Editor's Pick: What Russia Got Wrong

Can Moscow learn from its failures in Ukraine? [Image](   [Working on gas pipes in Ihtiman, Bulgaria, May 2022]( [What Russia Got Wrong]( [Can Moscow Learn From Its Failures in Ukraine?]( [By Dara Massicot]( When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a Russian victory seemed assured, not just to the Kremlin, but to many in the West. The Russian military was larger, better equipped, and more experienced than Ukraine’s. “Most Western analysts therefore assumed that if Russian forces used their advantages wisely, the Ukrainians could not withstand the attack for long,” [writes Dara Massicot in a new essay]( for Foreign Affairs. But nearly a year into the conflict, “why Russia did not prevail—why it was instead stopped in its tracks, routed outside major cities, and put on the defensive—has become one of the most important questions in both U.S. foreign policy and international security more broadly.” Massicot details the military’s long-standing structural problems and how political interference led to wildly bad planning on the Kremlin’s part. But “analysts must not focus only on Russia’s failures,” she warns. The Russian military is proving that it can correct for past mistakes—and Moscow’s evolving strategy is starting to show results on the battlefield. “The question,” writes Massicot, “is whether its changes will be enough.” Read more from Foreign Affairs on Russia and the war in Ukraine: “[Will Ukraine Wind Up Making Territorial Concessions to Russia?](�€ Foreign Affairs Asks the Experts “[Russia’s Dangerous Decline](” by Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Michael Kofman “[The Ukraine Scenarios](” by Liana Fix and Michael Kimmage “[Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine and the Limits of Military Power](” by Lawrence Freedman “[How Russians Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the War](” by Andrei Kolesnikov “[Putin’s Apocalyptic End Game in Ukraine](” by Tatiana Stanovaya   [Subscribe to Foreign Affairs](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( © 2023 Council on Foreign Relations | 58 East 68 Street, New York NY | 10065 All Rights Reserved. [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( [Manage Your Email Preferences]( For support or to view your account information, visit [ForeignAffairs.com/services.]( Reset your password [here.]( To ensure we can contact you, please add us to your email address book or safe list. This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Receiving too many emails? [Unsubscribe here.](