Russian troops ill-prepared for Ukraine war, says ex-Kremlin mercenary

All-terrain armoured vehicles of pro-Russian troops drive along a road during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the village of Bezimenne in the Donetsk region, Ukraine May 7, 2022. [Reuters]

 

The Russian military's failure to seize the Ukrainian capital was inevitable because in the preceding years they had never directly faced a powerful enemy, according to a former mercenary with the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group who fought alongside the Russian army.