Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilisation follows Russia’s strategic and operational failures in Ukraine. It also confirms the Kremlin’s inability to think outside the box of its old doctrine. Moscow’s response remains the same as before – to overwhelm the enemy by sending in a bigger army.
Ukraine’s recent military successes in retaking large territories in the northeast (especially in the Kharkiv region) have been presented in the media as an “unexpected” development. Russian forces were probably “taken by surprise” at the beginning of September when the counteroffensive started. But Kyiv’s success was neither surprising, nor unforeseen.
A number of factors have been offered to explain Ukraine’s success on the battlefield, ranging from Russia’s corrupt armed forces, to Ukraine’s higher morale and fighting spirit, to the supply of weapons and intelligence by the west. And these are certainly part of the equation. But two other interrelated factors are often forgotten: Ukraine’s agile thinking and Russia’s continental mindset.
