Conflict support.

What makes Russia's abysmal performance in Ukraine even worse is that it actually received more support from its allies than Ukraine did.

Russia has received some 5.6 million artillery shells from North Korea. By comparison, the latest European initiative is only raising enough money for 500,000 shells. They have also received thousands of long-range drones from Iran. Meanwhile, Ukraine has to build its own.

Russia's partners have also never restricted the use of their weapons, while Ukraine was forced to develop its own long-range strike capabilities because it was not allowed to use Western weapons deep inside Russia.

Despite all this, and the fact that Russia's population is three times larger, they managed to increase the Ukrainian territory they occupy by only 0.03% in July.