Quote:
Originally Posted by InternationalVillager
Maybe someone with more military background can clarify my thoughts if there’s obvious errors.
But just from looking online, it took the nazis 2 months to seige Kiev in WWII with 500,000 troops and where there was no disregard for any populations.
Why is it surprising that the city has not fallen after a week of fighting when Russian army has not even really done anything remotely as aggressive as the German offensive ? aka shelling/bombing the actual city etc. I read it a lot that “US expected Kiev to fall in days and is now surprised by the Ukrainian troops holding the line”.
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I don't think you're wrong; there is very little precedent for a city that is as important and large as Kiev is to Ukraine to fall in 48 hours if it has determined defenders. Even Baghdad didn't fall that quickly, and that was at the end of a multi-week air and ground campaign with the Hussein regime in collapse.
And the Russian Army's best forces weren't even deployed into the Kievan front. The 1st Guards Tank Army and the 58th Combined Arms Army started in the East and Crimea respectively.