Russia Doesn't Train Troops for Urban Warfare. It's About to Learn the Consequences in Ukraine.

[rebewranger]

Russia Doesn't Train Troops for Urban Warfare. It's About to Learn the Consequences in Ukraine.
 
8 Mar 2022
Military.com | By Gary Anderson
 

Vladimir Putin's plan for a quick decapitation of Ukraine's government and swift capitulation of its major cities was the first casualty of his war. Now, the Russian military is faced with urban combat, something for which it is not prepared.

Russian combined-arms doctrine has generally advised against making cities primary objectives. The belief has been that if the enemy's main force in the field is destroyed, then his cities will surrender.

Although Russian special forces are probably given some instruction in urban combat, there is no indication that the average conscript has any training in the physical and psychological rigors of street fighting.


This leaves the Russians two options if major Ukrainian cities continue to resist. The first is a prolonged siege to starve the Ukrainians out; the second is to blast the cities into rubble. Those options are not mutually exclusive. Both can be used simultaneously, but both are ugly and will earn Russia the enmity of the rest of the world for years to come.

 https://www.military.com/daily-news/opinions/2022/03/08/russia-doesnt-train-troops-urban-warfare-its-about-learn-consequences-ukraine.html

[Smokin Joe]

Blasting cities to rubble was a lesson both sides should have learned at Stalingrad.

It makes it harder yet to prevail and force your enemy out.

Of course the Russians aren't trained in MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain). The troops might get ideas about moving on Moscow, themselves...