Ukraine has also been very successful in degrading Russian leadership. The Russian/Soviet military is very centralized. Having initiative is very discouraged and everyone only does what the commander says, even if it results in disaster. The German army of WW II strongly encouraged independence among lower ranks and the western Allies followed suit. Independence at all levels particularly suited the American army which was made up of people who came from an independent thinking culture (compared to most countries at the time, not that truly independent thought was ubiquitous).
In WW II and ever since the Soviet/Russian army have been locked into a mindset of only do what the commander tells you and not one iota more. It gets people to do suicidal charges at the enemy, but it also eliminates any tactical flexibility.
By taking out a lot of Russian commanders, it has left a vacuum of leadership. There still are senior officers, but very few low and middle grade officers to carry out the mission. Many of the people who were junior officers early in the war were prematurely promoted to higher rank without the experience. And those junior officers have largely not been replaced.
A lot of intercepted phone calls mobiks talk about the only officer they have ever seen is a colonel or a general who shows up, tells them they are going to be charging x location and then they disappear. They have never seen another officer of lower rank.
Russia was officer heavy at the start of the war. Their officer corps was one of the largest per capita in the world, but now they have very few officers left below the rank of colonel. The Russians relied so heavily on officers because lower ranking officers did what NCOs do in other armies. They policed the troops and made sure there was some semblance of discipline. In winter, NCOs ensure that troops are following good cold weather hygiene and doing what it takes to reduce cold injuries like frostbite, trench foot, and hypothermia. With nobody pushing the troops to keep their feet dry and wear the right protective clothing, a lot of people are going to get cold injuries and be lost to the army.
This is going to be a worse problem this winter than last winter. The officer corps is thinner now than it was.
The Update from Ukraine video talks about 70% being lost on an assault. Casualty rates no western army could sustain, but in a pure numbers game throwing 40,000 men at a position and having 12.000 survive the assault does give the Russians the ability to take ground. At least for a short while. Once they take those positions, they have no training or leadership to get them to consolidate their positions, so the Ukrainians just whittle them down until there are not enough left to hold the position and then take it back.
Russia's meat wave tactics work very short term for Moscow. Especially politically. But long term they are weakening their army. They are losing men and equipment much, much faster than they can replace it.
I saw something else that I can't find right now that was talking about the maps in western media are diverging. The best sources are still relying on ISW maps which are usually a few days out of date, but they take the effort to try and be accurate. But some western sources are relying on maps from Russian sources and they are reporting Russian gains that have been proven wrong with video of Ukrainian troops in areas that should be well behind the Russian lines now walking around perfectly safe.
The Russian army has always had a culture of lying and the field commanders are probably reporting to Moscow ever exaggerated claims of success because they are trying to protect their own back ends. Then Moscow is embellishing these results and publishing them.
There is attrition on both sides, but Russia is accelerating their attrition rate with these pointless attacks and allowing the Ukrainians to whittle down their forces with low casualties themselves.
This is going to be a problem. A majority in Congress want to see aid sent to Ukraine, but the Speaker of the House serves as a gatekeeper for bills getting to the floor. There is a way to get a bill to the floor around the Speaker, but it requires some Republicans breaking ranks and working with the Democrats and there isn't any backbone to do that right now.
