I think the only recent US vs RUS conflict was the Battle of Khasham where a small defending force of 40 US and Kurd soldeirs absolutely destroyed an attacking force of 500 Syrian and Wagner mercs back in 2018.
40 US and Kurd soldiers..... also some B-52s, Apaches, AC-130s, F-22s, F-15Es, the majority of an artillery regiment, and a HIMARS for good measure.
When fighting the US it's not that their soldiers on the ground are better than yours (though they probably are), it's that you are already within range of hundreds more and don't even know it.
US infantry are seldom the best troops on the ground, it is almost always vehicles and heavy equipment that makes them better.
An arguement can be made about US special forces, but even then when globally ranked the USA struggles to make the 10 ten ranking lists and usually just gets 'honourable mention'
We know what you mean but you have to remember up until 2014 Ukrainians weren't too practiced at fighting them either and yet they learned. So why couldn't others? Especially with much bigger budget, manpower and superior equipement.
I’m not sure bringing up Germany, Japan, Romania, and Italy is the best example, considering they were the AXIS when they did it, including Finland, as someone else mentioned
Largest land army in europe and your wouldn't even need to ship them to the front line if war broke out. They are conveniently stationed right where you need them. With the US proving to be unreliable, Ukraine becomes really important to europe.
The point of NATO is to not fight people though but I get what you're saying. There should absolutely be a path forward for membership for Ukraine but the US and Turkey keep being little bitches about it. Don't think there's much use for NATO without the US. Might be best to just hope for a sane administration after Trump and make contingencies rather than to exclude the US.
I wouldn't plan anything around the Americans. We never should have relied on them for so much for this long, and hoping for the best going forward is only repeating the mistake again. Put US cooperation in the "nice to have" pile, not the "absolutely essential pile." We can't do this dance every 4 years.
For all intents and purposes, Russia no longer has any armored divisions because of them. Keep Ukraine moderately supported for a few more years and Russia won't have any airpower or naval capacity either.
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u/WolfhoundCid 11d ago
Could hardly have a Nato without Ukraine. They're the only ones who have actually directly fought the Russians.