I see a possibility here that the way things are going might be a trick. Putin sends in the expendable conscripts to wear down the resistance forces and then sends in the real weaponry once Ukraine has been tricked into a false sense of security. Every soldier I've seen in videos seems to be very young and look like they aren't even interested in fighting. In one video for example there is a tank being "chased" out of town by a group of villagers. The tank driver could have easily driven over everyone like they were ants but instead pulled away from them. It's not like the Russian forces have been instructed to be concerned about committing war crimes. Another shows a young Russian soldier crying as people berate him.
Putin has been using his front line equipment/weapons, not the reserve and lower echelon trash. Yes there’s some older/upgraded vehicles mixed in, but I’m seeing mostly T90s over T72s and the like. Hokums, fully kitted Hips etc.
The majority of troops are young lower enlisted, because most are in their 2yr service obligation.
Russian propaganda, ahem “news,” has been framing this all as a “liberation” of the oppressed people of Ukraine. No doubt their leadership is pushing the same rhetoric.
This leads to very rapid decline in morale when from the second they hit ground. Everybody is telling you to get the fuck out of their country. From old women to young people, that pesky social media, international outrage, protesting in the streets of Moscow, etc showing your leadership to the top has been lying to you.
Then you have the relationship and family connections between the two counties. This is a massively unpopular invasion, and the military is a cross section of that population, and morale is taking a massive hit on the Russian side.
You are seeing crying Russian soldiers, soldiers stripping uniforms and deserting, surrendering, and an overall idea of disinterested in fighting, willingness to run over people, war crimes, etc, because they are not monsters and their morale is non existent.
Poland is rolling in convoys of support, and NATO nations are flooding Ukraine with our first-line AT and AA weapons… but we are not seeing their use much in the media. Much of the damage I’m seeing presented is what you’d expect to see from an Eastern Bloc nation using what Russia would sell them. Only a few T72/90 “popped corks” (not including the column of Chechen T72s
and other armored vehicles that just got their shit rocked) are being seen in the media. This tells me that the Ukrainians are holding back the good stuff and waiting.
It will be very interesting to see how this plays out when the Russians try and take a large metropolitan area. My humble prediction is, it’ll be quite costly for the Russians.
Edit in bold.