Posted on 05/16/2022 2:23:27 PM PDT by marcusmaximus
President helping determine movement of Russian soldiers, say sources, as head of UK armed forces says Ukraine is winning.
Vladimir Putin has become so personally involved in the Ukraine war that he is making operational and tactical decisions “at the level of a colonel or brigadier”, according to western military sources.
The Russian president is helping determine the movement of forces in the Donbas, they added, where last week the invaders suffered a bloody defeat as they tried on multiple occasions to cross a strategic river in the east of Ukraine.
The sources added that Putin is still working closely with Gen Valery Gerasimov, the commander of the Russian armed forces, in contrast to claims made by Ukraine last week that the military chief had been sidelined.
-snip-
Moscow’s armies have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough in the Donbas, where they have been mounting an offensive for a month that has failed several times encircle the smaller Ukrainian forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
The Russian president is helping determine the movement of forces in the Donbas, they added, where last week the invaders suffered a bloody defeat as they tried on multiple occasions to cross a strategic river in the east of Ukraine.
Video of the failed Russian crossing of the Severskyi Donets river near Bilohorivk
https://rumble.com/v14wn4b-video-from-yuri-butusov-of-the-failed-russian-crossing-of-the-severskyi-don.html
Also brings to mind LBJ/McNamara and Vietnam.
He miscalculated on several levels. His time is short, and he has to find a way to pull out some kind of victory to justify all the losses. And he doesn’t have a lot of time to do it.
First thing I thought of as well.
Hitler was just a corporal.
Perhaps they will come to the conclusion that the only way that pontoon bridge is going to be successfully placed across the river at Bilohorivka is if Putin and Gerasimov personally go there and take command of those troops.
Putin will need to mobilize the Moscow and St Petersburg Tick-Tock mallrats for cannon fodder if he wants to take the entire Donbas.
Also Carter and Iranian Hostages.
Personally planned almost every issue
Failed miserably
As a president you should make sure forces are equipped and trained. Then you just say “DO THIS” and let them figure out how to do it. That’s their job
And Vladdy was never in the military. He’s always been a pencil pusher at the FSB.
Soon Putin will ride a horse into Donbas without a shirt brandishing an AK.
5.56mm
Whoever added ‘remf’ to the keywords...well done!
And Muammar Gadaffy never rose above Colonel.
Ukraine is running out of smart weapons. The best tactic would have been to disable the front and rear of tank columns, making the rest of them unable to advance. Swamp-like fields on the roadside. Save your ammo but then what do I know?
Russia’s military operates in a more top down fashion compared to western counterparts, with instructions typically sent to generals in the field. But Moscow’s faltering invasion has meant that it has been forced to send generals closer to the frontline, where up to 12 have been killed, according to the Ukrainian armed forces.
Ben Barry, a former brigadier in the British army, and a land warfare expert at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, said: “A head of government should have better things to do than make military decisions. They should be setting the political strategy rather than getting bogged down in day to day activity”.
Last week’s failed attempt to cross the Siverskyi Donets river at Bilohorivka led to the destruction of more than 70 Russian vehicles, and the loss of at least one batallion’s worth of equipment, according to estimates based on aerial photography of the battle site.
The defeat was so serious it led some Russian military bloggers to comment “on the incompetence of the Russian military to their hundreds of thousands of followers”, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a rare sign of internal dissent.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/if-ukraine-is-winning-why-is-the-us-requesting-a-ceasefire.html#more
The Ukraine is losing up to 15,000 men per month to the war. The total Ukrainian casualties, dead and wounded, are likely already at 50,000. The weapons the U.S. and others provide, are not sufficient to sustain the war. The Ukraine has only 3 days reserves of diesel and gasoline left. The main parts of its forces are immobile and are getting surrounded by Russian forces. Their situation is hopeless.
https://thedreizinreport.com/2022/05/15/russia-helps-the-ukraine-meet-its-emissions-reduction-targets/
Although barely any U.S. or European media mentioned this at all, the past week saw the destruction of the Kremenchug oil refinery, which the Associated Press—citing a Ukrainian official—conveyed was “not operational anyway”…..
…..So, no big deal! Right?
The oil tanks at Kremenchug had been damaged previously, but the facility—as one of the Ukraine’s only three functioning refineries at the start of the war, and one of only two large ones—has just lost its production section thanks to at least six Russian cruise missiles.
This size of refinery would take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild.
Regional authorities say the gas will run out completely in a few days.
With the Lisichansk refinery also destroyed, and the Odessa refinery’s fuel tanks all well blown…..
…..the one avenue now for supplying the Ukraine (and its army) with ready fuel, is via tanker trains coming from Moldova.
As I’ve written before, these trains are loaded at the port of Giurgiulești, then moved over Soviet-gauge Moldovan track into the Ukraine.
Poland and Slovakia don’t use the same track, so sourcing from that direction is not an option, unless you want to transfer the fuel to a new train at the border—ridiculously time-consuming.
Russia has hit and possibly disabled one of two Odessa-region bridges used by these fuel trains.
In short, the “fuel line” into the Ukraine, is hanging on a thread, and fully at Russia’s mercy.
Send more Javelins!
Mikhail Khodaryonok, again laying down truth.
Putin’s fingerprints are all over the failed Siverskyi Donets River crossings debacles.
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