Why does Russia's war planning look so terrible? 1) Excessive axes of attack, 2) Poor logistical planning, 3) Absence of proper aircover, 4) a failure to use combined arms warfare, and 5) the lack of a clear strategic plan.
My guess, Putin and his inner circle planned this without much input from Russia’s military experts. Otherwise, the only other idea I can come up with is that some of the people in his military are sandbagging this effort.
The plan that would have seemed much more logical to me would have been to pursue two major axes of attack: One on Kyiv, that would---after securing the capital---try to take position of the Dnieper and another one, using the less experienced forces, to occupy the border crossing between Poland and Ukraine in order to deprive the Ukrainian forces from being resupplied.
I am anxious to hear what you guys thing.
Puzzles from the Ukrainian side: 1) Why hasn't Ukraine resorted to sabotage in Russia, certainly there are sympathetic Ukrainians there who could be recruited or, absent that, Ukrainian nationals who could slip into Russia (even if it involved posing as Russian sympathizers who wanted sanctuary)? Even simply planting explosives on rail infrastructure would seriously hamper the Russian resupply effort. 2) Why haven't any Ukrainians in Russia engaged in any kind of terrorism or guerilla warfare whatsoever? Certainly, they could get away with hitting infrastructure directly related to the war? 3) Why didn't Zelensky mobilize sooner? 4) Why didn't Zelensky attempt to make use of the Soviet surplus he had access to in planning his defense? 5) Why didn't he secure the damns on the North Crimean Canal---those damns would give him leverage against Crimea, but he made no attempt to secure them.