In 1787, a series of sham, prosperous villages, much like the false front towns built for early western movies, were built in Crimea by a courtier of Empress Catherine 2nd of Russia. She was to make a tour of the area to confirm the information of a loyal and prosperous peasantry she was assured existed. The phrase "Potemkin Village" has passed into popular history to denote a pleasant exterior hiding a rotten or non-existent interior. Such may be the present state of the Russian military.
Putin expected his army to make short work of the badly overmatched Ukrainian military. It hasn't happened and instead of flowers, the Russians are being greeted with molotov cocktails and bullets. The situation may turn around in the Russians' favor in the next few days, but the myth of superiority of the country's military has been punctured for the time being.
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