‘Brutality over precision’ — What the Army is learning from Russia in Ukraine

[rangerrebew]

‘Brutality over precision’ — What the Army is learning from Russia in Ukraine
A new Army report reveals how Russian forces are adapting to a long, grinding war — and what lessons the U.S. military is learning from it.
Kyle Gunn

Jul 28, 2025 1:08 PM EDT

Kyle Gunn

Jul 28, 2025 1:08 PM EDT


Russian forces in Ukraine are learning that tactics based on “brutality” and quantity over quality can improve their fortunes, according to a 170-page report put out by the U.S. Army this month. Published last week, “How Russia Fights” lays out a series of hard lessons the U.S. troops are learning from Russia as its full-scale invasion of Ukraine steams towards its fourth year.

“The Russians have already reverted to Soviet form on the battlefield, favoring mass over maneuver, quantity over quality, capacity over capability, brutality over precision, and mobilization over readiness,” the report says.
 
Produced by the Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, it’s a rare look at how one part of the U.S. military is studying this war and what lessons can be taken from it. Based on events between Feb. 24, 2022, and June 30, 2024, it shows how Russia, despite sanctions, isolation, and battlefield losses, is rapidly adapting and refining a model of warfare that leverages mass, improvisation, and emerging technologies to sustain operations far longer than many expected.

https://taskandpurpose.com/tech-tactics/army-russia-ukraine-lessons-learned/

[rangerrebew]

This is not what William Tecumseh Sherman would have learned and that is why he was so great.  For him, it would have been brutality and precision to crush the enemy.

[DefiantMassRINO]

William Tecumseh Sherman conducted a brutally precise campaign aginst the South's economy - it's ability to make and sustain war.

Russians have a production advantage over the Ukrainians.  They will put this to work by dropping more dumb, inexpensive ordinance against Ukrainian forces.

The problem for the Ukrainians is that the West is not providing them the support needed to make war against the Russian war economy.

The greatest practioner of brutal warfare versus precesion warfare was Josef Stalin.

Body count and materiel losses are not part of Putin's calculus.  They are irrelevant and not indicators of progress.  Putin's measure of progress is diminishing resolve of the West.  His war of attrition is not against Ukraine, but against the West's willingness to subsidize UKraine's ability to make war.

This is not what William Tecumseh Sherman would have learned and that is why he was so great.  For him, it would have been brutality and precision to crush the enemy.