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Originally Posted by Firebot
Ukraine knew that Russia was invading but let's also not change the narrative. US did not undersell Ukraine's defense, they genuinely thought that Russia would succeed in taking Kyiv based on their assessment. By all accounts, on paper, Russia should have won the initial phases but keeping hold of Ukraine long term would be very costly and untenable.
There's a reason why no arms or weapons were provided to Ukraine until weeks later, that it was apparent it may not crumble easily. Ukraine was effectively on its own militarily.
Zelensky himself was in extreme danger on day 1 with Russian assassins within 100 meters of his position at times. Those initial days were utter chaos and that video of Zelensky standing in arms with soldiers on day 2 in Kyiv was very real, there was a very possible chance of them not surviving the night.
With different tactics and proper plans and properly maintained logistics, Russia may have been successful. They simply did not plan for a fierce resistance (the Hostomel Airport attack is the prime example). The US did provide Ukraine with crucial intelligence from the very start, and when the VDV transports were arriving at the airport, Ukrainian forces were ready for them and shot down 2 VDV Il-76 transport planes killing hundreds of VDV special forces in the air.
https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/3...t-down-reports
Those early wins were crucial in saving Kyiv. |
This is my entire point though, I don't know if its true the US believed that, I think it was a bait and switch they pulled on the Russians.
Its factually wrong to say no weapons or aid were given to Ukraine prior to the invasion, $700 Million was given between Biden taking office and the invasion. Billions of $ since 2014 up to the invasion