After the victory of the crucial Battle of Avdiivka, the Russian army showed a full-scale offensive in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict zone of more than 1,000 kilometers. According to the New York Times, Russian forces are now carrying out large-scale campaign attacks around Kremena, the iconic **Mutter and Lobodine from north to south.
On the eastern front, after the Russian army conquered Maryinka and Avdiivka, the momentum continued unabated, and it continued to attack with remarkable results. This series of trends has made the US media pessimistically point out that the Ukrainian army is facing the most severe challenge since the beginning of the war.
After three years of Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Russian army seems to have regained the rhythm of history: with abundant resources, they gradually wear down their opponents until victory. From the time of Napoleon to World War II, this is a portrayal of Russian strategy.
At the moment, Europe, especially France and Germany, in the heart of the European Union, are anxious about the situation in Ukraine. According to German media reports, the German defense department went all out and ran around the world to collect Soviet-made 122 and 152 mm shells suitable for the use of the Ukrainian army and support Ukraine to hold on.
The Wehrmacht has been actively searching the world for Soviet-era 152mm artillery shells, and recent discoveries in Bulgaria have prompted them to turn to India for help, but India is cautious about the complicated relationship between India and Russia.
The German plan was adopted"Intermediary purchases"way, to obtain Soviet-made artillery shells from India to alleviate Ukraine's urgent needs. Experts warn that without more assistance, Ukraine's ammunition stocks may be depleted in the first half of this year, which could lead to low morale in the army.
In contrast, France is moving more quickly: after supplying obsolete F-16s to Denmark and the Netherlands, France is considering giving Ukraine the superior Mirage 2000 fighter jets to replace the aging Su-24s.
It is rumored that France may retire the Mirage 2000 from the UAE** in order to strengthen the Ukrainian army. Behind France's actions is a deep concern about the situation in Ukraine.
Shocking latest developments: France Macron has made a firm statement that France will do everything to prevent Russia from winning the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and he has even hinted at the possibility of providing military assistance directly to Ukraine in the future.
This position is unprecedentedly tough.
Despite Macron's radical rhetoric, looking at the strength of today's French team, especially the army, they are still capable of dealing with African countries, but they seem to be a little weak on a big stage like the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The French Army numbered 140,000 men, nearly a third of whom were non-combatants, and the actual combat force was small, exhausted and limitedly equipped, no more than 100,000 at best.
Considering that France still needs to maintain its influence in West Africa and South America, the actual mobile force that can be deployed to Ukraine may be only a few tens of thousands, which is really reluctant.
The core combat force on which the French Army currently relies consists of two main divisions: the First and Third Divisions, as well as two elite armored brigades, the First and Seventh Armored Brigades.
In addition, the Special Forces Command assembled three specialized special operations regiments, demonstrating their special combat capabilities. It is worth mentioning that it also includes a light armored brigade with combat experience, as well as a task force composed of Franco-German forces, as well as a mountain, marine, and airborne brigade, which constitute the strong flexibility and strategic diversity of the French ** force.
After the refined calculation, the strength of the French Army has shrunk to a pitiful 12 brigades, which is only less than one-tenth of the size of the Ukrainian army, about the order of 100 brigades.
The strength of the equipment of the French Army is impressively "naïve" and is even inferior to the advanced level of one army group of the Russian army. In modern warfare, both the M1 and the T-72 seem to be in a similar predicament in the face of UAVs and cutting-edge anti-tank **.
According to statistics, the French Army has a total of about 200 "Leclerc" main battle tanks, as well as a large number of armored vehicles, including EBRC Jaguar, VBCI, AMX-10R and VBMR Griffin, etc., totaling thousands.
In addition, they are also equipped with 58 "Caesar" 155-mm self-propelled howitzers and 132 120-mm heavy mortars and other diversified artillery.
In stark contrast, the 1st Guards Tank Army of the Russian Army has a strong lineup, consisting of the 2nd Guards Army"Taman"Infantry Division and 4th Guards Division"Kandemilovka"Tank division, plus the 6th"Czechoslovakia"Tank Brigade and 27th"Sevastopol"Guards brigades, the number of tanks in these units alone has exceeded five hundred.
The 58th Army, which was even more spectacular in scale, had a lineup of more than 600 tanks and as many as 2,000 armored vehicles.
The French Army's actual combat experience was relatively scarce, mainly accumulated by dealing with African light equipment units, but this experience was not sufficient to deal with high-level conflicts (such as the defeat in Operation Serval revealed the problem).
Once entering a large-scale modern war, the French army may face enormous challenges that may be difficult to cope with in a short period of time. Especially in terms of production capacity, France's monthly output of only 3,000 artillery shells is a severe test for how to effectively confront Russia's monthly output of 250,000 shells.
In the face of the current situation, Macron's heart is probably also clear. In such a predicament, he resolutely put forward the idea of "sending troops", which is actually a forced response to the situation, aiming to send a clear signal to Russia through a tough posture: we will not tolerate excesses, which is a direct deterrent and warning to potential threats.
From the perspective of military strategy, the modern Russian army has become the leading military force in Europe by virtue of its actual combat tempering. Its scale, experience, overall strength and equipment integrity are unmatched.
At present, the number of Russian troops in Ukraine has exceeded 600,000, which is three times more than at the beginning of the conflict. The potential of the mobile forces of the Russian army is amazing, and the reserve of millions of troops is beyond the reach of all European countries.
Moreover, the Russian army keeps up with the times in terms of technological progress, not only has a large number of unmanned aerial vehicles, tanks and cruise missiles with excellent performance, but also is in the leading ranks of the world in terms of basic equipment, even without mentioning the self-developed fifth-generation aircraft and a huge nuclear deterrent.
The Russian army has risen from the flames of war and is undoubtedly a globally recognized powerhouse!
After the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian army has achieved an all-round leap. In the face of the potential Dnieper offensive of the Russian army, without the intervention of the US military, it may be difficult to resist the advance of the Ukrainian army by relying only on the military forces of France and Germany, which are not even as good as the Ukrainian army in the exercises.
Once Putin decides, Russia, which has the strength to swallow the three Baltic states and Poland, will be able to take action.
In a grim situation, Europe has high hopes for Zelensky-led Ukraine to block Russia's offensive, which is a key factor in Macron's resolute opposition to Russia's victory.
However, in the battle of ** Mutt alone, the Ukrainian army has invested more than 30 brigades to fight hard for more than eight months, which is enough to show that even if all the French army participates in the war, I am afraid it will be difficult to fight for a long time.
So, in the face of reality, France may not be strong enough to turn things around.