Some things aren’t going as planned for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine…So Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t take another chance and has taken a hands-on approach with his troops’ efforts to capture Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
When Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, he envisaged a lightning campaign that would be over in a matter of days with Ukraine’s pro-Western government deposed and the country firmly back in the Russian orbit. However, things have not gone according to plan.
The Telegraph reported on Tuesday that Putin and the head of Russia’s armed forces, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, were getting involved in low-level decisions affecting the movements of units containing as few as 700 to 1,000 soldiers.
Here’s what a source told The Telegraph:
“We think Putin and Gerasimov are involved in tactical decision-making at a level we would normally expect to be taken by a colonel or a brigadier.”
After a series of military failures in Ukraine, everyone thought Gerasimov was been demoted, on the contrary – He remained “up and running” despite claims.
The outlet added that Western officials attributed the Russian military’s slow progress in the Donbas to the Kremlin’s micromanagement of the war in Ukraine.
On Sunday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine can win the war against Russia.
Here’s what Stoltenberg said during a press conference:
“They failed to take Kyiv. They are pulling back from around Kharkiv, their major offensive in the Donbas has stalled.”
He added that the war “is not going as Moscow had planned.”
More details of the report from NewsMax via Telegraph:
Adm. Sir Tony Radakin, head of Britain’s armed forces, told Parliament Monday that Ukraine’s survival was “guaranteed” and that he had been given clear direction from Prime Minister Boris Johnson that “Putin must fail,” the Telegraph reported.
“If we, the responsible, democratic nations of the world, don’t step up to strengthen and defend the rules and freedoms that underpin global security, then we leave that space to others that subscribe to a very different set of values,” Radakin told Parliament.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), based in Washington, D.C., said that Putin had downgraded his military ambitions for the second time since beginning the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Having already given up efforts to capture the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Russia also appeared to have abandoned plans to capture Donetsk, a pro-Russian separatist-held city.
Instead, Putin wanted his troops to seize full control over Luhansk to the northeast.
The ISW also said Russia was believed to have run out of combat-ready reserves, forcing them to turn to private military fighters and proxy militias.
Sources: Newsmax, The Telegraph
Leave a Comment