ANDREW O’NEIL |

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine grinds into its third week, it’s becoming clearer by the day that Moscow has grossly underestimated the resolve of Ukrainians to defend their homeland. The moral clarity of Ukrainian stoicism in the face of Russian aggression has galvanised Western public opinion and provided a degree of unity among the US and its allies not witnessed since terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Most – including the Kremlin itself – expected a lightning Russian military victory. But integrated and resilient Ukrainian defences have accentuated the serious underperformance of numerically superior Russian forces that possess overwhelming firepower backed by potent cyber capabilities and the world’s largest nuclear weapons inventory.

Operationally, the Russian military has failed to gain momentum on the ground and its increasingly unrestrained bombing of civilian targets—including the shocking attack on a nuclear power plant – underscores its weakness in Ukraine rather than its strength.

Please click here to read the full “Putin’s military blunders give NATO a bird’s-eye view of Russia’s capability for a bigger war – but that threat remains real” published at The Sydney Morning Herald, written by Griffith Asia Institute member, Professor Andrew O’Neil.