But the Russian military seems to be in bad shape. Almost nothing of the new stuff they paraded all these years is used in Ukraine.
Some people argued that it's a smart ploy, others say they simply don't have the technology in amounts that are enough for a war.
It makes me think, how many nukes does Russia actually have? How many are usable? How many are "high tech" enough so they can't be intercepted?
Our current ability to intercept Russian ballistic missiles is extremely limited. We might get a few at most. There just aren't many interceptors deployed.
To summarise, They may not be in bad shape, they seem to be reluctant to use force against their neighbour.
They have been (I mean, aside from the deliberate atrocities) but not, I think, intentionally. Ironically, I think it is because Putin’s claims of closeness of the Russian and Ukrainian people aren't wrong, and the Russian conscripts largely shoved into this war don't really have any desire to kill Ukrainian’s for Putin’s murky purposes.
That's why they begged Kazakhstan for troops, why they sent Chechen kill squads after Zelenskyy, why they are now recruiting in Syria, etc. The material condition of the Russian Army isn't great, but the human component doesn't seem particularly enthusiastic about the war, either.
Clearly, Russia's army is having a lot of problems, and Putin is not that mastermind that some media segments claim him to be.
[0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/08/vitaly-gerasim...
[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russia-sa...