The Russian invasion of Ukraine isn’t going as easily as I think Vladimir Putin thought it would go.

As we noted earlier, they are facing some tough fighting from the Ukrainians as well as thousands of protesters in Russia who have come out against the war. That’s quite something, given the oppressive state of Russia and how they would face immediate retribution. Yet, protesters have come out anyway.

Ukraine fought back to recapture an airport the Russians had taken. So, Russia isn’t going to be able to do what they wanted because they haven’t met the goals they were trying to meet by now – which was to seize all the airports.

You can see the UK Ministry of Defense make this observation, and note that the Ukrainians have halted the advance of Russians in at least one place.

We can confirm the following developments in Ukraine: pic.twitter.com/YqFUyj2HbO

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) February 25, 2022

They also reportedly took out a Russian plane with ground fire.

⚡️Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashenko shared this video purportedly showing air defense systems take out a Russian aircraft over Kyiv’s Darnitsky region moments ago. Other explosions heard and reported around the capital. pic.twitter.com/e9wL7ZckUQ

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) February 25, 2022

Ukrainian air-defenses and fighters are wreaking havoc. Russia has lost as many as seven helicopters, an Su-24, an Su-25 and reportedly two Su-30s. And now something BIG just got hit over Kyiv. This happened after Russia's bomber net went active. https://t.co/7cLsUUF05r @Forbes https://t.co/aGGodPaTc1

— David Axe (@daxe) February 25, 2022

There are also reports of the brave defense by Ukrainian border guards, who were defending an island in the Black Sea, then were told to stand down from their defense by Russian forces. The 13 guards then sent out this very definitive message to the Russians: go f**k yourself.

last words for some incredibly brave ukrainians pic.twitter.com/cRYCzGRQtB

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) February 25, 2022

The Russians then bombed the island, and are believed to have taken out all the guards. President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the guards and said they would be posthumously recognized with medals as Heros of Ukraine.

Zelensky has also said much of the regular populace has also been armed for the defense of the country.

But in addition to the strong defense from Ukraine, there may be another problem for the Russian attack, if this next report is true. According to multiple reports, Russians who were captured are saying they were not told their mission would be to attack Ukraine.

Ukraine Armed Forces update: Claim captured Russians didn't know they were being sent to fight. Starshyna Buynichev Konstantin Sergeyovich – 74th Motor Rifle Brigade: "Nobody thought that we were going to kill people. We were not going to fight, we were collecting information" pic.twitter.com/pTgJjhvukG

— David Brennan (@DavidBrennan100) February 24, 2022

According to some captured 11th Guards Air Assault Brigade, they were not told they would be attacking Ukraine. They believed that they were on a training mission in Crimea but were dropped in Ukraine. Now, that seems hard to believe, and maybe that’s a cover story. But, if that were true, that you had Putin hoodwinking his military to get them there, that’s not exactly the best cover story either. That makes it sound like they may not have everyone on board with what’s going on — versus the Ukrainians, who are very willing to defend their country.