For weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been deploying a huge arsenal of rockets and missiles along the Ukraine border. Here’s a comparison between Russia and Ukraine’s military strength and assets.
Russia invades Ukraine with its superior military strength
Russian military strength along the borders of Ukraine is now almost 200,000 strong. However, on Thursday morning, following the Russian president’s announcement, the troops entered Ukraine from the southwest. According to reports, several explosions were heard across Ukraine as Putin made his announcement. The most notable ones are in Kyiv, the capital, and Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine. As per reports from the New York Times, the US has invested over $200 million in December. This is aimed at “comprising equipment like Javelin and other anti-armor systems, grenade launchers, large quantities of artillery, mortars and small-arms ammunition”.
Russia vs Ukraine: Military strength
Putin has been deploying an impressive range of rockets and missiles for the last few weeks. Russia is a world leader in missile technology and is capable of incapacitating the air defense systems of Ukraine. They can also capture several airports and ports to overwhelm Ukraine’s infrastructure and forces. In the recent past, other Western European countries have been contributing to Ukraine’s military strength. Hence, Ukraine’s military strengths are palling across the might of Russia. Additionally, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an institute tracking the global arms trade, Russia’s military expenditure was over ten times Ukraine’s spending of $5.9 million.
A detailed comparison of the two countries reveals that Russia outranks Ukraine in terms of military strength. Russia has about 850,000 active personnel which outranks Ukraine’s 250,000. Additionally, Russia has a stronger Air Force power, with over 4,100 aircraft with 772 fighters. Russian ground forces are made up of 12,500 tanks and over 30,000 armored vehicles. Ukraine pales in comparison with 318 aircraft and about 2,600 tanks and 12,000 armored vehicles. Additionally, Russia has a stronger naval power with 70 submarines while Ukraine has none.
