Former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, believes that despite Russia maintaining a quantitative advantage in military assets and equipment over Ukraine, its ability to leverage this advantage is limited.
Hodges shared this opinion in the Silicon Curtain podcast, as reported by Voice of America.
According to Hodges, observers often talk about the lack of ammunition in Ukraine, casualties among the military, the loss of Avdiivka, but they do not often hear about the "real problems" that Russia faces with its military. In particular, he believes that Russians are unable to fully utilize this advantage.
"Avdiivka fell five weeks ago, and the Russians could not take advantage of it because they do not have the capability," he noted.
Regarding Russia's advantage in ammunition, Hodges points out that the declared ratio of Russian artillery shells to those of Ukraine, such as 5:1 or 10:1, is "accepted as a given." "Perhaps this is true in some cases, but they (the Russians) do not have the ability to exploit it. Because the Russians have lost many experienced officers and sergeants," he says.
"War is not just about math and who has more people - we lost in Vietnam and Afghanistan," Hodges says about the U.S.
He also emphasizes that Ukrainians are much more motivated than Russians.
"Ukrainians defend their homeland, know the area better than anyone, and Russians are occupiers and aggressors. I don't think there will even be enough Russians who want to be there (on the front lines with Ukraine) to fill one school bus," he adds.
Hodges also expressed doubts about Russia's ability to fulfill its plans to create new units, as recently announced by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.
"They have lost so many people. They cannot train new 300,000. They announced that they have created two new armies - this is a lie. They announced it, but they do not exist, and they are definitely not combat-ready formations," the expert added.
