Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall became one of the first military service branch leaders to speak publicly about Russia’s missteps in its attempt to overthrow the Ukrainian government.
Kendall, while speaking at the Air Force Association’s annual conference on Thursday, said that in his estimation, Russian President Vladimir Putin “made a very, very serious miscalculation.”
The Russian leader “overestimated the capacity of his own military” while he “severely underestimated the global reaction the invasion of Ukraine would provoke,” as well as the “will and courage of the people of Ukraine.”
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Kendall’s assessment of the fighting in Ukraine aligns with comments made over the course of the week from a senior defense official.
Russian troops in the north are attempting to capture the capital city of Kyiv, though they have been “stalled,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday. They remain roughly 15 miles outside of Kyiv, where they’ve been for days now, the official said on Friday.
These troops “have been surprised by the stiff resistance that they are facing by the Ukrainians,” Kirby added, while the defense official said earlier this week that the troops are experiencing shortages of fuel and food, many of whom are conscripts who have “never been in combat.”
The Russian military has “had more success” in the southern parts of the country, the defense official added.
One aspect of the fighting that has remained unexplained is the lack of Russian control over the airspace above Ukraine. Russia has 1,511 combat aircraft, while Ukraine has fewer than 100, according to FlightGlobal’s 2022 World Air Forces directory.
“We’re seeing the same sort of activity in the air,” the senior official said. “There’s a certain risk-averse behavior. They are not necessarily willing to take high risks with their own aircraft and their own pilots, and of course, we’re seeing that on the ground in the fairly slow and stodgy progress that they have made.”
Ukraine has received anti-air and anti-tank weaponry from more than a half-dozen countries, which have been a factor in its ability to keep Russian forces out of Kyiv, though resupplying the troops could become a logistical issue depending on whether Russia is able to conquer certain areas.
NATO and the countries that make up the alliance have tried to stay out of the fight over concerns about a war between nuclear powers, though it has provided significant military resources to help Ukrainians defend themselves.
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“We are not going to move into Ukraine, either on the ground or in the airspace,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday in Brussels. “We understand the desperation but also believe if we did that we’d end up in something that could end up in a full-fledged war in Europe involving many more countries.”
But NATO has reaffirmed its allegiance to Article 5 of its charter, which amounts to a promise that if one member gets attacked, it’s considered an attack on all.
