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Ukraine SitRep: A Hated New Commander – Critical Lack Of Infantry
The Ukrainian President Zelenski has fired the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces General Zaluzny.
Zaluzny was replaced by General Syrski, a somewhat unexpected choice as Syrski is hated by the troops for pushing them into meat grinders without a perspective of winning. Syrski, who was born as a Russian, had lost the cauldron battles of Debaltsevo (2015), Soledar (2023) and Bakhmut (2023). Currently Avdeevka is in a cauldron and likely to fall.
Rumors say that Syrski already ordered reserves to reinforce the troops in Avdeevka. Russian FAB bombs will welcome them.
The Economist describes Syrski as thus:
General Syrsky has a reputation for being willing to engage the enemy, even if the cost in men and machines is high. He is a divisive figure who provokes strong reactions from serving officers. Some praise his professionalism, others say he terrifies his subordinates and rules by fear. He is less likely to question the priorities of his president. As he takes on the top job, he will have to soften his style of command and learn to speak truth to power.
The reorganisation will also cause disruption as officers shift to new positions in the chain of command. It is important that these changes do not degrade Ukraine’s capacity to fight. Before long, the country will need a new mobilisation even if General Syrsky uses his troops mostly for defence—as, for now, he should.
Simplicius discusses the most plausible reason why Zalauzny got fired and Syrski promoted:
Ask yourself, why would Zelensky appoint a commander that the entire armed forces allegedly hates?
In fact, this is a ‘design feature’ not a bug.
Recall that the reason Zaluzhny was given the boot was he had become too powerful: he was too loved by the troops, and by the people. Why? One of the reasons is likely because he fought for the troops multiple times. In early 2023, documents were leaked showing that he nearly begged Zelensky to pull troops back from Bakhmut, but the narco-Fuhrer refused, wanting it as a symbolic city defense—perhaps taken with romantic delusions of Stalingrad.
During the grand summer ‘counteroffensive’, Zaluzhny pulled the brigades of the 10th Army Corps back and began to use them sparingly—much to the chagrin and disapproval of US sponsors—after the initial first few wipes devastated columns of Leopards and Bradleys along the infamous road of death near Rabotino and Mala Tokmachka.
Recently it was claimed Zaluzhny likewise attempted to get Avdeevka totally withdrawn. It does not seem that he likes to waste men for what he knows to be fruitless efforts. Syrsky on the other hand appears glad to grind them down.
So, has it become obvious yet? Zelensky needs a commander-in-chief he can control, someone not universally loved by the troops; someone who cannot use those troops at a time of opportunity to ‘march on Kiev’ and oust Zelensky from his citadel. Syrsky appears to fit the perfect prototypical role: undefiant, unpopular, uncharismatic, and most importantly, untempted by political ambitions—the ideal subserviant factotum to Zelensky’s regime.
There is no word yet what Zaluzny is going to do. He has the respect of the troops and good relations with the 'nationalists', i.e. the Nazi fringe militia of Ukraine. He also has the support of some politicians opposed to Zelenski.
A coup is thereby a possible outcome of this change.
Yesterday a Washington Post article, sources from interviews at the Ukrainian front, describes the utter shamble the Ukrainian forces are in:
In interviews across the front line in recent days, nearly a dozen soldiers and commanders told The Washington Post that personnel deficits were their most critical problem now, as Russia has regained the offensive initiative on the battlefield and is stepping up its attacks.
One battalion commander in a mechanized brigade fighting in eastern Ukraine said that his unit currently has fewer than 40 infantry troops — the soldiers deployed in front-line trenches who hold off Russian assaults. A fully equipped battalion would have more than 200, the commander said.
Under normal circumstances a mechanized battalion is supposed to hold a 3 kilometer long frontline. With only 40 infantry soldiers available that becomes an impossible task. The further deterioration from that depleted state will be rapid.
Oleksandr, a battalion commander, said the companies in his unit on average are staffed at about 35 percent of what they should be. A second battalion commander from an assault brigade said that is typical for units that carry out combat tasks.
Asked how many new soldiers he has received — not including those who have returned after injuries — Oleksandr said his battalion was sent five people over the past five months. He and other commanders said the new recruits tend to be poorly trained, creating a dilemma about whether to send someone immediately onto the battlefield because reinforcements are needed so badly, even though they are likely to get injured or killed because they lack the know-how.
“The basis of everything is the lack of people,” Oleksandr said.
“Where are we going? I don’t know,” he added. “There’s no positive outlook. Absolutely none. It’s going to end in a lot of death, a global failure. And most likely, I think, the front will collapse somewhere like it did for the enemy in 2022, in the Kharkiv region.”
The new Ukrainian mobilization law, which is supposed to refill the army with fresh bodies, is still creeping through the Ukrainian parliament. It will likely come into force only by April. The first new troops conscripted under it will take until July to be combat capable. One wonders is the current Ukrainian army can hold that long.
Politico for the interview
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It was never going to be a hard-hitter.
