Gut-Wrenching and graphic footage shows the aftermath of a battle in Hostomel (northwest of Kyiv) in which Russian troops and armored vehicles were absolutely destroyed by Ukrainian defenders.

While Russia's invasion of Ukraine has drawn condemnation from across the world, one has to feel some degree of pity for these Russian troops. They were sent into battle under equipped and without proper supplies. Most of them thought they were on a training mission until they crossed the border into Ukraine and started getting rocked.

While Russia certainly has the potential to take Ukraine, they will have to pay a heavy price to achieve it. The Russian military strategy, if there is one, has been severely lacking in effectiveness. Russia seems to have underestimated the Ukrainians' will to defend their land... Underestimated Ukrainian firepower... and overestimated their own military capability. The Russian military modernization program seems to have been nothing but a publicity stunt as the weapons, vehicles, and equipment look like something out of a Cold War army surplus catalog.

It appears that Russia thought they were going to take on the ramshackle Ukrainian military they faced in 2014. They didn't account for the fact that US military advisors have been constantly training Ukrainian forces on advanced tactics since 2015.

Unfortunately, Russia now knows that Ukraine will not fold without a fight for every inch of ground, and they will now have to escalate to especially brutal measures of leveling cities. Russia also knows they economically devastated themselves with this decision to go into Ukraine and there is no turning back. They will take as much ground as they can to make that decision worth it. This fight will likely continue getting uglier by the day.