Regarding Russian military problems with logistics, etc.

This 20 minute video describes the recent military history and strategy behind Putin's war on Ukraine. Flawed logistics strategy is part of Putin's mess. It offers an at least partial explanation for why the Russian military is having such a hard time in Ukraine.

According to dcleve, other factors in the Russian military's war troubles include:

• Before the invasion, the Russian military believed Putin's propaganda and lies about Ukraine, e.g., there was no Ukrainian nationalism or unity, and it was just a bunch of Nazis in power there, and that led the military generals to seriously underestimate the resistance they would face
• The Russian military limits individual initiative and creative thinking in its officers, a trait that goes back to Lenin and Stalin who feared intelligent, competent military officers and murdered most of them
• Russian rank and file military morale is low and that reduces fighting effectiveness
• Because Russia is a kleptocracy, nothing works well[1] because  the people in charge are focused on personal profit, therefore it is possible that corrupt oligarchs looted Russian some or much of Russia's ammunition and military supply stockpiles

Footnote: 

1. A personal anecdote: A colleague I worked with was invited by a fairly high-ranking, politically well-connected Russian scientist to give a talk at a science conference in St. Petersburg. In terms of things one normally associate with a professional conference, it was a disaster. Started late. No coffee or anything. The nearest place for food was a Starbucks a mile away, on foot. No Uber. The printed program was crap and had little to do with who wound up speaking or their topics or when they spoke -- it was all sort of ad hoc. In private conversations the Russian scientists spoke mostly about how to get the hell out of Russia and never come back. They hated it there. 

A 2nd personal anecdote: Once upon a time, the company I worked for was considering entering into a business deal in Russia. Our contacts, the politically well-connected Russian scientist mentioned above and his colleague, an intelligent and foresighted Russian army general were the route the company needed to get to Putin. Putin needed to bless the deal, like all major business deals in Russia. Without Putin's blessing and agreement on how much bribe money had to be paid to him personally, any business deal assets, including bank accounts, would be looted by Russian oligarchs and thieves. The general was the guy to contact Putin because he was highest up in the Russian hierarchy. The contact never occurred. The Russian scientist told us he had been killed in an accident. A Russian army tank accidentally ran him over and killed him. 

The bribery thing was the deal killer for the company. US law forbids US companies from bribing foreign officials and companies. It's unfair, but that's just the way it goes. The Chinese and other corrupt countries have a big advantage over the Americans in being able to bribe corrupt foreign officials and business executives.

For some partial corroboration of what goes in in the Russian military with competent officers, see dcleve's comments under point #3 here: https://dispol.blogspot.com/2022/03/zelenskys-speech-to-congress.html#comment-5795528410 . I never believed that the general was run over by a tank, but I did believe he was dead by unnatural causes. Over the years since then, the story about the general getting squashed by a tank seemed more and more plausible. The Russian scientists never lied to us as far as we knew. And, Putin really does murder people he dislikes for whatever reasons, e.g., by poisoning them, pushing people out of windows in tall buildings, etc. I now sort of believe the runaway tank story, or some close variant, e.g., squashed by a big military truck, is probably more true than not.

The lesson: Ya' gotta watch those Russkies. They're sneaky, especially the kleptocrats.