Thousands of “Russian troops will probably freeze to death in the trenches” this winter as Moscow has supplied them with ineffective clothing.
Ukraine is set for a fierce winter as temperatures have already hit below -20C which will be a pivotal moment in the war.
Tens of thousands Russian troops who were mobilised to Ukraine need proper thermal clothing and equipment to survive the harsh winter as a Siberian anticyclone threatens to plunge temperatures to a “life-threatening” conditions.
Defence and security analyst Professor Michael Clarke said that Ukrainian civilians are also at risk as Vladimir Putin has hit Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and on Wednesday multiple nuclear power stations were hit in fresh air strikes causing mass blackouts.
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Professor Clarke told Sky News, “The battle is on, it’s a new form of warfare now, it’s the winter war that’s starting.”
Professor Clarke explained, “Winters in Ukraine can normally go to three or four degrees below freezing during the day.
“If there is an anticyclone in Siberia, which doesn’t happen every year but it does happen, then temperatures will go to minus 20, and minus 20 is life-threatening.”
He added, “My guess is, if it did get that cold, an awful lot of Russian troops will probably freeze to death in the trenches.
“Their winter gear is terrible, whereas the winter gear that the Ukrainian soldiers have got is much better now because it is Western gear.”
Following many days of constant shelling and missile strikes across the whole of Ukraine the civilian population are very much at risk as there is no water or electricity to heat whats left of their homes.
Professor Clarke told the broadcaster, “The Russians are absolutely trying to take out all the electricity in Ukraine to leave the Ukrainians with no power during the winter.
“They can do this because the very big electric grid in Ukraine is the old Soviet grid, so the Russians know exactly where everything is.
“They are not only attacking the power stations, they are attacking the substations, even minor facilities because they know where everything is.
“When they have attacked them once, they will attack them a second and third time, as they are doing.
“The Ukrainians are desperately trying to repair them but they can only use Soviet equipment to repair them – they can’t use modern equipment because the system is this old awful Soviet system that was laid down in the 1970s and 1980s.”
