Posted on 03/17/2022 4:49:28 AM PDT by tlozo
Ukraine has identified four Russian generals it says have been killed since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his invasion of Ukraine three weeks ago, and NATO officials have confirmed three of those deaths and Putin, one of them. "Western officials say that around 20 Russian generals were in Ukraine as part of the war effort, and that they may have pushed closer to the front to boost morale," which is sagging under the weight of heavy casualties, The New York Times reports.
The slain generals were identified as Maj. Gen. Andrei Kolesnikov, Maj. Gen. Vitaly Gerasimov, Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, and on Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Oleg Mityaev. Some of those commanders were reportedly killed in combat, but "two American military officials said that many Russian generals are talking on unsecured phones and radios," the Times reports, and "in at least one instance, they said, the Ukrainians intercepted a general's call, geolocated it, and attacked his location, killing him and his staff."
Overall, at least 7,000 Russian troops have been killed and 14,000 to 21,000 injured, according to U.S. intelligence estimates. "Losses like this affect morale and unit cohesion, especially since these soldiers don't understand why they're fighting," Evelyn Farkas, the top Pentagon official for Russia and Ukraine during the Obama administration, tells the Times. "Your overall situational awareness decreases. Someone's got to drive, someone's got to shoot."
Like most “news” stories, I will take this one with a couple of grains of salt.
To quote the late great Elmer Fudd, “Be vewe vewe caweful.”
These gernerals have a need to check in with their mistresses every day?
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Their secure comms are not working too well or at all, and they now rely of cell phones and other “in the clear” radio frequencies.
This is a huge downgrade from the Soviet days when all high level comm used a 4 channel encrypted PPM system. The only clear communications was to pass messages in a 5-letter one-day pad code, unless an emergency.
Well done, Ukes.
From June, 1941:
“We are under artillery bombardment. What are we to do?”
“You must be crazy! And why is your message not in code?”
More like all the salt mines in the world. I doubt the Russian military is the same as some African warlord’s militia.
Might have been able to kill even more russian generals if the idiots just shut their mouths instead of running to the media to gush about it and in doing so, tipping the other russians off.
1941
(Unit A) “We are under artillery bombardment. What are we to do?”
(Unit B) “You must be crazy! And why is your message not in code?”
—
1968
(Unit A) “ABGFR PTMHA ABPFG PYGPA”
(Unit B) “TYPFA BVABA URTDF ABAGT”
If these things are happening as stated, it is because these people do not follow OPSEC.
I know. When I worked in Hong Kong at the Consualte as an IMS, my new boss brought his cell phone into the SKIF. He would sit and talk with his wife on his cell phone. It is illegal for us to take our phones into the TS Vault or Com’s center... It seems we have arrogant people who do as they want and not as they are expected to uphold rules. I waited for some outside spook-hunters to stop by our office and mentioned it to them, and then he took a call while talking with them from his wife... nothing changed.
The Russian Generals are either being culled by Putin or they have invited their own deaths by using “radios, e.g., cell phones” that are unsecured.
Or, they may have been ordered to the front by Putin in order to "advance, or die trying".
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