Russian lawmakers authorize Putin to use military force outside the country

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It's important to note that Ukraine is most likely showing a notably smaller segment of its own losses than the Russian losses. While they are certainly performing much better in the war than anybody expected them to, successfully delaying and denying Russian advances and objectives at the war's start and now forcing the Russians back while inflicting severe casualties on the Russians while suffering substantially fewer in return, it is hard to say if they are actually gaining more equipment than they are losing.

It is also important to note that during the US Civil War both sides had major doctrinal issues at the start as a result of the US military not adjusting to advancing technology. The CSA was lucky in that a substantial fraction of the pre-Civil War US military and especially its officer corps came from the South, which meant that they had a more able and prepared command staff. It's a combination of economical power, manpower reserves, the development of new strategies, and commanders able to leverage these advantages to best effect that resulted in the Union victory.

Third, the Russian government hasn't set them up for failure, exactly. Rather, the Russian government does not want a capable and effective military. A capable and effective military might get ideas in an autocratic state about who should be in charge. Rather, the Russian government has set its military up to do what the Russian government actually wants its military to do, and that is to look though, intimidate the population and neighbours, and if necessary suppress a revolt. And they would be quite capable of that. Note that 'war of conquest' is not in that list.

However, the Ukrainian military has since 2014 reformed itself on a very different basis, namely, that it exists to safeguard Ukraine and her people from existential threats from outside its borders. It has spend the years between 2014 and 2022 testing itself during the ongoing conflict in the Donbass region for exactly that purpose, and it is demonstrating during this war just how capable they are.


And yes, the human toll is not to be ignored. It is likely to continue to grow. I would not be surprised at all if Russia keeps fighting this war for years unless the economy completely collapses and Putin faces revolts he absolutely needs the military for. Although by the time that happens, the military might well be too spend.