The Royal United Institute for Defense Studies of Great Britain (RUSI) has published a 66-page report on the course of the Russian invasion of Ukraine from February to July

Russia planned to seize Ukraine in 10 days and prepare the annexation by August (it is symbolic, because in August is the Independence Day of Ukraine). The Russian counterintelligence has prepared lists of 1) Ukrainian citizens who should be physically liquidated; 2) repressed; 3) neutrals who could be persuaded to collaborate; 4) collaborators. It was planned to kill President Zelenskyy and the top leadership.

Members of the government should be imprisoned. Pro-Russian parliamentarians were supposed to form a "movement for peace". The nuclear power plants were planned to be used as bases, depots and command centers in order to threaten Europe with pollution in case of anything.

The capture of Kyiv was planned to be carried out by diverting Ukrainian forces in other directions. The diversionary maneuver was a success: north of Kyiv, Russian troops achieved a 12-to-1 advantage in numbers. The Ukrainian intelligence service believed that the main blow would be delivered in the Donbas, and the offensive on Kiev would be a distraction.

She initially believed that Russian troops in the north would not be enough to effectively surround and isolate the city. The Ukrainians were also confused by the interceptions of conversations of the Russian military in Gomel, Belarus: they themselves knew nothing about the plans, had no idea that they were going to war, and were not ready for major combat operations. But!

The non-disclosure of information about the plans of the command of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to its servicemen, in turn, led to the fact that the Russian troops were not ready to execute the plan effectively. The invasion plan was created by a small group of senior officials led by Putin. But they brought the plan to their subordinates only a few days before the invasion.

And tactical combat units are only a few hours away! Naturally, they didn't have time to prepare for anything. The Russian command did not have any backup plan in case something went wrong.

This was a key mistake. When the speed of the invasion began to lag noticeably behind the plan, the situation of the Russian troops gradually began to deteriorate, while Ukraine mobilized. Russia's other major mistake was underestimating the number of Ukrainians with combat experience and Ukraine's ability to mobilize.

It turned out that during the 8 years of the war, many reservists passed through the ATO zone and they were constantly rotated. The number of Ukrainian artillery was also underestimated. Since March 2014, Ukraine has focused on restoring its artillery capabilities, during which time it has managed to form 5 artillery brigades and a separate artillery regiment + 1 more artillery brigade and 1 regiment of the Ukrainian Navy.

As a result, the advantage of the Russian Federation in artillery at the early stage of the war was not so significant: 2,433 artillery barrels against 1,176; 3,547 MLRS against 1,680. But since 2014, Russian saboteurs have destroyed 210 thousand tons of Ukrainian ammunition. Another 70 thousand tons were spent during the 8 years of the war.

Ukrainian ammunition was enough for 6 weeks of intense fighting. But! All Ukrainian artillery units were equipped with drones, as well as the electronic tactical system "Nettle".

This increased the deployment speed by 80%, the time to destroy an unplanned target by 66%, and the time to open counter-battery fire by 90%. It's scary to realize what a catastrophe would have happened if Ukraine had not survived. What fate would await Ukrainians.

And what a threat would loom over Europe for the first time since the Second World War.

But heroic Ukraine has done the impossible.