Russian Regime After Putin’s Retcommendation From Lyman Street Revisited: Perturbed by Damage, Mismanagement, and Panicked Planning
Russia’s retreat from Lyman, which sits on a riverbank that has served as a natural division between the Russian and Ukrainian front lines, came after weeks of fierce fighting.
But the visit caused fury in Russian pro-military and ultranationalist circles, as it upstages Putin on the eve of a major address in which the Russian president is expected to tout the supposed achievements of what he euphemistically calls a “special military operation.”
Russian forces in the last few days of their occupation were plagued with desertion and poor planning according to a bombshell article published Sunday by the prominent Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.
STAVKY, Ukraine — Racing down a road with his men in pursuit of retreating Russian soldiers, a battalion commander came across an abandoned Russian armored vehicle, its engine still running. There was a rifle, rocket propelled grenades and helmets in there. The men weren’t there.
The commander said they dropped everything from personal care to helmets. “I think it was a special unit, but they were panicking. The road was bad and it was raining very hard.
The fate of the Russian army after the February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine, criticized by the head of the Defense ministry in Russia’s State Duma
That said, the battle lines since the withdrawal of the forces west of the Dnipro last fall have been fairly static, although Russian forces have made grinding, incremental and very costly gains in villages around Bakhmut in southeast Ukraine. And the Ukrainians are having to commit additional forces to defend the areas under pressure.
“Everything changed” on February 24, 2022, when Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began and TASS received orders from the FSB security service and defense ministry “that everyone will be prosecuted if they don’t execute the propaganda scheme,” Irisov said.
It might be a fit of fury over the blowing up of the Crimean bridge for Russian President Vladimir Putin. But his indiscriminate targeting of Ukrainian civilians also raises the prospect of a horrific new turn in a vicious war.
In a recent interview with Russian arch-propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, the head of the defense committee in Russia’s State Duma demanded that officials cease lying and level with the Russian public.
The Ministry of Defense was hiding details about cross-border strikes in Russian regions, complained Kartapolov.
Valuyki is in Russia’s Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine. When it comes to striking Russian targets in the border, Kyiv has generally adopted a neither-confirm-nor-deny stance.
“There is no need to somehow cast a shadow over the entire Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation because of some, I do not say traitors, but incompetent commanders, who did not bother, and were not accountable, for the processes and gaps that exist today,” Stremousov said. “Indeed, many say that the Minister of Defense [Sergei Shoigu], who allowed this situation to happen, could, as an officer, shoot himself. But, you know, the word officer is an unfamiliar word for many.”
But after Russia’s retreat from the strategic Ukrainian city of Lyman, Kadyrov has been a lot less shy about naming names when it comes to blaming Russian commanders.
Writing on Telegram, Kadyrov personally blamed Colonel-General Aleksandr Lapin, the commander of Russia’s Central Military District, for the debacle, accusing him of moving his headquarters away from his subordinates and failing to adequately provide for his troops.
“The Russian information space has significantly deviated from the narratives preferred by the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) that things are generally under control,” ISW noted in its recent analysis.
In the same way that Russians out-suffered Napoleon’s army and the Nazis, Putin thinks Russia can do the same against the Ukrainians, Europeans, and Americans.
“I personally have known Sergei very well for almost 15 years. Kadyrov said on social media that he thought he was a true general and warrior, experience, headstrong and foresighted commander, who always took patriotism, honor and respect above all. He said the army group was in safe hands.
“Yes, if it were my will, I would declare martial law throughout the country and use any weapon, because today we are at war with the whole NATO bloc,” Kadyrov said in a post that also seemed to echo Putin’s not-so-subtle threats that Russia might contemplate the use of nuclear weapons.
U.S. missile and rocket attacks on the Ukrainian capital Zaporizhhia during the anniversary of the Crimean War: a global affairs analyst’s opinion
A global affairs analyst is Michael Bociurkiw. He’s a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former spokesman for the Organization for security and cooperation in Europe. He is a regular contributor. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion at CNN.
Many residents of Kyiv felt nervous on Friday as they worried that Russia might launch another attack on the day of the anniversary.
A wave of missiles, rockets and drones has struck dozens of locations across Ukraine since Monday, according to officials, targeting civilian infrastructure in several major cities, including Kyiv, located hundreds of miles from the front lines in the east and south.
There are unconfirmed reports of explosions in several cities in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula. Russian sources did not corroborate the reports.
As of midday local time, the area around my office in Odesa remained eerily quiet in between air raid sirens, with reports that three missiles and five kamikaze drones were shot down. Normally at this time of day, nearby restaurants would be filled with customers, and chatter of upcoming weddings and parties.
The attacks on Monday came a few hours after Zaporizhzhia, the largest city in southeastern Europe, was struck by multiple strikes on apartment buildings. Several dozen people were injured and 17 were killed.
In a video filmed outside his office on Monday, the defiant President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that many of the missile strikes had been directed at the country’s energy infrastructure. Denys Shmyhal, Ukrainian prime minister, said that 11 important infrastructure facilities in eight regions and the capital have been damaged.
In scenes reminiscent of the early days of the war when Russian forces neared the capital, some Kyiv media outlets temporarily moved their operations to underground bomb shelters. In one metro station serving as a shelter, large numbers of people took cover on platforms as a small group sang patriotic Ukrainian songs.
Indeed, millions of people in cities across Ukraine will be spending most of the day in bomb shelters, at the urging of officials, while businesses have been asked to shift work online as much as possible.
Just as many regions of Ukraine were starting to roar back to life, and with countless asylum seekers returning home, the attacks risk causing another blow to business confidence.
Russia has not been able to achieve supremacy in the air but the attacks on Monday might have achieved one goal, sending a signal of strength towards the growing list of Putin’s critics.
The willingness of dictators to hardwire newly claimed territory with expensive infrastructure projects seems to be a trait. Putin personally opened the bridge in Germany by driving a truck across it. After Beijing reclaimed Macau and Hong Kong, the president of China decided to connect the former Portuguese and British territories with a bridge. The $20 billion, 34-mile road bridge opened after about two years of delays.
The Ukranian Explosion in December 2002: The Message to Putin’s Armed General Relativity, Threats to Russia, and Security
The reaction among Ukrainians to the explosion was instantaneous: humorous memes lit up social media channels like a Christmas tree. Many shared their sense of jubilation via text messages.
