Originally Posted by
Beamr
Russia may well run through Ukraine with sheer mass, but holding the ground is entirely different topic. It would be painstaking for the Russians to try and occupy such a big country with 44 million people out of which millions are willing to fight the oppressor and many have military training. And now they have weapons to defend themselves, too. And it would eventually escalate to Russia as well, imagine what the IRA did in the 70's and multiply it by X.
I agree, it would be their Afghanistan part 2, they would be targets on every corner, the locals have the sophisticated weapons to take out tanks or air assets.