⚡️Ukraine kills Russian Major General Vitaly Gerasimov near Kharkiv

[Donkees]

The Kyiv Independent@KyivIndependent⚡️Ukraine kills Russian Major General Vitaly Gerasimov near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Defense Ministry said.

Gerasimov was a senior military official who participated in the second Chechen war and was awarded a medal for “capturing Crimea.”

[Donkees]

1. Photo:

Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦@IAPonomarenko·54m Major General Vitaliy Gerasimov, the chief of staff with Russia’s 41st Combined Arms Army, has been eliminated by Ukraine's military intelligence operators.
I still don’t get it what Russians are hoping for in this war.

[regnaD kciN]

2. Is he related to Valery Gerasimov...?

That's the current Russian military CoS.

[Nevilledog]

7. No, don't think so

Link to tweet

Tweet text:

Christo Grozev
@christogrozev
·
Mar 7, 2022
Jesus, Ukraine just killed Gen. Maj. Vitaly Gerassimov, chief of staff of the 41 Army. At Kharkiv.
Russia, if you're listening: delete your army.

Christo Grozev
@christogrozev
(not to be confused with Gen. Valery Gerassimov, of the often misconstrued Gerassimov Doctrine)
3:20 PM · Mar 7, 2022

[Donkees]

14. He was his nephew

[Nevilledog]

15. Okay....now let's get the uncle!

[Donkees]

12. He was his nephew

He was the nephew of the Russian General of the Army, and the current Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Valery Gerasimov.

[Celerity]

42. The uncle: Shoigu and Gerasimov: Masters of Putin's wars

Since the Ukraine invasion began, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and armed forces Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov have become central figures in war launched by Vladimir Putin.

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220304-shoigu-and-gerasimov-masters-of-putin-s-wars



Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, right, and Head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia and First Deputy Defence Minister Valery Gerasimov listen to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow on February 27 2022. © Alexei Nikolsky, AP

When Putin is not alone on the screen, they are usually around. Since the beginning of the Ukraine invasion, Shoigou and Gerasimov have become the faces of the war.

The two are extremely close to Putin. They were, for example, Putin's military cortège during his television announcement on February 28 about having put Russia's nuclear forces on heightened alert.

It is not surprising that the Kremlin decided to put Shoigu and Gerasimov in the spotlight. In Putin’s eyes, they are the architects of the successful campaign to annex Crimea in 2014, Russia's military strategy in Syria as well as the support for the pro-Russian rebels in the Donbas region.

The duo is also perceived to be being among the most loyal of Putin's followers. Interestingly, both were appointed within weeks of each other to their respective posts in 2012.

snip

[Achilleaze]

3. Lesson of the day: Do not capture Crimea

Capture comes with a bombload of crappy karma.

[COL Mustard]

29. Well, the Brits got the

Charge of the Light Brigade out of it, but that's been awhile.

[3Hotdogs]

41. Good poem.

Lets hope Russia gets some good poetry out of this venture..... and nothing else.

[sop]

4. Putin should lead his troops into battle, bare-chested and riding a white stallion.

[Nevilledog]

5. Even better

Link to tweet

Tweet text:

Christo Grozev
@christogrozev
·
Mar 7, 2022
Replying to @christogrozev
This is not the worst part. In the phone call in which the FSB officer assigned to the 41st Army reports the death to his boss in Tula, he says they've lost all secure communications. Thus the phone call using a local sim card. Thus the intercept.
Image

Christo Grozev
@christogrozev
His boss, who makes a looong pause when he hears the news of Gerassimov's death (before swearing), is Dmitry Shevchenko, a senior FSB officer from Tula. We identified him by searching for his phone (published by Ukrainian military Intel) in open source lookup apps.

I'm starting to think Putin’s generals were stealing him blind and lying about military preparedness.

[Cheezoholic]

9. He taught them well n/t

[spooky3]

35. That would be justice. Nt

[Quixote1818]

6. He was a Very Model of a Modern Major General!

[Beakybird]

8. This is the second major general killed, or are there more?

[Sanity Claws]

10. A Major General in the field?

I know nothing about military tacticstrategy but isn't it odd that someone that high up is in the field and so vulnerable? Is this a sign that Russia admits that its military is ill-prepared and that higher level officers must be deployed to whip the rank and file into shape?

[thucythucy]

20. Maybe if things get bad enough for the Russian military

Putin himself might pay a visit.

[Irish_Dem]

33. Putin is hiding in his most secret hidey-hole.

Surrounded by his entourage of personal guards and his food tasters.

[Irish_Dem]

23. I read something here on DU to that effect.

The Russian generals are going to the front line to chew out the incompetent troops. Can you even imagine that scenario?

Then when the generals are traveling to the front line or there, the Ukraine snipers shoot them.

I didn't know if the story was true at the time, but the number of generals being killed does seem to fit the story.

[albacore]

26. A general can get shot by his own troops doing shit like that...

"The Russian generals are going to the front line to chew out the incompetent troops. Can you even imagine that scenario?"

Over the course of the entire Vietnam War, there were 800 documented fragging attempts in the Army and Marine Corps. By another account, over 1,000 such incidents were thought to have occurred

[Irish_Dem]

32. Yes I agree

The generals come to scream at low level troops who were lied to about the invasion, have no food, no fuel, it's cold, their paychecks are worthless. And there is probably more stuff we don't even know about.

That general is not going to win a popularity contest.

[erronis]

45. In some wars it was euphemistically called "friendly fire". Maybe an errant artillery shell, maybe

someone much closer.

The military really doesn't want to count these casualties accurately. But they're perfectly happy to inflate the enemies.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

54. In Vietnam it was called fragging, where one threw a fragmentation grenade

at someone, usually an incompetent officer while in the field.