Few expected anything ground-breaking to emerge from Tucker Carlson’s sit-down with Vladimir Putin, conducted in Moscow on Tuesday and published on the conservative pundit’s website Thursday. Carlson met those expectations with his softball interview, failing to extract any stirring insights into the Russian president’s actual war aims, or hold him to account for his brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Putin, however, took full advantage of the opportunity to plant seeds of doubt about America’s aid for Ukraine and the U.S. political system.
Here are the takeaways from Putin’s sit-down with Carlson.
Putin isn’t done with his war
The main message Putin sought to convey to Americans: There’s no point helping Ukraine with more money and weapons. And Carlson, who has himself previously questioned U.S. support for Ukraine as it seeks to defend its people and its land in the face of Russia’s assault, was all too happy to help deliver that message.
“If you really want to stop fighting, you need to stop supplying weapons. It will be over within a few weeks. That’s it,” Putin claimed, adding that it was up to the U.S. to tell Ukraine to come to the negotiating table.
But that’s not really the full story, as Putin himself made clear in two telling responses to Carlson’s follow-up questions.
First, asked whether Russia had achieved its war aims, Putin said: “No. We haven’t achieved our aims yet because one of them is de-nazification.” The claim that Russia is seeking to “de-nazify” Ukraine is widely seen as code for the removal of the country’s democratically elected (Jewish) president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a strong indication of what he meant by his comment, Putin said “we have to get rid of those people” who he claimed, without basis, “support” Nazism.
Second, when Carlson asked whether Putin would “be satisfied with the territory that you have now,” the Russian autocrat refused to respond, returning to his point about de-nazification and insisting he hadn’t yet finished answering the previous question. We’ll take that as another no.
Putin sought to undermine Americans’ faith in democracy
In granting Carlson an interview, Putin gained unfettered access to a large American audience ahead of the U.S. presidential election later this year.
It’s no secret who Carlson would back in the likely Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden rerun. But it was Putin, not Carlson, who first brought up Trump, saying he had enjoyed a “personal relationship” with the former U.S. president, as well as with George W. Bush.
Putin also ran through the ways in which past U.S. presidents — in his decades in power he has seen four of them come and go — had failed to reach consensus with Russia on security matters, even when he claimed they had wanted to.
Carlson has himself previously questioned U.S. support for Ukraine as it seeks to defend its people and its land in the face of Russia’s assault | Pool photo by Gavril Grigorov via AFP/Getty Images
The point he was making: The U.S. political system is, to borrow a phrase, an undrained swamp, and American democracy an illusion.
“It sounds like you’re describing a system that’s not run by the people who are elected, in your telling,” a helpful Carlson summarized for the president.
“That’s right, that’s right,” a pleased Putin responded. “It is not about the personality of the leader. It is about the elite’s mindset.”
The Kremlin’s propagandists notch a win
Anyone who can dent Putin’s armor is kept lightyears away from the president — whether they’re the wives of Russian soldiers, independent journalists or anti-war election challenger Boris Nadezhdin.
Those who do get to speak to Putin are always hand-picked by Moscow, and Carlson was no exception (as the Kremlin’s spokesperson confirmed this week).
Anticipating the criticism that the interview would do little more than facilitate Kremlin propaganda, both Carlson and Putin took great pains to head off the impression that they were in cahoots — but any moments of tension were brief and ultimately insignificant, with Putin emerging on top.
“Are we having a talk show or a conversation?” Putin sniped in the opening minutes of the interview, before delivering a 20-plus-minute historical soliloquy.
Carlson, who failed to fact-check or divert the Russian president’s fanciful history lesson, instead warned viewers in an opening statement that when answering his question on why Russia invaded Ukraine, “Putin went on for a very long time, probably half an hour, about the history of Russia going back to the eighth century. And honestly, we thought this was a filibustering technique and found it annoying.”
But Carlson immediately softened even that blow, decreeing that ultimately, he believed Putin was “sincere” and praising the president’s “encyclopedic knowledge.”
Meanwhile, Carlson avoided any topics that could have been sensitive for the Kremlin: reports of Russian war crimes in places like Bucha and Mariupol, the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Putin, Alexei Navalny and other political prisoners, and Russia’s mobilization and wartime death toll. He even steered clear of any questions about the upcoming Russian presidential election, and this week’s disqualification of anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin.
Putin continues his Elon Musk charm offensive
Tesla and X boss Elon Musk has had divided loyalties when it comes to Russia’s war on Ukraine, initially assisting Kyiv, before appearing to succumb to Kremlin propaganda and talking points. In his Carlson interview, Putin took the opportunity to stroke the billionaire’s ego.
“There are reports that Elon Musk has already had the chip implanted in the human brain in the USA,” Putin told Carlson.
Asked what he thought about that, the president said: “I think there’s no stopping Elon Musk. He will do as he sees fit. Nevertheless, you’ll need to find some common ground with him. Search for ways to persuade him. I think he’s a smart person. I truly believe he is.”
Putin is open to a prisoner exchange involving journalist Evan Gershkovich
One open question ahead of the interview was whether Carlson would ask about Evan Gershkovich, the American Wall Street Journal reporter who has been held in pre-trial detention in Russia for almost a year on what are broadly seen as trumped-up espionage charges.
