The Russian Army’s Death Spiral
Kyiv Post
Sep 11, 2024
Is Russia really "winning" in the Donbas? Or is Russia headed for a Pyrrhic victory to win small towns in the Donbas but without any plan to win the war?
Chuck Pfarrer, one of America's most renowned and respected military authors and analysts, discusses with Kyiv Post's Jason Jay Smart why Russia is showing all of the signs of having fallen into a quagmire with no strategy or hope of being able to get out.
Pfarrer, having been a former Squadron Leader of SEAL Team 6, explains why the failure of Russia's attempted attack is indicative of larger, systematic problems within the Russian military.
Russia, time and again, fails to make significant headway in Ukraine as it tries to face down not only Ukrainian soldiers, but its own Russian troops who are becoming increasingly unwilling to become cannon fodder. As the war progresses, Russian morale will only further fall, leading to larger organizational problems within their faltering military.
Pfarrer, who has advised numerous US national security agencies and is a leading figure in the analysis of the war in Ukraine, is a new special correspondent for the Kyiv Post. Here, he explains why Russia’s losses so far have been disastrous and why an abysmal summer awaits the Kremlin. Russia fundamentally lacks the soldier-scholar model of officer leadership that would allow for it to process why it is losing and to devise solutions. Instead, Russia will continue to just bleed itself dry.
After his service in the US Navy, Pfarrer served public and private sector clients as a military and counter-terrorism contractor and non-proliferation expert. Pfarrer has written extensively on counter-WMD proliferation and gray zone operations. He has written an op-ed for the New York Times and the Knight-Ridder Syndicate and has appeared as a writer and counterterrorism expert on CNN, ABC, MSNBC, Fox, CSPAN, NPR, Voice of America, Al Jazeera, Al Hurra, IPR, and America tonight.
Despite Russia loudly bragging that it is winning, the reality is that things are quite different on the field of battle.