Somewhere around Moscow, the Russian version of Donald Rumsfeld is telling people, “You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.” And around Russia, civilians are stepping up to support their poorly-supplied troops, but on a more tactical scale.
While US troops faced shortages of up-armored vehicles and ballistic vests, the Russians are getting care packages from back home with lifesaving medical equipment: Packets of hemostatic granules to stop bleeding, needles to relieve pressure from chest wounds, and even wheelchairs to help those evacuated.
As the New York Times points out, people from all over Russia are driving cars full of supplies to the Ukrainian front after hearing stories from returning fighters about chronic shortages of equipment. The supplies sometimes reach into the tactical sphere, not just medical.
Two of the most requested items are night-vision optics and drones, a sign that Russian military units are not nearly as well equipped as their Ukrainian counterparts, who are getting weapons and support systems from Western governments.
According to Russian state media, the soldiers who have invaded Ukraine are conquering what they were expected to take, with few casualties and great battlefield success; it’s literally illegal to publish anything criticizing the Russian army or the invasion effort.