Russian Military Logistics in the Ukraine War

Abstract：This paper examines the Russian military logistics system since 2010 with emphasis on its performance in Ukraine. It includes a detailed assessment of Russia’s military logistics system based on major reforms introduced in 2010, highlighted by the merger of the Technical and Logistics Services toform a unified material-technical services (MTO). Over the next decade, Russia’s logistics system underwent further reforms including changes in structure, order of battle, command and control, and transportation and storage systems, to improve performance and better align logistics with the new brigade structure introduced after the Georgia War. Next, the paper examines the performance of Russian military logistics during the 2022 Ukraine campaign. Russia’s MTO forces performed poorly during the initial invasion in part due to deficiencies in force design and doctrine and in part to the immense challenges presented by the initial invasion plan. Russian logistics fared better once the campaign refocused on the Donbas, which greatly simplified the logistics task. MTO operations had to adjust further after introduction of US HIMARS, which necessitated moving key logistics nodes further to the rear, and during mobilization, to accommodate the mass influx of new personnel. Despite many setbacks, Russian logistics has been generally successful in sustaining combat operations in Ukraine, while MTO leaders are now using lessons learned to inform future reform efforts.