[paleotn]

48. That's the chatter. Weird stuff.

Makes you wonder what the heck is going on in the Russian chain of command. Is Putin taking a "the beatings will continue until morale improves" view on things? Blaming leadership for his own miscalculations and failures? Sending them to the front to "put some steel in their spines"? Both are counterproductive. Weird.

[Irish_Dem]

51. Yes. A very reasonable scenario. Putin was furious at the humiliating invasion roll out.

So a very angry Putin personally called some of the generals sitting in field headquarters or even sitting in Moscow. He made it quite clear exactly what would happen to them if they didn't get this war on track. They needed to personally get the troops moving.

I assume he did not say it as politely as I have stated here.

Then the generals get off their tails, go to the front lines. Ukraine intel agents are able to track them and shoot them down.

If this were a movie, I wouldn't believe it.

[Celerity]

39. It is equivalent to a British brigadier or an American brigadier general.

[Igel]

43. Or they're top heavy and there are a lot of moderately senior ranks.

Medals were doled out as rewards and bribes, why not ranks?

Is this the case? Dunno.

[Yorkist]

55. It's not...

…impossible that some of these senior brass are trying so hard to whip up the under performing ranks that the ranks are replying with a bullet.

[C_U_L8R]

11. Like Spinal Tap drummers, Russian Major General is a short-lived profession

[rpannier]

40. They ought to start having these generals wear the "Red Star Trek" shirt and save time

Unless your name was Mr Scott or Lt Uhura, you were likely not going to survive.

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. That makes at least 3 general officers they've lost in less than 2 weeks by my count

which seems like a high casualty rate for senior command.

[samsingh]

17. i think 4 if this was on Monday

[uponit7771]

24. +1, if the US lost 3 battle proven flag officers in less than a year we'd pull back and assess.

... Putrid has lost 3 in less than 2 weeks !!!

[erronis]

47. Perhaps this is putin's way of ridding any potential antagonists. Send them to the front.

Just like the poor people harvested off the streets protesting the war - make them into conscripts/cannon fodder.

[L. Coyote]

16. Russian boys, meet your enemy:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[HUAJIAO]

34. I love those Ukrainian Women Warriors...

"We will shoot you like rabid animals !!"

Слава Україні !!
Slava Ukrayini !!

[Hekate]

53. My heart goes out to them: "We have blessed our men... taken our children to safety so ...

… the genetic fund of out country is protected …”

🌻 🌻. May the goddess of mothers protect them.

[Wingus Dingus]

18. Jeezus.

[Baked Potato]

19. That's going to leave a mark. Nt

[SunSeeker]

21. May he burn in Hell for all eternity. nt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

22. Oh well

Live by the sword, Die by the sword.

[Kaleva]

25. These generals may be using non secure cell phones

That's how we tracked and eliminated many high value ISIS targets

[Donkees]

28. Intercepted calls also proved significant issues with communication among the invading army units...

During a battle near Kharkiv, Vitaly Gerasimov, a Russian senior military commander, major general, chief of staff and first deputy commander of the 41st army of Russia’s Central Military District, was killed. A number of other Russian senior officers were also killed and wounded," the statement said.

It is noted that Vitaly Gerasimov took part in the second Chechen war and Russia’s military operation in Syria. He is also known to have received from the government a medal of the “return of Crimea."

Intercepted calls also proved significant issues with communication among the invading army units, as well as with the evacuation of their defeated forces.

https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3423249-another-russian-general-liquidated-near-kharkiv.html

[Irish_Dem]

30. I think you may be right. One article stated a general had been killed by UKR intelligence.

So they are tracking the generals.

But why in the world would the generals be using non secure phones?

[Kaleva]

36. I read articles stating the Russians radio communications weren't secure

Amateur Hour.

[Irish_Dem]

38. I didn't realize the RU military was so incompetent, poorly trained, unprofessional.

And inadequately supplied.

There has also been some speculation that perhaps the Russian military does not have all the aircraft, ships, subs, tanks, trucks, weapons it claims to have.

[Igel]

44. It's a serious error to underestimate the foe.

Beginning to think overestimating them's a serious problem, too.

[Irish_Dem]

46. Very good point and I am sure guilty.

I assumed that Russia could force Ukraine to surrender quickly.

Bring in massive airpower, bomb the military installations, wipe out communications, capture and kill civilian and military leaders with special ops, cut off all communications.

Bring in the ground troops to take the airports, bridges, etc. Then bomb and shell the cities and starve them out.
Take out Kyiv first.

I was sure it was going to be mass destruction quickly. Or a quick surrender. And no hope for Ukraine.

I certainly missed the mark on Russia military capability and strategy. And underestimated Ukraine's pure grit, bravery and determination against all odds. What a phenomenal national character. And Zelensky is pure genius.

I still think Ukraine is in a very dire situation, but there are some glimmers of hope

[paleotn]

49. The whole operation has been amateur hour.

[Warpy]

27. I don't applaud anyone's death

(even though I read Limbaugh's obit with great satisfaction)

I do think the Kremlin is having to recognize that this is a costly war, beyond any nightmare they ever had.

It's not just in terms of soldiers and upper command, it's in the propaganda loss that having their military weaknesses exposed has caused.

[Renew Deal]

31. This is why the Russians need it to be over.

Because the longer it goes on, the more parents find out their kids are never coming back. Eventually the truth will become known.

[nycbos]

37. This quote has been wrongly attributed to Mark Twain...

... but it still sums up my feelings. "I have never wished a man dead but I've read some obituaries with great pleasure."

[The Unmitigated Gall]

50. Is this number three?

They killed that Chechen general. Then they got that neo-nazi fuck from Donbas, what, yesterday? Now this guy. Bam!!!

[Hekate]

52. KnR