As a student of history and warfare, in particular, I couldn’t help but notice President Vladimir Putin’s reign is much like Dictator Joseph Stalin’s. Stalin invaded Finland and his army was found lacking so he killed hundreds of Generals, Colonels, Majors, and Captains. When Hitler attacked, the officer corp. was still reorganizing itself. They lost millions of troops until fine officers were found. Stalin thought he was a great general but Russia was losing battles until a few Generals took control of battles leaving Stalin to plan strategic goals. Putin has yet to find those Generals.
When the Ukrainians retook some areas they found a forest with mass graves of people the Russians had killed. The forest looked just like the pictures of a forest in Eastern Poland where the Russians had killed over 5,000 Polish officers, politicians and the intelligentsia so they could control the people easier. The Russians tried to blame the Germans.
Russians have always used civilian brutality, infrastructure destruction, and executions as if it is in their military manuals. Rape of little girls and all women is standard before killing them. Torture and death of anyone they suspected of knowing anything or having a relative in the Ukrainian Military is still being used.
All of the above actions have been done in previous wars Russia has had with other small countries and regions Putin wanted in his dream of reconstituting the U.S.S.R. Hopefully, Ukraine, with our help, will defeat Putin and cause his ouster or death.