Russian troops in Ukraine: fight, flee or surrender

In the face of the Ukrainian military Blitzkrieg in the north east around Kharkiv, Russian troops now have three options: fight, flee or surrender. So far the majority have taken the middle option and run away, leaving behind huge stockpiles of ammunition, weapons and armoured vehicles. Even where Russian troops have dug in to try and defend territory seized shortly after the invasion in February, the severe disruption to arms supply lines and the abandonment of so many weapons depots have forced them to retreat. The only military option left for the Russian commanders is to maintain artillery strikes against advancing Ukrainian troops and continue to target civilians with long-range attacks. However, the US high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars) and long-range munitions provided by Germany and other Nato nations have successfully suppressed Russia’s ability to sustain the attacks. Ukraine’s counter-offensive in the south around Kherson is having the same impact on Russian troops. Many are dropping their weapons and retreating. CIA director William Burns summed up the dilemma confronting President Putin. Speaking at a conference in Washington, he said Putin had seriously underestimated Ukraine’s courage and capacity for combat. It was “hard to see Putin’s record in the war as anything but a failure,” Burns said. Putin, he added, was surrounded by advisers who were too afraid to challenge him. The Russian leader had also miscalculated that the US and Europe would lose their resolve to back Ukraine the longer the war continued.