Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on the grounds of the Kremlin in Moscow on June 27. Tensions between the milblogger community and the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) continued this week after some bloggers rejected the ministry's framing of a claimed victory over Ukrainian forces near the Antonivsky Bridge in Kherson, a key city in Eastern Ukraine, according to the ISW. Many milbloggers have supported the goals of the invasion while also voicing concerns about leadership and strategy they say have prevented Russian gains. However, after more than a year of combat, Russia continues to struggle to make progress in its stalled invasion as analysts point to a number of issues within its own military and as the West provides Ukraine with more powerful weapons, bolstering the war-torn country's defense efforts.Ī new ISW report released on Monday details how these failures are creating a divide between the Kremlin and the community of Russian military bloggers, known colloquially as milbloggers. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his 'special military operation' in Ukraine last February, aiming for a quick victory over his Eastern European neighbor, which at the time was believed to have a smaller, weaker military.
The Russian military's failures in Ukraine is pitting the Kremlin against its most ardent war supporters, according to a new report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
