Contrary to the emotions evoked by humorous pictures of Ukrainian farmers towing Russian tanks, the war may not be going as well for the Ukraine as the standard narrative would have us believe. They may, in fact, be on their way to losing, underequipped as they are and outgunned by the Russian military. Delivery of NATO armor is simply not going to happen, since it would take months to train Ukrainian soldiers in its use. Besides that, no NATO country wants hardware full of high tech weapons falling into Russian hands.

The Russians are well-equipped with infantry fighting vehicles and tanks, he said, while the Ukrainians have no artillery support. “We’re moving in the tree lines with just Javelins and N-LAWs (shoulder-fired anti-tank weapons). But we are moving without mortars. The problem is we are sitting ducks for their artillery and sniper fire — the advance is not happening,” he said. “To be honest, we are not doing good. We go in with eight to fight 50. Down here, it’s 5-10 km fields, separated by drainage ditches and that’s the only way to move. We know where they are and they know where we are at all times … (We) need to get big guns down here, like yesterday.”