Carlson raised the possibility of a prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich, whom he called a “kid” and “obviously not a spy.”
Putin objected to that characterization of Gershkovich, reiterating the Kremlin’s claims he was caught “red-handed” with confidential information.
But the president did say the Russian and American special services “were in contact with each other” on the case and there was no “taboo to settle this issue.”
Putin then mentioned “a person serving a sentence in an allied country of the U.S.”
While he didn’t name him, Putin was clearly referring to Vadim Krasikov, an FSB agent serving a life sentence in Germany for assassinating former Chechen insurgent and Georgian national Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in broad daylight in Berlin in 2019. “That person, due to patriotic sentiments, eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals,” Putin mused.
It’s a signal that the Kremlin is seeking Krasikov’s release from Germany, in exchange for freeing Gershkovich.
U.S.-Russia channels of communication remain open
Putin claimed not to recall when he last spoke to President Biden. “Do I have to remember everything?” Putin mused. “I have my own things to do. We have domestic political affairs.”
Asked why he hasn’t spoken with his U.S. counterpart, Putin said: “Why would I call him? What should I talk to him about? Or beg him for what?”
But he added that “certain contacts are being maintained” when it comes to lines of communication between Washington and Moscow.
Tucker has a lot of time for Putin
At just over two hours, the interview recorded in the Kremlin on Tuesday was the second-longest Carlson has ever published (beating Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s 29 minutes and former U.S. President Donald Trump’s 46 minutes).
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin gives an interview to US talk show host Tucker Carlson at the Kremlin | Pool photo by Gavril Grigorov via AFP/Getty Images
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Source and continue reading
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https://www.politico.eu/article/9-takeaway-vladimir-putin-interview-tucker-carlson/
Posted by: ossi | Feb 9 2024 16:03 utc | 79
The eldest son of AFU’s new commander-in-chief Syrskiy lives in Sydney—media (EurAsia Daily, February 9, 2024 — in Russian)
Information has appeared on the Internet about where the eldest son of the new commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Aleksandr Syrskiy, currently lives.
Anton Syrskiy is now in Sydney, as RIA Novosti claims, citing his page on the VKontakte social network. It is noted that the young man is gladly attending nightclubs and parties.
Anton graduated from a university in Sydney and has been living there ever since. It is noted that in the last few years, the son of the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army has been publishing posts exclusively in Russian.
The publication also claims that Aleksandr Syrskiy himself comes from Vladimir Oblast, where his relatives still live, including his brother Oleg and mother Lyudmila.
It is worth recalling that the son of Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov lives with his mother and sisters in Miami (Florida, USA). Umerov’s wife and children are U.S. citizens.
Earlier, EADaily reported that Maksim Danilov, the son of the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of the Ukraine Aleksey Danilov, also lives in Miami. Obviously, they won’t be sending him call-up papers either.
The parents and relatives of AFU’s new commander-in-chief Syrskiy still live in Russia, and his father is a retired colonel of the Russian Armed Forces (Readovka, February 8, 2024 — in Russian)
[photo of father, Stanislav Syrskiy, and mother, Lyudmila Syrskaya, at May 9 celebrations] [photo of brother, Oleg Syrskiy]
As Readovka found out, the native of Vladimir Oblast and AFU’s newly appointed commander-in-chief is still connected with Russia not only by his place of birth—his relatives continue to live here, including his mother, father and brother. Syrskiy’s mother Lyudmila confirmed to Readovka that it is her and Aleksandr’s father standing in the photo. It is noteworthy that the father of AFU’s commander-in-chief, Stanislav, is a retired colonel of the Russian army, and is now a pensioner. In the photo he is standing with his relative [wife — S] Lyudmila—they are currently living in Vladimir. Also living with them is AFU’s commander-in-chief’s brother Oleg, who, according to Readovka, works as a security guard.
Before the start of the SMO, Syrskiy’s parents were active on social networks, where they posted patriotic posts—in the photo they are attending the Immortal Regiment parade in 2019, with the family wearing St. George’s ribbons, banned in the Ukraine, and showing pride in their history. Whether AFU’s new commander-in-chief is now keeping in touch with his family or has completely forgotten about them is unknown, but now he is completely subordinate to the Zelenskiy regime, although he is not bringing it victories at the front.
“I’m sitting in the same HQ with the Ukrainians and I hate them” (Mash, February 9, 2024 — in Russian)
Exclusive revelations of AFU’s newly appointed commander-in-chief Aleksandr Syrskiy. During his last visit to Russia, he admitted to his mother that he was sitting in the same headquarters with the Ukrainians and could not stand them, “because they are cunning and sneaky.”
A neighbor of Galina and Vladimir Syrskiye told us: the commander-in-chief is still in touch with his parents via video calls, talking to them regularly and for long periods of time. […]
Note that Syrskiy’s parents are referred to as Stanislav and Lyudmila in Readovka’s post, but Vladimir and Galina in Mash’s post. Could be an attempt to hide Syrskiy’s parents identity, or could be that the neighbor is full of shit.
Posted by: S | Feb 9 2024 16:59 utc | 88
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