I posted this before in another thread as well, but as someone has made another thread comparing Russian and Ukranian forces, I thought I should re-post it for clarification. Remember this was before Crimea rejoined Russia. So keep in mind the units deployed in Crimea are already lost to Ukraine.
This is,
according Evgenii Pozhidaev from the Regnum news agency, the real condition of what is left of the Ukrainian military:
- 20 SU-27 of which 15 can fly.
- 80 MiG-29 of which 30 can fly (of a total of 45 MiG-29s were seized by Russia in the Crimea only 4 could fly).
- 24 SU-24 of which 12 can fly.
- 36 SU-25 of which 14 can fly.
The yearly amount of flying hours in the Ukraine is, on average, 17 hours, and in the best units 40 hours. In Russia the average is 110-130 hours.
- 30 S-300 batteries of which only 3 are in good condition
- 10 Buk 9К37 batteries whose condition is unknown
- 41'000 soliders of which 6'000 are fully trained and 500 well-trained
686 tanks, many bad shape, of which 86 can be considered as modern
- 100+ heavy multi-launch rocket systems with well-trained crews
In contrast, Russia currently has 150'000 soldiers, 880 tanks, 90 combat aircraft and 120 combat helicopters deployed right across the Ukrainian-Russian border.
Bottom line: the Ukrainian military has a lot of powerful artillery units and an aging but still relevant air defense force. It can probably count on something in the range of 10'000 well-trained soldiers plus much larger reserves (ex Soviet military officers). A national guard of loyal Banderites of about another 10'000 men is in the process being created and this is the force which could be used in to keep an eye on the regular military and for punitive terror operations against the Russian-speaking population. In terms of armor, the Ukrainian military has many but old vehicles (MBT, APCs, IFVs,) protected by many short range air defense systems.
The Ukrainian Navy and Air Force basically exist only on paper.
The good news for the new regime is that all the evidence points to the fact that the SBU (the state security service, ex-KGB) appears to have switched its loyalty to the new regime.
Finally, the regime can probably count on 20'000+ armed thugs: a combination of the Right Sector brownshirts, mobsters hired by the newly appointed billionaire governors and volunteers from western Ukraine.
I think that a clear picture emerges from the above. It can be summarized in two basic conclusions:
a) The Banderite regime has more then enough forces to subdue, suppress, repress and terrorize the Russian speaking population in the south and east of the Ukraine.
b) The Banderite regime has no hope at all to mount a meaningful defense against the Russian military. As Pozhidaev put it - "the Ukrainian Air Force can only be considered powerful by African standards". That also goes for the rest of the Ukrainian armed forces.
