https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/06/30/russia-military-challenges-summer-offensive/Russia has unleashed its summer offensive in Ukraine’s east and is slowly grinding forward with its advantage in manpower, artillery shells and missiles. The coming months are crucial in President Vladimir Putin’s bid to force Kyiv’s capitulation.
Yet Russia’s progress over the past two years against Ukraine has been glacial, especially compared with the recent lightning strikes by Israel against a much larger Iran. The reason, according to experts, is the state of Russia’s military — a long-standing problem.
Independent Russian military analyst Ian Matveev predicts that Russia’s summer offensive won’t lead to a drastic breakthrough but could gain several thousand square kilometers of territory. The military is incapable of conducting complex operations in Ukraine, he said, because of weaknesses in intelligence, shortages, corruption, logistical failures and poor training.
“These [mass assault] tactics are the only thing the Russian military is capable of at the moment. And it’s very inhumane because in fact dead people are being traded for territory. What we have in the Russian army now is a lot of soldiers, but they have no training.”
