Russia's President Vladimir Putin is so confident in his invasion of Ukraine that he has ordered his soldiers to take Kyiv within 13 hours and even issued victory parade uniforms.
The despot had no doubt in his mind that his troops would be able to sweep across Ukraine without serious resistance at the start of the invasion on February 24.
In fact, a supremely confident Kremlin and national security adviser believed that Russia ’s cutting-edge armed forces were strong enough to stand up even to the Americans.
However, Putin had not even considered that his own soldiers were badly equipped or ill-prepared in their effort to seize Kyiv.
Instead, Ukrainian officials said the tyrant's men were issued with dress uniforms, ordered to pack their medals and enough rations for several days in anticipation of military parades in the Ukrainian capital.
According to a detailed invasion plan obtained by The New York Times, “Putin decided that his own thinking would be enough.”
Armed with gear from the 1940s, printouts from the internet describing how to use a sniper rifle, old maps and bad intelligence to fire its missiles, Russia wasted its dominance over Ukraine through a parade of blunders.
On February 24, airborne troops who stormed into northern Ukraine from Belarus were already faced with dominance and were told to depart at 1.33am and be on the edge of Kyiv, 140 miles away, at 2.55pm the same day.
Plans show that the 26th Tank Regiment was expected to cross the border with Ukraine and make its way across the Dnipro river within 24 hours, despite having no equipment or reinforcements.
In reality, the Russian army was quickly shot down by the nimble Ukrainian defenders.
With the invasion delayed due to Russia's problem with agility, Ukraine started targeting Russian generals who were forced to visit the frontline in order to assert their dominance.
For example, in late April, the Russian chief of the general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, made secret plans to go himself. And when Ukraine found out about this, they began planning an attack as they were left worried this would trigger an escalation in the war.
And Moscow said that Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, had also visited troops near the frontline, but did not specify where.
And according to a retired Russian officer, the Russian military had limited coordination.
General Ivashov warned the war would go bad, saying: “There was no unified command, there was no single headquarters, there was no single concept and there was no unified planning of actions and command.
“It was destined to be a defeat.”
According to reports, the 70-year-old tyrant spent two years of the pandemic in total isolation at his residence near Moscow, 'obsessing' over Ukraine and his own legacy.
And the Kremlin had anticipated a speedy victory andassumed its forces would march largely uncontested into Kyiv - despite their lack of provisions and conflict military equipment.
False hope lead to Russian state media being told to prepare triumphant articles in advance, with RIA Novosti state news mistakenly publishing an article reading: “Ukraine has returned to Russia."
Now ten months into the invasion, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have fled Ukraine.
And according to a leaked Kremlin poll, just one in four Russians now want their army to remain in Ukraine.
During a meeting in March with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of Israel, Putin admitted that the Ukrainian soldiers were tougher than he "was told".
He added: “This will probably be much more difficult than we thought. But the war is on their territory, not ours.
"We are a big country and we have patience.”
But despite setbacks, the displacement of people and a country torn to shreds, Ukrainian officials say that Putin could be planning a new attempt to capture Kyiv that could begin next month.
