The Soviets were fighting Germany for their very existence, the battleground was Nazi occupied Ukraine. The second Chechen War differs from the current war in Ukraine in important ways: 1. the enemy was a small band of internal terrorists, in Ukraine it is external and it is NATO. 2. the govt of the country was directly attacked and asked for help, not so in Ukraine. 3. Chechnya is small, the size of the enemy was also small, Ukraine is huge, the enemy has great resources. Every war is different, and calls for different tactics.