The message was clear. Putin does not have any desire to be humiliated. He won’t admit defeat. And he is quite prepared to inflict civilian carnage and indiscriminate terror in response to his string of battlefield reversals.
It was also an act of selfish desperation: facing increasing criticism at home, including on state-controlled television, has placed Putin on unusually thin ice.
The Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate at the Defense Ministry of Ukraine had told a Ukrainian journalist that by the end of year they would have to enter Crimea, suggesting a plan before Monday.
What is crucially important now is for Washington and other allies to use urgent telephone diplomacy to urge China and India – which presumably still have some leverage over Putin – to resist the urge to use even more deadly weapons.
That said, we should not underestimate Putin. He still believes that Russia can “out-suffer” the Ukrainians, Europeans, and Americans in the same way that Russians out-suffered Napoleon’s army and Hitler’s Nazis. The US and our NATO allies need to do all they can to make sure that Ukrainians know that they’re safe and that they’re in good hands.
High tech defense systems are needed to protect the energy infrastructure around the country. With the upcoming winter just around the corner, it’s important that heating systems are protected.
Russian-Israel War and the Kremlin: What have we learned from the bombing of Ukrainian Power Installations in Kyiv?
Turkey and the Gulf states, which receive many Russian tourists, need to be pressured into agreeing with the West if it is to have enough impact on Russia.
The attacks snatched away the semblance of normality that city dwellers, who spent months earlier in the war in subways turned into air raid shelters, have managed to restore to their lives and raised fears of new strikes.
But the targets on Monday also had little military value and, if anything, served to reflect Putin’s need to find new targets because of his inability to inflict defeats on Ukraine on the battlefield.
The bombing of power installations, in particular, Monday appeared to be an unsubtle hint of the misery the Russian President could inflict as winter sets in, even as his forces retreat in the face of Ukrainian troops using Western arms.
The White House gave no indication what kind of air systems were going to be sent after President joe Biden talked to the president ofUkraine.
John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, suggested Washington was looking favorably on Ukraine’s requests and was in touch with the government in Kyiv almost every day. He told CNN’s Kate Bolduan that they do the best they can in subsequent packages.
Kirby was also unable to say whether Putin was definitively shifting his strategy from a losing battlefield war to a campaign to pummel civilian morale and inflict devastating damage on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, though he suggested it was a trend developing in recent days and had already been in the works.
It may have been something they had been planning for a long time. Now that’s not to say that the explosion on the Crimea bridge might have accelerated some of their planning,” Kirby said.
An assessment said that the Russian Army was taking a fresh supply of troops on marginal gains in order to make up for the amount of soldiers they didn’t have. Several towns and villages have been the targets of attacks.
Yes, but that may be all. Each time that the US improves the situation for Ukrainians, Kremlin watchers watch to see what the Russian President says. The latest release of information leads to an increase in the conflict and does not bode well for the people of Ukraine, according to the spokesman for the Kremlin.
But French President Emmanuel Macron underscored Western concerns that Monday’s rush-hour attacks in Ukraine could be the prelude to another pivot in the conflict.
“He was telegraphing about where he is going to go as we get into the winter. Vindman said that he was going to try to force the Ukrainian population to compromise by going after the infrastructure.
Shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day, a Ukrainian strike on the occupied city of Makiivka killed dozens of troops, with Russia’s Ministry of Defense claiming its soldiers’ cell phone use exposed their location.
It is possible that we could increase the number of those missiles and drones that are downed if we had modern equipment.
The United States is not going to surrender to Putin – the United Nation is going to win! Olena Gnes tells CNN about the Ukrainian “terror”
Putin is expected to launch a renewed offensive in Ukraine in the coming weeks, more than one year after he began Europe’s biggest land war since World War II with a failed assault on Kyiv and central Ukraine.
The lesson of this horrible war is that everything Putin’s done has made the nation stronger and united it.
Olena Gnes, a mother of three who is documenting the war on YouTube, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper live from her basement in Ukraine on Monday that she was angry at the return of fear and violence to the lives of Ukrainians from a new round of Russian “terror.”
She said, “He’s still powerful and look what fireworks we can arrange”, but she stopped short of saying that he was still a bloody tyrant.
“I also think no one is asking for a blank check,” Clinton added. I believe that the Ukrainians have done a good job of investing in the United States. They aren’t asking us to fight their war. They’re fighting it themselves. They’re asking us to use the means of defense to win the war.
The Russian Road to War with Ukraine: Confinement, Releasing Settlements and Strengthening Defense in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson Regions
The war is approaching a new phase not for the first time. “This is now the third, fourth, possibly fifth different war that we’ve been observing,” said Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme.
The conflict will continue, according to the senior administration official. “The winter will be hard, and we will continue day-in, day-out to provide critical support to the Ukrainian people.”
“What seemed a distant prospect for anything that could be convincingly described as a Ukraine victory is now very much more plausible,” Giles said. The response from Russia is likely to go up a notch.
Oleksii Hromov, a senior Ukrainian military official, said last week that Kyiv’s forces have recaptured some 120 settlements since late September as they advance in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson regions. On Wednesday, the Ukrainians said they had liberated more settlements in Kherson.
Russia said Thursday its forces would help evacuate residents of occupied Kherson to other areas, as Ukraine’s offensive continued to make gains in the region. The announcement came after the leader of the Moscow-backed administration in Kherson appealed to the Kremlin for assistance in moving residents out of harm’s way, indicating that Russian forces were struggling against Ukrainian advances.
This counter-offensives have changed the pace of the war and disproved rumors thatUkraine lacked the ability to seize ground, which were built up during the summer.
“The Russians are playing for the whistle – (hoping to) avoid a collapse in their frontline before the winter sets in,” Samir Puri, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the author of “Russia’s Road to War with Ukraine,” told CNN.
“If they can get to Christmas with the frontline looking roughly as it is, that’s a huge success for the Russians given how botched this has been since February.”
In a bid to stop Ukrainian advances, Russia is adding new conscripts across the whole of the front line. Military analysts had predicted that there would be high numbers of casualties and the deployment of Russian men to front line areas through the fall. Russian forces are attacking in the east, but on defense in the south.
