Russia admits several issues in the military need to be fixed amid ongoing war in Ukraine

In a surprise announcement on Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu outlined a list of military improvements that Russia plans to prioritise in the coming year, after 11 months of war with Ukraine. In essence, admitting that Russia's military needs to fix multiple issues as its performance has not been upto the mark. The move comes as Russia continues to control some Ukrainian territory throughout the eastern and southern parts of the nation, despite a number of setbacks and issues that have plagued Putin's war effort.

According to territorial control assessment maps from the Institute for the Study of War, Putin's war effort has been fraught with military setbacks and other issues. These include unprecedented Western sanctions, Ukrainian counteroffensives that have reclaimed territory in the eastern Kharkiv region and southern Kherson region, as well as reported Russian manpower shortfalls, supply shortages and problems with Russian military leadership. Meanwhile, Ukraine's military has been bolstered by continued military and security aid from Western allies.

Russia has failed to establish air superiority over Ukraine 

Shoigu said that Russia will "increase the combat capabilities of the aerospace forces—both in terms of the work of fighters and bombers in areas where modern air defense systems are in operation, and in terms of improving unmanned aerial vehicles," as per a report from Newsweek. This comes after the U.S. Pentagon, U.K. Defence Ministry and other experts have assessed during the war's progression that Russia has failed to establish or maintain air superiority over Ukraine. In addition to improvements in the Russian air force, Shoigu announced that military commissariats, which draft soldiers, need to be modernized. In September of last year, Putin announced a partial mobilization that he said would call up to 300,000 additional soldiers to fight in Ukraine.

The order sparked anti-mobilization protests across Russia and reportedly spurred hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens to flee the country. The Kremlin also acknowledged that there were issues with carrying out the draft, including instances where the criteria for the mobilization were violated. He also announced that Russia would continue development of its nuclear triad, which he described as "the main guarantee of our country's sovereignty and territorial integrity". The announcement of these military improvements has reportedly raised eyebrows among experts, who question Russia's ability to successfully implement these changes in the midst of an ongoing war.