Russia declared war on Ukraine on Thursday following days of escalating tension between the two nations. As big explosions were heard in eastern Ukraine -- Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa -- Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed retaliation against any world leaders that tried to interfere in the matter between the two countries. Air radio sirens were heard in the morning at 7am in Kyiv. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared martial law, saying Russia has targeted Ukraine’s military infrastructure. He urged Ukrainians to stay home and not to panic.
As world leaders condemn the attack by Russia, here’s digging deeper into the military capabilities of the two countries.
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It is said that Ukraine is better equipped with its military capabilities than the situation in 2014, when Russia took over the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine without a fight. However, Ukraine’s military troops have been heavily outnumbered by the Russian military forces, which has now reached nearly 2,00,000 over the last few days.
On Thursday morning they entered Ukraine from the southwest, as Putin announced what he called special military operations in Donbass.
Russia’s military stronghold
Russia has been deemed to be on the top list when it comes to militancy. It has been ranked the second most powerful country militarily among the 140 nations assessed by Global Fire Power. Russia’s military largely outnumbers Ukraine’s with a budget of $40 billion to $65 billion.
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According to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the Russian army has nearly 2,80,000 personnel and a combined force of 9,00,000 and 2 million reservists. It has 165,000 air personnel and 150,000 naval troops, while its 2,840 battle tanks outnumber Ukraine's by more than three to one. It has about 6,000 artillery pieces and close to 20,000 armoured vehicles.
With an added advantage of long-range weaponry, Russia has over 500 land-based ballistic missile launchers and over 1,300 attach planes and over 470 attack helicopters,
At sea, its 74 warships and 51 submarines dwarf Ukraine’s tiny fleet.
Ukraine’s military force
According to IISS, Ukraine has 196,600 active military personnel -- 125,600 ground troops, 35,000 air personnel and 15,000 naval troops. Although it has about 900,000 reservists, the question of their experience and ability is uncertain. The total number of artillery guns is just over 3,000.
Ukraine has been seeking help from the United States, with the latter providing hundreds of Javelin missiles since December, last year. Ukraine has been banking on these to defend itself against the Russian forces. According to reports, Javelin missiles are man-portable fire-and-forget anti-tank missiles, which means that a soldier can fire it from his shoulder, and its automatic infrared guidance system will target the tanks from above, which is the weakest part of any tank.
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Ukraine’s fire-power is mostly land-based with over 2,000 tanks, 1,960 artillery pieces and 2,870 armoured vehicles. The Ukrainian troops also have around 400 surface-to-air missile launchers that could take out Russian aircraft and access to NATO lethal aid, including 2,000 anti-tank weapons donated by the United Kingdom.
What do experts say and help from the West
According to analysts and experts, it’s just not about the numbers on both sides that decided the win and lose situation, It is, however, the experience of military forces that matters.
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Ukraine's forces have gained combat experience in the Donbas region in the east of the country, where they have been fighting Russia-backed separatists since 2014, and are highly motivated.
On the other hand, Russia’s military troops have also had plenty of it over the last decade as a result of its involvement in Syria’s civil war, where it has propped up the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
The West has been helping Ukraine with arms. Turkey has also sold Kyiv several batches of Bayraktar TB2 drones. According to a report by Reuters, Britain provided Ukraine with 2,000 short-range anti-tank missiles in January and sent British specialists to deliver training.
