You have commented 358 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Fuming Putin fires generals over invasion losses, says Ukraine
2022-03-11
[NYPOST] Enraged Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
has gone on a tear, firing as many as eight generals over Moscow’s military losses in the invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv’s defense chief claims.

Ukraine Defense Secretary Oleksiy Danilov made the claim on Ukrainian TV Wednesday, according to the newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda.

"[The enemy] had about 8 generals removed from their posts because they did not complete the task. New ones have been appointed," Danilov said.

"We clearly understand what is happening in the Russian Federation," he added. "What’s more, I can tell they’re desperate.The claims by Danilov come amid other indications that all is not well in Moscow.

A March 1 report from independent Russian journalist Farida Rustamova claimed that Kremlin insiders were privately declaring the invasion "a clusterf—k."

Posted by:Fred

#25  Expecting a coup.

It would not surprise me greatly, if within three years Russia was part of NATO. With or without Putin.
Posted by: KBK   2022-03-11 20:48  

#24   Are the Sulzbergers and their top defense correspondents Putin bots?

They’ve openly admitted to shaping their narrative to achieve desired results — their January 6 reporting being only the most recent egregious example. I wouldn’t believe their report that the sky is blue unless I could see for myself.

So the question is not whether they are Putin bots, but why they want us to believe the Russian advance is proceeding and who they plan their report to help.

Posted by: trailing wife   2022-03-11 19:54  

#23  https://www.webcamtaxi.com/en/ukraine/kiev/european-square.html

Actually, no need to tell me, I'll just watch myself. Don't need to read propaganda from either side.
Posted by: Slappy   2022-03-11 19:40  

#22  Let me know when they raise the Russian Flag in Independence Square.
The only way those dummies will be able to accomplish that is not leaving a building standing. Not the sign of a well trained army, and they will run out of shells before that happens.
Posted by: Slappy   2022-03-11 19:33  

#21  TBH I don't know who's telling the truth, but I sure as hell wouldn't trust happy talk and cheerleading articles from our corrupt western media.

A rational newsreader's bias has to be negative regarding Ukraine's prospects and any western hopium reporting. The Ukrainian army's just as hollowed out, outmoded etc as the Russian army, and their chances of holding off the Russians are next to zero.
Posted by: Hunter Bidens Laptop   2022-03-11 19:19  

#20  abysmal

Funny - that's not how The New York Times sees it. The map shows otherwise. Are the Sulzbergers and their top defense correspondents Putin bots?
Where Russians have been making hard-fought gains
March 11, 2002
nytimes.com

Although Russia has not captured major cities in recent days, its invasion is far from stalled. Russian forces continue to make gains, pushing into smaller cities and encircling larger ones. Troops have been nearing Kyiv, the capital, and also closing in on key cities in the South and the Northeast.
Posted by: Hunter Bidens Laptop   2022-03-11 19:12  

#19  From command to tactics, this Russian army is abysmal. The only card they have is nukes.
Posted by: Slappy   2022-03-11 18:40  

#18  They're getting off easier than the generals Stalin "fired". So far.
Posted by: ed in texas   2022-03-11 16:33  

#17  A good senior leader in peacetime has to grasp the metrics that his command structure cares about to be successful. In peacetime, it is tangibles like operational readiness rates, re-enlistment rates, maintenance backlog, training evaluations, execution rates for allocated funds, and command/staff environmental intangibles such as transfer requests, EEO complaints, reports of survey, and IG investigations/ The intangibles are how decisions on personnel and priorities affect peers, and influential connections not directly subordinate to his command authority. It breeds a sensitivity to conflict and appearance.
Combat metrics are far more straightforward from a macro perspective, and the transition from garrison to combat doesn't reward many of the same factors. My sense is far fewer successful American combat leaders in history were considered nuanced sophisticates of Pentagon policy...
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2022-03-11 12:21  

#16  *Shrug* I read some books by Col. TrevorN. Dupuy and in one book he noted that: "In WW2 about 1 in 6 of the starting generals were relieved in the first six months because they just didn't have what it takes to be a Combat General."

So a pruning off the political generals and over promoted REMFs seems kind of natural. (Wish we had done more of that in the US during the War On Terror...)
Posted by: magpie   2022-03-11 11:16  

#15  Strategypage has pointed out that the qualities that a peacetime general needs has little to do with a wartime general's needs. Thus the horrible losses we suffered in North Africa, the Pacific etc.

However, General Foch's comment "It takes 10,000 lives to educate a general." still holds true. Expect massive Russian casualties before the new guys get educated.
Posted by: Glomosing Pelosi5566   2022-03-11 11:11  

#14  Don't forget that Churchill went several commanders in North Africa.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2022-03-11 10:18  

#13  I have trouble believing he is a disinterested party.

Most of the stuff we're being fed is propaganda. I have the strong suspicion we're being played
Posted by: Jack Is Back   2022-03-11 09:47  

#12   ...as compared to CNN, MSNBC,

All signals need to be conditioned and filtered in order to extract useful information. That does not mean they are useless, although some are more useless than others.

Who else is shopping this story besides Ukraine Defense Secretary Danilov? I have trouble believing he is a disinterested party.
Posted by: SteveS   2022-03-11 09:42  

#11  I recall reading that when a senior type was replaced in Red Army in WWII, the next guy went full bore offensive. Losses in men and equipment were high.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey   2022-03-11 09:11  

#10  ...as compared to CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, NYT, WaPo, etc?
Posted by: Procopius2k   2022-03-11 08:12  

#9  I've been getting some pushback from people who site RT News as a legitimate source.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2022-03-11 07:40  

#8  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go read The Forgotten War by Clay Blair. One of the things it chronicles is the firing a numerous senior officers in our first year in the fight in Korea. Too many were not up to the task after the demobilization in '45 and going 'garrison' in the time since.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2022-03-11 07:18  

#7  Fake news, hyped up tales extrapolated and woven from hearsay of regular division and delegation of duties.

Just easy to sell because of generations of 'wankers' educated about evil angry troll Putin sitting and fuming in his castle thinking up evil things for good people.
Posted by: Cthulhu of Ryleh   2022-03-11 03:05  

#6  And Farida Rustamova is not an independent Russian journalist, she's BBC.
Posted by: Cthulhu of Ryleh   2022-03-11 03:01  

#5  I will believe all this only after I do not see Zelensky surrender in the next four to six months.
Posted by: Cthulhu of Ryleh   2022-03-11 02:59  

#4  Looking for his Zhukov?

The price of putting 'politically reliables' in positions of importance. Nothing different than what Obama/Biden/Austin have been doing.

This is what bureaucracy gets you. The peacetime promotion system was suppose to work as a substitute to wartime performance selection and promotion. Instead, in America since 2001 the bureaucrats keep the peacetime box checking system and speed of promotion in place. It all ignores that ultimately war is not fair or balanced. Neither should your selection process be in war.

Posted by: Procopius2k   2022-03-11 02:47  

#3  I think #1 got it. Expecting a coup.
Posted by: Chris   2022-03-11 00:56  

#2  Old generals get bogged down, run out of ideas. Brilliant new generals appear on scene with.... 'idea a minute.'

Anyone ever seen anything like it before ?
Posted by: Besoeker   2022-03-11 00:25  

#1  Nah, he's just taking preemptive action routing out potential Brutus' within his midst.
Posted by: Waldemar Gromorong9327   2022-03-11 00:21  

00:00