Beast from the East! Panicking Putin 'calls up OBESE 280lbs retired general, 67, to lead forces in Ukraine' after 'most of his best and battle-hardened senior commanders are killed' in war Putin has called an obese, 20-stone former general out of retirement to fight General Pavel likes to eat five meals a day and wash it down with a litre of vodka Overall commander of Russian forces in Ukraine also reported to be dismissed The 'Butcher of Aleppo' will be replaced by a 'corrupt and brutal' general Last week the commander of Russian airborne forces was reportedly sacked Reports suggest between 11 and 14 Russian generals have been killed in action Putin has called an obese general out of retirement to take command of forces in Ukraine after yet another round of purges of top commanders has left him 'scraping the barrel'. The 20 stone General Pavel, 67, has been summoned from his comfortable life in the Moscow suburbs and told to don his specially-made army fatigues and go to the front lines of eastern Ukraine. He will now take charge of Russian special forces operating in the region after the unit's former commander was seriously injured in an artillery strike. A veteran of the Soviet Union's ill-fated invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s and a member of Russia's special forces, General Pavel has let himself go considerably since retirement five years ago. He is understood to eat five meals a day and polish it all off with a litre of vodka. Since coming back to the service, he has had to have his uniform specially made and he needs to wear two sets of body armour to ensure his torso is protected. A senior intelligence source last night told the Daily Star Sunday: 'Putin is now scraping the barrel. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...20st-retired-general-lead-forces-Ukraine.html
I am a student of history, and I am familiar with the concept of war of attrition, but hiring a general to be the one to personally lead the strategy of attrition is a new one to me. Putin must be planning to put this man behind the Ukrainian supply lines apparently, and judging from the photographic evidence it may just work.
Sure. Not much happening lately except a lot of artillery being fired and a lot of guys dying on both sides. russia is hitting them with up to 50,000 shells a day. Russia also increasingly hitting civilian targets with missiles, yesterday a shopping center in one city. a place where people picked up water in another and a residential building in a third A lot of dead and wounded civilians. Ukraine withdrew from Severodonetsk, a key city in the center and are in danger of losing more forces or being surrounded in that area, as russia has concentrated their forces there. Ukraine has finally got four HIMAR's (The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System from USA) into action and is now able to strike targets further away in occupied Donbass, mostly ammo dumps and HQ facilities. They of course would like to strike inside russia but not allowed to under terms set by USA. They will soon have four more of these systems. Meanwhile, Ukraine has made advances with counteroffensives north near the russian border and south around occupied Kherson. I think they lost an opportunity around Kherson by being too conservative. They actually outnumber the russians in tanks and infantry so I was hoping they would stage a large panzer style attack with their best tanks and infantry, surround Kherson and cut off all russian forces from supplies and new troops coming from Crimea. They feel they would have suffered too many casualties doing that but I think it would have been less over the long run and they could have really captured a lot of russians and russian equipment. Would have been a huge psychological lift besides tactical victory. Instead their advances have been so slow that russians have had the opportunity to really dig in. (just read something from a retired Australian general that basically agreed with me) I'm not as optimistic as I was a couple months ago. Ukraine is running out of ammo for their own artillery so need much more NATO artillery which uses NATO shells. (there is another story around that; russia has actually been destroying ammo dumps in Ukraine and eastern Europe since 2014 in anticipation of this invasion) But the morale of Ukrainian people and military is still high so I think they will eventually throw russia back, it's just gonna be a long and bloody struggle. https://www.facebook.com/Save-democracy-in-Ukraine-165017730178709/
If I remember I will post a daily update from Euromaidan Press every day. Just the summary on top should be enough for most people. (IMO, this still is the most important event in our lives every day, so I hope people aren't forgetting about it), but there is a lot more in the main part. Day 126: The Russian army continues the assault operations south and southwest of Lysychansk. Russian forces failed to advance along the Kharkiv-Bilhorod highway. Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensives north of Kherson, reportedly liberating two settlements. Russian cruise missiles hit residential buildings in the Mykolaiv, Sumy, Dnieper, and Kharkiv Oblasts. The mayor of Kherson is kidnapped. In Kremenchuk, three-day mourning is declared for the victims of the missile strike on the shopping mall. The British Minister of Defense says Russia Russia is “more dangerous than it’s ever been in our lifetime,” The US expands the list of sanctions against the Russian Federation. Lithuania bans the passage of Russian gas through the country’s transportation system. NATO leaders arrive in Spain for the summit. NATO’s Stoltenberg speaks with Zelenskyy. https://euromaidanpress.com/2022/06...5veGz4g7MBv97zJuIVwZmUFUe3yGYiMLsheK1KOneKbtc
I am currently reading a book The Daughters of Kobani, about an all female Kurdish militia that fought ISIS. During Syria civil war, Russia backed Syrian government, including with air strikes. Reading it sounds so similar to Ukraine. Strikes on shopping areas. On a building where several hundred children were sheltering in basement. Sadly, what they are doing in Ukraine isn't new. Oh, and highly recommend book.
Thank you for the update. It's good that morale is still high. I remember reading about the Kurdish female militia. Those ladies are badasses. I will definitely pick up that book.
Day 127. 144 Ukrainians, including 95 Azov defenders, returned to Ukraine in the largest prisoner exchange of the war. In Mykolaiv, a residential building is destroyed by a missile, 5 civilians killed. In Kremenchuk, casualties of a missile attack on a shopping mall are being identified. Putin said that the Russian forces “do not strike at any civilian targets.” The Russian army is trying to block Lysychansk and take control of the section of the Lysychansk-Bakhmut highway. The Ukrainian army liberated two settlements north of Kherson. The UN Office for Human Rights prepared a report on human rights violations during the war in Ukraine. NATO to increase its military contingent in Europe by 7.5 times. Sweden and Finland to join NATO. The UK will allocate $1.2 billion to air defense systems, drones, and equipment for electronic warfare in Ukraine. Ukraine is breaking off diplomatic relations with Syria after Damascus recognized the independence of the Russian proxy states in Donbas. https://euromaidanpress.com/2022/06...ur8_6xK6_W-wX4lJb_G0qr5-JooPRuZoQPjAIyFgcIIDk
Well, as long as those weapons are not used to attack targets in russia. But targets in russian-occupied Donbass OK. Ukraine does use their own missiles to occasionally strike targets in russia herself.