Second top general killed as Putin’s eastern advance stalls
News of Gerasimov’s death intercepted on mobile as encrypted message service of Russians begins to fail
A RUSSIAN general has been killed in eastern Ukraine as Moscow’s offensive suffered further setbacks.
Details of the death of Maj Gen Vitaly Gerasimov, chief of staff of the 41st Army, were intercepted on mobile telephone communications after the Russians reportedly destroyed radio towers used for top-level calls.
He is the second general lost in a week, following the death a few days ago of Maj Gen Andrei Sukhovetsky, apparently by sniper fire near Kyiv. The general was killed as senior military officials were sent to the front lines “to impose their personality on to the battlefield” and get the stalled Russian advance going again, Western intelligence sources said.
The bogged-down Russian invasion has been bedevilled by fierce Ukrainian resistance, poor planning and logistics.
Gen Gerasimov was a decorated officer, having served during the second Chechen war, Russia’s activity in Syria, and the annexation of Crimea.
He was no relation to the head of the Russian armed forces, General Valery Gerasimov, architect of the so-called “Gerasimov doctrine” for modern warfare, a blend of activities covering military, economic, misinformation, subversion and assassination actions.
The circumstances and location of Gen Gerasimov’s death in Kharkiv are not known. Russia’s tactics around Kharkiv so far in the war has been to avoid engaging with the enemy on the ground, preferring to use artillery and missile fire to pulverise the city.
The investigative journalism agency Belligcat said it had confirmed Gen Gerasimov’s death with a Russian source.
The intelligence arm of Ukraine’s ministry of defence said news of the general’s death had been discussed by two members of Russia’s FSB, the successor organisation to the KGB.
The leaked conversation also spoke of problems with Russia’s expensive new encrypted messaging service called “Era”. The two spies reportedly discussed how the Era system is struggling to work after Russia bombed communication towers, in what would be a major blow for the Kremlin.
It would mean the Russian army is equipped with secure phones that can’t work in areas where the Russian army operates. No large-scale offensive operations were reported overnight, although cities in the east continued to be hit by Russian artillery and missiles and explosions heard north of Kyiv.
Last night, the US department of defence said all Russian forces that had been staged around the border, including in Belarus, had been committed to the assault in Ukraine.
New units, reportedly including Chechen fighters, were said to have been moved closer to Kyiv, potentially in advance of a ground assault, or as a diversionary tactic.
Ukrainian forces were said to have conducted a counterattack near the besieged coastal city of Mariupol, but the situation was very confused, with other reports saying Russian forces advancing from Crimea had linked up with separatist elements in the Donbas.
Russian troops have seemingly continued to avoid fighting in built-up areas where possible, preferring to encircle towns and rely on firing into urban areas with rockets and artillery.
Meanwhile, officials have started asking whether further Russian “humiliation” will lead to increased violence against civilians. MP Bob Seely, a long-term Russia-watcher, said it was up to the West to offer Vladimir Putin a “ladder” out of the crisis.
In Washington, William Burns, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said Putin was “angry and frustrated”.
Mr Burns said he and CIA analysts do not see how Putin can accomplish his apparent goal of taking Kyiv and replacing President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I fail to see how he can produce that kind of an end game and where that leads, I think, is for an ugly next few weeks in which he doubles down... with scant regard for civilian casualties,” Mr Burns told the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee hearing yesterday.