“Russia's disastrous tactics have been a terrible advertisement for tanks,” tweeted Nicholas Drummond, an armor consultant. Those missileers have a clear shot, and the tankers have no idea they’re there, because too few infantry-or no infantry-are accompanying the tanks. In Ukraine, this imbalance is most evident in dramatic videos of Russian T-80 and T-72 tanks fighting alone in cities-and often catching a missile from hidden Ukrainian troops. Army brigade, by contrast, can field 60 squads. A Russian army brigade, which on paper possesses several battalions, in reality can generate just one BTG with around 36 squads, each with around a dozen professional soldiers. The point is, professional infantry are the Russian army’s most precious resource. When conscripts starting getting killed and captured, a Kremlin spokesperson uttered a rare public apology. The Kremlin however did send conscripts into Ukraine, in clear violation of its own policies. And short-term conscripts are all but worthless in combat-and, in fact, don’t usually deploy for combat. Russia is an aging and shrinking society that still relies on conscription to fill its military’s ranks. But the Russian army long has suffered a dearth of trained, professional infantry.
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