A big victory in the war in Donbas would send a powerful signal to the rebels, and they’ll be eager to improve their chances of success before the cold weather hits and energy prices go up.
There is an incentive for Ukraine to get things done quickly. This winter’s energy crisis in Europe and the damage it is causing in Ukraine are always going to be a test of resilience for the Western backers of the country.
NATO leaders have vowed to stand behind Ukraine regardless of the war’s length, but many European countries depend upon Russian energy and could soon face a cost-of-living crisis if no progress is made on the battlefield.
Ukraine’s national electricity company, Ukrenergo, says it has stabilized the power supply to Kyiv and central regions of Ukraine after much of the country’s electricity supply was disrupted by Russian missile attacks on Monday and Tuesday. But Ukrainian Prime Minister has warned that “there is a lot of work to do” to fix damaged equipment, and asked Ukrainians to reduce their energy usage during peak hours.
Russia’s Air Defense Systems Are Helping Ukraine in the Campaign for a Resolution of Ukraine’s War I: The Case Against Nuclear Forces
Moscow is running out of new cards to play and it is struggling to equip and rally its conventional forces. The use of nuclear force is not likely to be used more often after China and India joined the West in publicly opposing it.
Jeremy Fleming, the UK’s spy chief, said in a speech on Tuesday that Russian commanders on the ground know that their supplies are running out.
Russia has limited supplies of precision weapons, which may make it difficult for Putin to disrupt ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensives.
Despite Ukraine claims of a high success rate, there are many missiles and drones that could be shot down by the air defense systems. The fact that NATO has its best technology on the table is a sign that they want to hold Russia back in the war.
The barrage of missile strikes is going to be an occasional feature for shows of extreme outrage because the Russians do not have enough precision weaponry to maintain that type of high-tempo missile assault into the future.
Some assistance may be on the way for Putin. An announcement by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that Belarus and Russia will “deploy a joint regional group of troops” raised fears of deepened military cooperation between the close allies and that Belarusian troops could formally join Russia in its invasion. Observers say that it might be a hint of an involvement by the Ukrainians in recent days as they have been complaining about threats to its security.
Giles said that the reopening of a northern front would be a new challenge for Ukraine. It would provide Russia a new route into the Kharkiv oblast (region), which has been recaptured by Ukraine, should Putin prioritize an effort to reclaim that territory, he said.
The United States and other western nations have been sending weaponry to Ukraine in an effort to change the course of the war. Biden’s visit in person shows the American people’s support for Zelensky, who has been trying to get the world behind his nation and asking for more assistance.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that Ukraine needed “more” systems to better halt missile attacks, ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
“These air defense systems are making a difference because many of the incoming missiles [this week] were actually shot down by the Ukrainian air defense systems provided by NATO Allies,” he said.
Ukraine “badly needed” modern systems such as the IRIS-T that arrived this week from Germany and the NASAMS expected from the United States , Bronk said.
Sergey Surovikin, the air force commander in Ukraine, meets with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on December 28, 2017: “Irisov killed himself in his role in launching NATO operations in Syria”
After Ukraine recently recaptured more territory than Russia’s army took in the last six months, Russia’s Ministry of Defense last Saturday named Sergey Surovikin as its new overall commander for operations in the war.
Notably, he previously played an instrumental role in Russia’s operations in Syria – during which Russian combat aircraft caused widespread devastation in rebel-held areas – as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
According to the Center for a New American Security director, the appointment of Putin’s deputy reflects the rise of a lot of hardline voices inside Russia, calling on Putin to make changes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Russian Armed Forces service personnel who took part in operations in Syria, including Sergey Surovikin, at the Kremlin on December 28, 2017.
Surovikin personally signed Irisov’s resignation papers from the air force, he says. Now, Irisov sees him put in charge of operations in Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine – but what impact the general will or can have is not yet clear.
“After the full-scale invasion, once he got into a position of being bullied by someone like Vladimir Putin he knew exactly what he needed to do because it was just his gut feeling,” Yevhen Hlibovytsky, former political journalist and founder of the Kyiv-based think tank and consultancy, pro.mova, told me.
He worked at the air base in Syria for two years, coordinating flights with Damascus’ civilian airlines. He said he spoke to some of the high-ranking officers under him when he was in the military.
The general who made a lot of people angry was hated at headquarters because he was trying to implement his infantry experience into the air force.
The Wagner group is a private military company which has operated in Syria.
At least two think tanks, as well as Russian media accounts, have said that he berated his subordinate so much that he took his own life.
A book written by a Washington DC based think tank claims that during the unsuccessful coup attempt against former soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, soldiers under his command killed three people and he spent at least six months in prison.
In a 2020 report, Human Rights Watch named him as “someone who may bear command responsibility” for the dozens of air and ground attacks on civilian objects and infrastructure in violation of the laws of war” during the 2019-2020 Idlib offensive in Syria. At least 1,600 people were killed and an estimated 1.4 million were displaced due to the attacks, according to the UN figures.
Vladimir Putin in Syria and Russian Regime after World War II: “The butcher of Alexandria” and the “tough nationalist face”
Vladimir Putin (left) toasts with then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev next to Sergey Surovikin after a ceremony to bestow state awards on military personnel who fought in Syria, on December 28, 2017.
In February this year, the European Union slapped a sanction on him for his work in support of and implementation of actions that undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.
But Clark, from the ISW, suggests the general’s promotion is “more of a framing thing to inject new blood into the Russian command system” and “put on this tough nationalist face.”
His appointment received widespread praise from various Russian military bloggers including Yevgeny, who is the financier of theWagner Group, Clark said.
He stated that Dvornikov was seen at the time as the commander that was going to turn things around in Ukranian. “But an individual commander is not going to be able to change how tangled Russian command and control is at this point in the war, or the low morale of Russian forces.”
Clark described him as a “master of reputation” in Syria and said he had earned the “butcher of Alexandria” nickname.
Clark says that a good Kremlin option is not possible if Putin decides that he is not up to the task and if Surovikin doesn’t perform. There aren’t many other senior Russian officers and it’s just going to lead to a further degradation of the Russian war effort.”
The mobilized forces could still be used. It is possible that support roles, like drivers or refuelers, would ease the burden on the exhausted professional army. Along the line of contact, cordoning some areas and man checkpoint in the rear could also be accomplished. They are, however, unlikely to become a capable fighting force. Already there are signs of discipline problems among mobilized soldiers in Russian garrisons.
