Entering its second week, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has a menu of items to watch out for for anyone interested in military minutiae.
They can be summed up in the fact that Ukrainians have worn yellow or blue ribbons, their national colors, on their arms, while some Russians go with the red headband.
Vladimir Putin’s armored vehicles are marked with letters on the bodywork. The ubiquitous Z and V, not only, are gaining daily meaning in the hands of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s social networks. But what matters is that they, like the colored ribbons, avoid the friendly fire of the troops.
Here comes the central point. Both countries were the front lines of the Soviet Union, and they inherited common military equipment. Kiev even had nuclear missiles when it gained independence in 1991, but returned them to Moscow three years later.
Thus, many of the tanks and armored vehicles seen in side-by-side images are the same. At least on the outside, of course: with a military budget ten times the size, Russia has more modern forces. An updated version of the old T-72 tank operates there, while Ukrainian troops are a little behind.
So far, however, this difference hasn’t stopped the Russians from having difficulties, especially not having completely suppressed Kiev’s air defenses.
Performance analysis aside, the Ukrainians have in their favor some foreign equipment suitable for the resistance they present, such as Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger portable anti-aircraft missiles, both American. And Turkish attack drones Bayraktar-TB2, which have already gained fame destroying Russian armored columns in the conflict.
Russia has a much higher air capacity than its neighbor, with more advanced versions of the Su-27 fighter jets or the Su-24 attack plane.
But, so far, it hasn’t made intensive use, perhaps because of the idea of ​​avoiding taking down and capturing pilots, which would be bad for morale at home.
Its war is based on the superior missiles it has, such as the ballistic Iskander and the cruiser Kalibr, and on the old Soviet artillery in modernized versions. Here, the red line of the conflict seems to be the presence of the TOS-1, which launches feared thermobaric rockets, weapons that destroy everything with a strong wave of pressure and fire.
They are the most powerful weapons on the Russian menu outside the nuclear warhead chapter, which is expected to be taboo.
But the heavy lifting for now is being done with older Soviet models, like the Grad, used in dozens of wars around the world, and Smerch. Both can use the dangerous cluster bombs, items banned in most countries but not in Russia and Ukraine, though both deny the job.
