Ukraine and Russia, Putin thought he could conquer Kyiv in 13 hours: Background

Thirteen hours. And according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a lot was needed for the Russian army to conquer Kyiv. This was revealed by The New York Times about the optimistic predictions of the Russian president regarding the invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24th. He had also already arranged for the distribution of uniforms for the victory parade, while the NSC believed that the Russian forces were strong enough to resist even the American soldiers. However, as The New York Times wrote, the Russians often found themselves dealing with weapons from the forties, deciphering information downloaded from the Internet on how to use a sniper rifle, old maps and approximate information.

According to Putin’s plans, the 26th Panzer Regiment was supposed to cross the border into Ukraine and cross the Dnipro River within 24 hours, despite the lack of equipment or reinforcements. Instead, reality saw the Ukrainian military bring the Russian aggressors to their knees. And in general, ten months after the invasion, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers were killed and hundreds of thousands of people fled from Ukraine.

Within two years of the pandemic, the newspaper wrote, Putin would have been living in his residence in complete isolation in Moscow “obsessed with Ukraine”. So much so that he ignored the assessments of military experts and retired generals. The Kremlin had expected a quick victory and assumed that its forces would march largely unopposed into Kyiv, despite a lack of supplies and military equipment for the conflict.