Putin’s Russian Revolution: War in Ukraine and the Hopes of a Change in U.S. Policy for the Second World War II
The mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, appeared to be taking pains to assure the public. “At present, no measures are being introduced to limit the normal rhythm of the city’s life,” Mr. Sobyanin wrote on his Telegram channel.
The governors of four provinces said that there would be no restrictions on entering or leaving.
Moscow has declared martial law in Russia for the first time since World war II, and many Russians will hear a warning in the martial law imposed in Ukraine.
“People are worried that they will soon close the borders, and the siloviki” — the strong men close to Mr. Putin in the Kremlin — “will do what they want,” Ms. Stanovaya said.
Russia, which has been a main force in Syria for the past 3 years, still has a large presence there. But the change could herald shifts in the balance of power in one of the world’s most complicated conflict zones, and may lead Israel — Syria’s enemy — to rethink its stance toward the Ukraine conflict.
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia is funneling newly drafted conscripts to the front line in Ukraine’s east, but so far, according to a Ukrainian general and Western analysts, Russia’s newly intensified attacks have proven ineffective, and high Russian casualties are expected.
Russian news media has reported on the high casualty rates of their soldiers, while the videos filmed by Ukrainian drones show Russian infantry being struck by a artillery shell in poorly prepared positions. The front line location of the videos could not be determined because they weren’t independently verified.
The statement said Russian forces were able to stage up to 80 assaults a day and that they had a conversation with an American general.
“We discussed the situation at the front,” General Zaluzhnyi wrote. Ukrainian forces, he said he had told his U.S. colleague, were beating back the attacks, “thanks to the courage and skills of our warriors.”
An assessment from the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based analytical group, also said that the increase in infantry in the Donbas region in the east had not resulted in Russia’s gaining new ground.
The institute said in a statement that Russia would likely have had more success in offensive operations if it had waited until enough people arrived to build a force large enough to overcome Ukrainian defenses.
In the south, where Ukrainian troops are advanced towards the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, the Ukrainian military says it has fired more than 100 times at Russian positions over the past 24 hours, but also reported Russian return fire into Ukrainian positions.
With conflicting signals over what may happen in Kherson, and Russian and Ukrainian forces preparing for a battle, the remaining residents in the city have been stocking up on food and fuel.
Russian actions against the Russian Orthodox Church and the U.S., as seen by Emmanuel Macron and Jonas Gahr Store
Ukrainian authorities have been stepping up raids on churches accused of links with Moscow, and many are watching to see if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy follows through on his threat of a ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosts European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store for a working dinner Monday in Paris.
The conference will be co-hosted by France andUkraine and will feature an address by the Ukrainian President.
A U.S. basketball player was freed in December after 10 months in a Russian jail. Her release came in exchange for the U.S. handing over convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner is back in the U.S. and reunited with her wife. Bout is back in Russia and is reported to have joined an ultranationalist party.
New measures targeting Russian oil revenue took effect Dec. 5. A price cap and European Union embargo on most Russian oil imports are included.
Russian forces turned the city of Bakhmut into burned ruins, Zelenskyy said. Russia has been trying to take over the city in the east of the country.
The First Stop in Ukraine: Zelensky, Putin, and the Confining Fog of War: A Reflection from Petro Poroshenko
Zelensky went to Washington in December to meet with Biden in the Oval Office and give a speech at a joint session of Congress, his first trip outside ofUkraine since the war began.
You can read past recaps here. You can find more context and in-depth stories here. Listen to NPR’s State of Ukrainian for updates throughout the day.
In Paris at the time, I witnessed how Zelensky pulled up to the Élysée Palace in a modest Renault, while Putin motored in with an ostentatious armored limousine. (The host, French President Emmanuel Macron, hugged Putin but chose only to shake hands with Zelensky).
Zelensky is a brand outside of the man. It’s almost impossible these days to dissociate the Ukrainian leader from his olive green t-shirts; worn when meeting everyone from Vogue journalists to military commanders and world leaders.
Failure to demonstrate further progress on the battlefield with billions of dollars worth of military kit could stir unease among Western backers. capitulation to Russia is a political death sentence.
Zelensky achieved the thing that Putin most wanted to accomplish but failed to do, which was to unite the Russian people in a patriotic war and distract from his failures at home. In Putin’s mind, to be shown up by a mere ‘decadent’ comedian must be excruciatingly painful for him,” New York-based geopolitical and business analyst Michael Popow told me.
This, after all, is the leader who when offered evacuation by the US as Russia launched its full-scale invasion, quipped: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”
Zelensky, who was a political player in his own right, was the man who stood up to Donald Trump in the US president’s attempt to bamboozle the novice politician in the quid pro quo scandal.
Amid the fog of war, it all seems a long, long way since the heady campaign celebration in a repurposed Kyiv nightclub where a fresh-faced Zelensky thanked his supporters for a landslide victory. Standing on stage among the fluttering confetti, he looked in a state of disbelief at having defeated incumbent veteran politician Petro Poroshenko.
His ratings have been turned around by the war. After the invasion Zelensky’s ratings approval shot up to 90%, and remain high today. Even Americans early in the war rated Zelensky highly for his handling of international affairs – ahead of US President Joe Biden.
Many people from his previous career as a TV comedian can be found in his bubble. Even in the midst of the war, a press conference held on the platform of a Kyiv metro station in April featured perfect lighting and curated camera angles to emphasize a wartime setting.
As for his skills as comforter in chief, I remember well the solace his nightly televised addresses brought in the midst of air raid sirens and explosions in Lviv.
The Fashion Hero in Silicon Valley: A Conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky about Putin, Ukraine, and the U.S. at the G7
“By wearing T-shirts and hoodies, the youthful, egalitarian uniform of Silicon Valley, rather than suits, Zelensky is projecting confidence and competence in a modern way, to a younger, global audience that recognizes it as such,” Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, a fashion historian and author of “Red, White, and Blue on the Runway: The 1968 White House Fashion Show and the Politics of American Style,” told NPR.
She said he is more comfortable on camera than Putin, both as an actor and a digital native. “I believe both of them want to come across as relatable, not aloof or untouchable, although Zelensky is definitely doing a better job balancing authority with accessibility.”
