Ukraine's general’s command style “allows others to realise their capacities and talents”, whereas in Russia’s military, “only one to two people make decisions and the rest are told to shut up.” “No way the Ukrainians pause for the winter . . ." https://t.co/nBj0qmCl4x
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) November 20, 2022
Zagorodnyuk attributed Zaluzhnyi's success to his ability to delegate, encourage initiative among lower ranks and obtain the feedback needed to react to opportunities. "People on the ground know the situation much better than in Kyiv. They are there. They help to build this opportunistic warfare when they see the weak spots of the enemy," he said.
A US military official praised Zaluzhnyi's ability to react swiftly to Russia's movements and failures. As an example he cited the defence of Kyiv in the early days of the war, where Russian troops overstretched their supply lines and became bogged down, only to be battered by Ukrainian units operating on their flanks. "He kept his forces agile and never allowed them to get fixed. Staying on the move is difficult and takes discipline," the official said. In the battle for Kyiv, Zaluzhnyi's decision to disperse Ukrainian air defences was crucial to preventing Russia from attaining full air superiority, the official added.
5% of US military budget to destroy Russia's military.
— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) November 20, 2022
Likely, the best return on military investment in history.
https://t.co/0u80h2CshC
Altogether, the Biden administration received Congressional approval for $40bn in aid for Ukraine for 2022 and has requested an additional $37.7bn for 2022. More than half of this aid has been earmarked for defense.
These sums pale into insignificance when set against a total US defense budget of $715bn for 2022. The assistance represents 5.6% of total US defense spending. But Russia is a primary adversary of the US, a top tier rival not too far behind China, its number one strategic challenger. In cold, geopolitical terms, this war provides a prime opportunity for the US to erode and degrade Russia’s conventional defense capability, with no boots on the ground and little risk to US lives.
US spending of 5.6% of its defense budget to destroy nearly half of Russia’s conventional military capability seems like an absolutely incredible investment. If we divide out the US defense budget to the threats it faces, Russia would perhaps be of the order of $100bn-150bn in spend-to-threat. So spending just $40bn a year, erodes a threat value of $100-150bn, a two-to-three time return.
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