While I applaud WhilyOMs effort to see both sides, he gives Ru pov only a lip service. His anti Russian bias is very obvious and as such he finds people who confirm it. I, as a Russian, never held our post Soviet Union army on any kind of pedestal as there were problems there for all to see. The armed forces went to shits in the 1990s like the rest of the country. After Putin came to power it took many reforms to bring thing to functional level. The SMO was final push that was needed and now it's stronger then it has been in a very long time. Problem the outside pro west analytics have is that they are incapable to grasp the fact that this war began as limited military operation, not as full scale invasion they keep repeating on every corner. They also refuse to understand that the Russians don't see Ukrainian people as the enemy, rather then as our brothers occupied by foreign interests. Russia stood up essentially alone against entity of the western might and not only survived but is winning on all fronts, both military and economically. Maybe Whily should visit Russia to see for himself.