Zelenska has shown herself to be an effective ambassador for her country by projecting her style and smarts. She met with King Charles at a refugee assistance center at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in London. (Curiously, TIME magazine did not include Zelenska on the cover montage and gave only a passing reference in the supporting text).
Zelensky has strong tailwinds at his back but there are subtle signs that his international influence could be waning. Last week, in what analysts called a pivotal moment in geopolitics, the G7, despite pleas from Zelensky, imposed a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian crude, even though he said it should have been set at $30.
Zelensky in a recent video address said that when the world is truly united, it’s the world that determines how events develop.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise Europe tour, meeting leaders in London, Paris and Brussels, and reiterating his call for allies to send fighter jets to Ukraine.
Biden’s historic visit came days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, providing a symbolic boost to Kyiv at a crucial juncture in the conflict.
The senior administration official said that Biden will reinforce the message that the United States will stand with Ukraine as long as it takes.
Zelensky, who the official said was “very keen” to visit the US, determined those parameters met his needs, and the US set to work executing them. The trip was finally confirmed on Sunday.
According to a statement on Telegram, Biden got security guarantees in advance and finally went to Kyiv. “And of course, there were mutual incantations about the victory that would come with new weapons and a courageous people. The West has frequently delivered weapons and money to Kyiv. In huge quantities, allowing the military-industrial complex of NATO countries to earn money and steal weapons to sell to terrorists around the world.”
The U.S.’s Air Defense Defense: Deliverables and Implications for the Russian-Russian War on NATO and the Cold War
Unlike smaller air defense systems, the larger batteries need much larger crews to operate them. The training for Patriot missile batteries normally takes multiple months, a process the United States will now carry out under the pressure of near-daily aerial attacks from Russia.
US troops will teach Ukrainians to use the system in another country. CNN has reported that the training will take place at a US Army base.
We aren’t aiming to engage in a war with Russia but we are going to lean forward and be vigorous in our support for Ukraine, and the President made it clear that was what he wanted us to do. There will be nothing different tomorrow, the official said.
The two key deliverables are the missile systems, and the headline deliverables. They are described as the US’s “gold standard” of air defense. NATO guards them and they require the operators who operate them to be trained to use their weapons correctly.
More precision weapons are vital: they ensure Ukraine hits its targets, and not any civilians remaining nearby. Russia appears to burn through hundreds of thousands of shells as it bombards areas it wants to capture.
Russia has consistently complained about these deliveries but was not as aggressive as it might have been if they had crossed the so-called red lines.
Yes. A massive aid package is in the works and will be part of a consistent drumbeat from the Biden administration. It’s simple,Ukraine is getting as much aid as Washington can provide, and aid won’t stop despite the lack of boots on the ground.
Biden wants Putin to hear only headline figures, to make him feel bad, to push European partners to help even more, and to make Ukraine seem like it can count on a certain amount of money.
This is not easy. Congress’s likely new Speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, has warned the Biden administration cannot expect a “blank cheque” from the new GOP-led House of Representatives.
Zelensky’s historic address on Saturday night in Kiev: CNN’s response to Kiev’s aggression against the Ukrainians and the crisis in Ukraine
The remnants of the “America First” part of the party were not in agreement about how much assistance the US should give to the east of Europe.
Washington’s annual defense budget is nearly one trillion dollars and the bill for the defeat of Russia is relatively light.
She said Zelensky’s historic address “strengthened both Democrats and Republicans who understand what is at stake in this fight against Putin and Russian aggression and now with their ally, Iran, as well.”
The speech “connected the struggle of Ukrainian people to our own revolution, to our own feelings that we want to be warm in our homes to celebrate Christmas and to get us to think about all the families in Ukraine that will be huddled in the cold and to know that they are on the front lines of freedom right now,” Clinton said on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” Wednesday.
Petraeus is a great person. There will be new features on the Ukrainian side this year, most significantly the additional capabilities on the Western tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, which will enable precise strikes out to 150 kilometers.
Clinton, who met Putin when he was US Secretary of State, said he was impossible to predict as the war turned in Russia’s favor and his popularity waned at home.
Clinton thinks that Putin will use the dead of Russian conscripts to help in the fight against the Ukrainians.
The commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, said his air defenses successfully intercepted a total of 12 incoming attacks, six of which were in Kyiv. The total number of incoming attacks was unclear.
The sounds of at least 10 loud explosions echoed through the center of Ukraine’s capital on Saturday afternoon. The mayor said that major blasts caused problems in four of the city’s neighborhoods. He added that at least one person died, and several more have been hospitalized.
Kyiv’s emergency services were dispatched to several locations around the city. The videos show injuries, including severed limbs and bloodied faces, on one residential street.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also announced the return of 82 Russian prisoners of war following what it said were negotiations with “territories under the control of the Kyiv regime.”
David A. Andelman is a columnist for CNN and author of A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars that might still happen. He was a correspondent in Europe and Asia for both CBS and The New York Times. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. You can view more opinions at CNN.
The Russian Army is not doing Christmas Business: What Happens When Ukraine Hails a Military Base? Commentary on “Russian War in Makiivka”
Bergen: What technologies have proven key to Ukrainian successes in this war? After the Russians partially destroyed the phone system, Starlink mobile satellite systems helped keep the communications open for the Ukrainians. The rockets have destroyed Russian targets. Clearview AI, a controversial facial recognition technology used by some US police departments, has enabled the Ukrainians to identify Russian soldiers on the battlefield. Turkish armed drones have proven to be very devastating to Russian targets and cheap commercial drones have aided the Ukranians in finding targets.
It is telling that days after the deadliest known attack on Russian servicemen, President Vladimir Putin called for a temporary ceasefire, citing the Orthodox Christmas holiday. The move was rightly dismissed by Ukraine and the US as a cynical attempt to seek breathing space amid a very bad start to the year for Russian forces.
Russian officials said that four Ukrainian-launched HIMARS rockets hit the vocational school where its forces were housed, apparently adjacent to a large arms depot. (Another two HIMARS rockets were shot down by Russian air defenses).
The satellite-guided HIMARS currently have a range of 80 kilometers. Despite repeated pleas, a long-range 300-kilometer humar has not yet been authorized. (The Biden administration has worried that the longer-range system could expand the war beyond Ukraine’s frontiers and lead to an escalation of hostilities.)
