand. Therefor you won’t see this sight on the Red square on May 9th. 13/14

Lots of thanks to @TrentTelenko for the inspiration and all his good work on Twitter. Also thanks to @WarOnTheRocks and ALEX VERSHININ for his excellent article ‘Feeding the bear.’ His analysis of Russian logistic capabilities last year November was spot on. 14/14 #EASD.