Trained Local Militias

The memory of what victorious Russian forces have done in the past fuelled the recruitment of Ukrainian militias. An essential part of the peaceable Russian rule is the killing and imprisonment of anybody who has shown any resistance. This makes your chances of survival much higher, if you beat off the attack in the first place.

Ukraine armed 130,000 local militia fighters, trained to conduct hit-and-run raids on the flanks of what was expected to be an invading juggernaut. Large armies are vulnerable in many small places, although it takes many wounds to stop them. Ukraine was also developing strategies for enabling their standing forces to resist, hit, and defeat the enemy.