Chris Dougherty, a senior fellow for the Defense Program and co-head of the Gaming Lab at the Center for New American Security in Washington, has told me that Russia’s failure to break up or move large arms depots is largely a function of the reality that their forces cannot communicate adequately.
It is shared by other experts. James Lewis told me in an email that bad security communications were a standard practice in the Russian Army.
The Russian military had a previous history of unsafe ammunition storage and the recent strikes show how bad its practices are, according to the Britain’s Ministry of Defense.
He’s not the only Russian war blogger casting doubt. “As expected, the blame for what happened in Makiivka began to be placed on the soldiers themselves,” said a post on the Telegram channel known as “Grey Zone,” linked to longtime Kremlin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group of mercenaries. “In this case, it is to 99% a lie and an attempt to throw off the blame.”
The most recent arrivals to the war are inmates from Russian prisons that were freed and sent to the Ukrainian front. One can only imagine how appealing the use of cell phones would be to prisoners accustomed to years of isolation with little or no contact with the outside world.
Semyon Pegov, who blogs under the alias WarGonzo and was personally awarded the Order of Courage by President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin two weeks ago, attacked the Ministry of Defense for its “blatant attempt to smear blame” in suggesting it was the troops’ own use of cell phones that led to the precision of the attack.
He questioned how the Ministry of Defense could be “so sure” that the location of soldiers lodging in a school building could not have been determined using drone surveillance or a local informant.
The deputy defense minister for Logistics was named to replace a four-star general. The location of the arms depot, adjacent to the Makiivka recruits, would likely have been on Mizintsev’s watch.
Still, Putin-favorite Sergei Shoigu remains defense minister — as recently as Saturday, before the Makiivka attack, telling his forces in a celebratory video: “Our victory, like the New Year, is inevitable.”
How long Putin can insulate himself and prevent the blame from turning on himself is the key question in the wake of Makiivka. The Ukrainian forces seem to have no intention of decreasing the pressure on their Russian allies in the east and south of their country as the war enters a new year.
Germany said it would send four more tanks to Ukraine, increasing its commitment to 18. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden has pledged to send tanks to Ukraine.
Is the War in Ukraine really a War? The Case of the U.S. Navy, the Pentagon, and Zelensky
The war in Ukraine didn’t get much attention during President Biden’s State of the Union speech, but that’s not bad since the Ambassador to the US is from that country.
The international team investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 says there is strong evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the go-ahead for anti-aircraft weaponry to be supplied to the rebels in Ukraine.
Peter Bergen is a professor of practice at Arizona State University and is a national security analyst for CNN. There is more opinion on CNN.
Is this the first truly open-source war? The war in Ukraine is being fought in part on social media by Zelensky; commercial overhead satellites capture Russian battle groups moving around in real-time, and the social media accounts of Russian mercenaries in the Wagner Group document what they are doing.
Petraeus: I think the Biden Administration has led NATO and the rest of the western world very impressively in responding to the Russian invasion – providing enormous quantities of arms, ammunition, and other material and economic assistance. And also guiding the effort to impose economic, financial and personal sanctions and export controls on Russia. (And I offer this, noting that I am not a member of a political party and was very critical of the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan and the way the withdrawal was conducted.)
Petraeus: It is not Russia. Russia failed to take the rest of Ukraine’s southern coast and lost the Battle of Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kharkiv.
It lost a lot of things in Kharkiv province. Since the Ukrainians took away the headquarters and logistics sites to support those forces, it was necessary to withdraw all of its forces west of the Dnipro River.
With Russia making costly attacks in several areas and with both sides preparing for offensive operations expected in late winter and the spring/ summer, the situation is basically a stalemate.
We are, however, seeing some glimpses and hints of what the future of warfare might look like. When the US gives precision missiles to Ukraine, we see the Ukrainians using drones as aerial observers to spot Russian headquarters and other potential targets, which will double in range from 70 to 150 kilometers.
Perhaps most notably, of course, we see a war taking place, for the first time, in a context that includes the widespread presence of smart phones, internet connectivity, and social media and other internet sites.
How do we see and act in the Cold War? How much do we really know about Russia? What do we have to do to prevent conflict in the ukraine?
And there would incomparably greater numbers of vastly more capable unmanned systems (some remotely piloted, others operating according to algorithms) in every domain – not just in the air, but also at sea, sub-sea, on the ground, in outer space, and in cyberspace, and operating in swarms, not just individually!
I recall an adage back in the Cold War days that stated, “If it can be seen, it can be hit; if it can be hit, it can be killed.” In truth, we didn’t have the surveillance assets, precision munitions and other capabilities needed to truly “operationalize” that adage in those days. In the future, most of the assets that are seen will be susceptible to being hit and destroyed unless there are substantial defenses and hardening of those assets.
We must take innumerable actions to transform our forces and systems, that is what this underscores. We must deter future conflict by ensuring that there are no questions about our capabilities or our willingness to employ them – and also by doing everything possible to ensure that competition among great powers does not turn into conflict among them.
Petraeus: Not at all. Russia is still a nuclear power, as well as a country with enormous energy, mineral and agricultural blessings. It has a population of more than 150 million, which is double that of the next largest European countries, Germany and Turkey.
Thanks to Putin, the description of NATO as suffering from “brain death” by French President Macron in late 2019 has turned out to be more than a bit premature.
Petraeus: All of the above and more. The list includes a poor design of their campaign, inadequate training, lack of control, and a culture that condones war crimes.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/opinions/petraeus-how-ukraine-war-ends-bergen-ctpr/index.html
How Ukraine War Ends: The Inadeamount Nation the Ukraine has Made in the Past, and How the United States Can Make Sense of It
And it is still led by a kleptocratic dictator who embraces innumerable grievances and extreme revanchist views that severely undermine his decision-making.
Bergen: You know the observation sometimes attributed to Stalin: “Quantity has a quality all its own.” Russia has a far bigger population than Ukraine: Will that make a critical difference to the Ukraine war over the long term?
300,000 new recruits and mobilized reservists are being sent to the frontlines and up to 100,000-150,000 more may be on the way. And that is not trivial – because quantity does, indeed, matter.
While it is not clear that many of the Russian soldiers who are from ethnic and sectarian minorities are the same as the ones fighting in Eastern Europe, Ukrainians know what they are fighting for.
Petraeus: All of those technologies have proven very important, and the Ukrainians have demonstrated enormous skill in adapting various technologies and commercial applications to enable intelligence gathering, targeting and other military tasks.
The Ukrainians have shown themselves to be able to adapt Western missiles for use on a fighter aircraft, repair battle-damaged armored vehicles, and so on and so forth.
I know from being in the White House’s Situation Room that it is easier to make tough calls from the outside than from the inside. I’d like to see us give up some additional capabilities sooner than later, for example, advanced drones, even longer-range precisionmunitions, fighter aircraft and air defense and counter-drone capabilities.
The transition from the eastern bloc to the western ones will happen eventually, for example. There just aren’t any more MiGs to provide to them, and they reportedly have more pilots than aircraft at this point.
The transition will take a number of months to train pilots and maintenance personnel, so we should begin the process right away. All that said, again, I think the Administration has done a very impressive job and proven to be the indispensable nation in this particular situation – with important ramifications for other situations around the world.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/opinions/petraeus-how-ukraine-war-ends-bergen-ctpr/index.html
How Does China Learn to Survive the Crimes of Ukraine and How Does Russia End Its Black Sea Navy? The Case of Petraeus
The force of Putin that he sends into the toughest battles is the quasi-private Wagner Group. Any thoughts on using mercenaries, many of whom are convicts, as a tactic?
Russia has done what it can to get mercenaries to fight in its favor, but with little to no concern for their survival, as it throws former convicts into battle as cannon fodder.
These aren’t the tactics or practices that foster growth of well-trained, disciplined, capable and cohesive units that trust their leaders and soldiers on their right and left.
What are the lessons of the Ukraine to the Chinese if they were to attack Taiwan over a big body of water and not over a land border? Does the sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea navy, reshape how the Chinese might think about this question?
If the target of such an operation is a population that is willing to fight for survival and be supported by major powers, it will be very difficult for the operation to succeed.
Petraeus. Yes, I believe it is. The first war in which social media and smartphones are widely used is this one. The result is unprecedented transparency and an extraordinary amount of information available – all through so-called “open sources.”
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/opinions/petraeus-how-ukraine-war-ends-bergen-ctpr/index.html
What do we need to know about the end of the Iraq War? How will Ukraine respond to the threat of Russian-controlled invasions, a rhetorical question?
That said, in the short term, having failed to take control of Kyiv and replace President Zelensky with a pro-Russian figure, Putin is seeking to expand the area of Ukraine controlled by Russian forces. In order to solidify Russian control over the provinces that connect Russia with Crimea, in the southeastern part of Russia, as well as to help avoid relying solely on the Kerch Strait Bridge for connection with the peninsula.
That said, there does not seem to be a particularly innovative new plan, given the limitations of the professional capabilities of the Russian forces and their demonstrated inability to generate “combined arms effect” – to integrate the actions of tanks with infantry, artillery/mortars, engineers, explosive ordnance disposal, electronic warfare, fixed and rotary wing close air support, air defenses, effective command and control, drones, etc.
I believe we will see forces from the Ukranian side that are more capable than those of the Russians and that can unhinge the Russian defenses, in addition to the fact that our forces are better able to achieve a kind of combined arms effects that the Russians can’t. We may not see all this, however, until the spring or even summer, given the amount of time required for Ukrainian forces to receive and train on the new western tanks and other systems.
Bergen: In 2003, at the beginning of the Iraq War, you famously asked a rhetorical question: “Tell me how this ends?” For the war in Ukraine: How does this end?
Petraeus: In a negotiated resolution, the war will end when Putin accepts that the war is unsustainable in both Afghanistan and on the home front, which has been heavily impacted by economic turmoil, as well as in the battlefield.
Also, when the country reaches the limit of its ability to survive missile and drone strikes, getting a Marshall-like plan developed by the US and G7 to help rebuild and gain an ironclad security guarantee.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s Last Stop for a Multi-Wavelength Stay in Ukraine, as Sensitive Media Advised
Biden arrived in Kyiv at 8 a.m. local time after a long flight from Washington and then arrived at the Mariinsky Palace around an hour later. He departed Kyiv in the early afternoon.
CNN reached out to the Kremlin and it has yet to publicly comment on Biden’s trip. But Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed the trip, accusing the US of warmongering support for Ukraine.
Biden went to Kyiv in secret because of the security concerns. Journalists aboard the plane were not allowed to take their devices with them, as Air Force One took off under cover of darkness on Sunday.
Biden has a small group of people, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, deputy chief of staff Jen O’Mally and personal aide Annie Tomasini.
Biden could not make a similar trip because of security precautions. When he visited Poland in April last year, the White House did not even explore the potential for a trip across the border, even though Biden said he had voiced interest.
After traveling thousands of kilometers to meet with Zelensky in the city of Kyiv, Biden was eager to visit Ukraine. The current and former leaders of France, Germany, Canada, and Britain have all visited the country to show their support.
A city in the far southwestern corner of Ukraine was visited by Biden’s wife on Mother’s Day last year. She met with Zelenska at a former school that was converted into temporary housing for displaced Ukrainians, including 48 children.
China’s foreign policy adviser meets with China at the Beijing Security Conference on Korea’s stance on the Russian-Ukraine peace process
But it remains unclear what parameters Zelensky might be willing to accept in any peace negotiations, and the US has steadfastly refused to define what a settlement may look like beyond stating it will be up to Zelensky to decide.
American officials told CNN on Saturday the US has recently begun seeing “disturbing” trends and there are signs that Beijing wants to “creep up to the line” of providing lethal military aid to Moscow without getting caught.
The US has shared intelligence with allies and partners on a possible shift in China’s stance at the Security Conference in the last few days.
Wang, who was named Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy adviser last month, is expected to arrive in Moscow this week, in the first visit to the country from a Chinese official in that role since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Wang’s visit will provide an opportunity for China and Russia to develop their strategic partnership and “exchange views” on issues of shared interest, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.
In [Kyiv]. Sergey Mardan, a Russian journalist, wrote a response to him on his Telegram channel. “Tales of miraculous hypersonics may be left for children. The holy war is like spells that are being used with the entire West.
Russian army veteran and former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Igor Girkin meanwhile suggested that Biden could have visited the frontlines in eastern Ukraine and escaped unharmed.
If the grandpa is brought to Bakhmut, I am sure there will be nothing to happen to him.
Iron Diplomacy: Joe Biden in the Crimes of March 2022 and the Case for Restoration of Mariupol by Ukraine Railways
Jake Sullivan said the US informed Russia of their plans to visit the Ukrainian capital for conflict purposes a few hours before he left.
The deputy head of the Security Council, Medvedev is known for making statements that appear to aim to shore up his nationalist credentials.
The debate over the Biden visit will not be good for Putin, who plans to discuss the invasion in a speech to the Federal Assembly.
Participants of what Russia refers to as its “special military operation” will be in attendance but foreign guests or representatives will not be invited, the Kremlin’s spokesperson told reporters Monday.
Two days after Russian troops retreated from Kherson on November 11, Ukraine Railways CEO Alexander Kamyshin arrived in the city accompanied by Ukrainian special forces and a small team of railway workers. They got to work at the central train station even after the regular army arrived to protect the city. Six days later, the first train from Kyiv rolled into liberated Kherson.
It was a pleasant day, according to Kamyshin. “We saw the faces of the people seeing the train, crying, waving their hands. Trust me, it was unforgettable. That’s one of the days to remember forever.”
Kamyshin and his colleagues have spent the last year working to keep Ukraine’s trains running. They have shipped 4 million refugees and 330,000 metric tons of humanitarian aid right up to the frontline of the conflict. With air travel all but impossible, Ukraine Railways has brought at least 300 foreign delegations into Kyiv in a program it calls “iron diplomacy.” Earlier this week, a train dubbed “Rail Force One” secretly carried US president Joe Biden to the Ukrainian capital for a symbolic visit.
The work has been under constant attack. The Russians shell everything, Kamyshin says. There were two hundred and fifty deaths and 800 injuries. Only railwaymen and women are there. That’s the price we paid in this war.”
In Mariupol, a port city close to the Russian border that was bombarded relentlessly until resistance finally collapsed in May 2022, rail workers were able to get trains in and out several times before the tracks were destroyed. The stranded crews were able to evacuate by road, but two trains are still stuck there.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Alexei Zelensky, Secretary of State for the United Nations and Foreign Minister Mikhail Mirolov, on the first anniversary of the Ukrainian war
Zelensky said at the press conference in the capital city that victory will be inevitable. I am sure that there will be a victory.
The Ukrainian president has repeatedly rejected the idea of negotiating a peace deal that would see Ukraine lose any of its territory. Speaking on Friday, he said he would not negotiate with Putin – even though he was prepared to speak to him before the war started.
Meanwhile in Russia, former Russian President and Deputy Chair of Russia’s Security Council of the Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that that Russia’s aim was to “push the borders of threats to our country as far as possible, even if these are the borders of Poland.”
Zelensky used the first anniversary of the war to rally troops and renew calls for international assistance for his country. He handed out awards to soldiers before holding a press conference.
Earlier on Friday morning, the Ukrainian leader addressed members of the military in Kyiv. He told them it was they who would determine the future of the country.
landmarks around the world were adorned with the colors of the Ukrainian flag and new weapons announcements on Friday in Solidarity with Ukrainians.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the international community not to let Putin’s crimes “become our new normal,” at the United Nations Security Council.
And Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he intends to present the idea of imposing new sanctions against Russia during a virtual meeting with G7 leaders and Zelensky.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/24/europe/kyiv-war-anniversary-intl-cmd/index.html
Kathalina Pahitsky: a student president at the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv
Although the city of Kyiv has regular air-raid sirens, there haven’t been a lot of major attacks recently, which means that people aren’t as concerned about risk.
Kathalina Pahitsky, a 16-year old student, went to the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv to lay flowers in memory of two former students from her school who lost their lives fighting in the war.
Though it was cold in Kyiv, she felt obligated to pay her respects to the fallen heroes as student president of her school.
“Their photographs are here on the main street. It’s a great honor. They died fighting for what was right. So it’s very important for us. And it would have been for them,” she said.
It was hard for him to describe his feelings on Friday, as he was an IT worker before he joined the naval forces.
He told CNN that he does not feel fear, but that he feels confidence in his abilities. “One year ago … I felt fear, I was stressed, psychologically it unsettled me. There is no fear at the moment.
Shoigu’s visit to Russia as a riposte to the forward presence of Yevgeny Prigozhin
Shoigu’s visit may be intended as a riposte to Prigozhin’s forward presence, and also to galvanize Russian operations. While there have been incremental Russian gains around Bakhmut (at great cost), and a substantial escalation in Russian artillery, tank and aviation assaults in many areas, much of the long frontline is as it was three months ago.
A short video released by the Russian Defense Ministry showed Shoigu in a helicopter and then with commanders in a building with a lot of damage. It was not immediately possible to geolocate the video.
The defense ministry stated that Shoigu inspected the forward command post. There are forces in the South Donbass.
Russian critics of Shoigu have frequently described him as remote and out-of-touch with the realities of the conflict. Yevgeny Prigozhin – boss of the Wagner private military company – has regularly appeared on the frontlines around the city of Bakhmut, often accusing the Defense Ministry of starving his fighters of resources and bureaucratic incompetence.
Prigozhin said Friday that his fighters have almost surrounded Bakhmut, the only place of any consequence that Russian forces may be able to claim anytime soon.
This well-choreographed visit did not include the man in charge of the whole operation, Valery Gerasimov.
Muradov’s presence is notable. He has often been criticized by military leaders in the eastern military district for tactics that have resulted in the deaths of many Russian troops around the town of Vuhlidar in January of this year.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/04/europe/russia-sergey-shoigu-ukraine-intl/index.html
Do we need more soldiers? Shoigu: Good luck, success, and come back home alive! Another example of the frustration of the Russian hierarchy
The defense ministry video shows Shoigu presenting awards to soldiers, saying there is still a lot of work to be done. I hope you will continue to serve our country. Good luck, success, and, of course, come back home alive!”
One year ago, the lightning campaign planned for the invasion failed after less than a month, and yet another hint that the Russian hierarchy expects a long struggle to achieve their goals.