Russia has lost more high-ranking officers during a single month of combat in Ukraine than the United States did during 20 years of fighting in Afghanistan.
In a striking development, Ukrainian officials said at least five Russian generals had been killed so far. Analysts said it could result from a lack of discipline and experience among troops or problems with communications. With Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly unhappy with the course of the war, the losses in the top ranks could portend a growing split between the authoritarian president and a military struggling on the battlefield.
The most recent Russian general officer killed in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine appears to be Lt. Gen. Yakov Rezantsev, commander of the 49th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District, Ukrainian officials said Friday. According to published sources, Gen. Rezantsev was killed in a Ukrainian artillery strike at an airfield in the Kherson region. His death, like the others, couldn’t be independently verified.
Pentagon officials said they couldn’t verify Ukraine’s tally but wouldn’t dispute it.
The Russians “have got an awful lot committed to the fight, so there’s a certain logic making sure you have general officers in the field,” a senior Defense Department official told reporters at the Pentagon last week.
Generals are on the battlefield to make larger strategic decisions rather than conduct lower-level tactical operations like second lieutenants do. As a result, combat casualties at the rank tend to be rare in modern warfare. Still, Russia doesn’t organize its military the same way as the U.S. armed forces, where even the most junior soldiers are expected to take the lead in combat if necessary.
The Russians “don’t have that kind of tradition. They don’t have that structure,” the Defense Department official said. “They don’t invest in their junior officers the kind of initiative that we do.”
The Russian generals may be more exposed owing to what Ukrainian and U.S. officials say is a combination of poor preparation and planning for a mission that the Kremlin thought would be completed by now.
“It’s very obvious the Russians have miscalculated in their designs,” Andriy Yermak, head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in remarks to an Atlantic Council event Friday.
Military analysts say Russian troops have resorted to stealing cellphones from civilians so senior officers can speak with one another after Ukraine jammed their communications systems. With only spotty communications available to them, Russian generals are forced to move closer to the front lines to direct the operation and stay in touch with junior officers.
Their proximity to the front lines puts Russian generals squarely in the crosshairs of Ukrainian snipers.
“The Ukrainians have proven very competent at figuring out who the guy in charge is — the general — and taking him out,” said retired Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, director of The Heritage Foundation Center for National Defense. “They are losing a lot more than you’d ever expect in a war of this short duration.”
It’s not just the Russian army being targeted. A senior Black Sea fleet commander, Andrey Paliy, was reportedly on the cusp of being promoted to admiral when he died in a shootout with Ukrainian forces this month outside of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said.
Another possible reason for the high death count is the structure of the Russian military. Some analysts say generals in a top-heavy Russian army feel the need to direct operations from the front. Analysts also point to Russia’s inadequate corps of noncommissioned officers, the backbone of any military unit. Ukrainian forces have operated with far more initiative and flexibility than their Russian adversaries in operations like the battle for Kyiv.
Deeper problems
Gen. Spoehr said he believes the rot goes deeper than that.
“The missing ingredient here is the competent battalion and company commanders,” he said. “Generals don’t come forward to motivate privates. They come forward to talk to their colonels to figure out why [something] isn’t working.”
A lack of proper planning is forcing Russian generals to place themselves at greater risk, Gen. Spoehr said. “They’re having to do more improvisation on the ground than you’d normally have,” he said.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene died in 2014 in Afghanistan when a member of the Afghan National Army opened fire on a delegation of VIPs on an inspection tour. He was the first American general to be killed in a theater of war since Vietnam.
Bill Roggio, who edits The Long War Journal for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said it’s no surprise that senior Russian officers are being wounded or killed by mortar fire in Ukraine after moving forward to fix a problem in the operation.
“I think they expect some sort of attrition,” Mr. Roggio said. “I don’t think the Russians are as careful with their soldiers, with their equipment and with their commanders as we are in the West.”
The Russian military also is hitting some command posts, and Mr. Roggio said Ukraine probably has lost some senior leaders as well.
“We’re getting a lopsided account of the fighting. The Ukrainians aren’t telling us anything about their casualties,” he said.
The Russian military has officially acknowledged only the death of one senior commander: Maj. Gen. Andrey Sukhovetsky, who was killed in combat just four days after the invasion began on Feb. 24.
Peter Caddick-Adams, a British historian and military analyst, said the high mortality rate among Russian generals is likely based on several interrelated factors stemming from the military’s low status within Russian society. He said a disproportionate number of Russia’s annual military intake comes from the outer regions of the federation, such as Chechnya, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.
“Lots of young men named Muhammed are being killed or wounded in Ukraine right now,” Mr. Caddick-Adams said in an email message. “They are treated abysmally, bullied, discriminated against, and currently are literally cannon fodder.
“There doesn’t appear to be an overall Russian theater commander in Ukraine — such as the role the late Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf played during the Gulf War. That means the campaign is likely being run by the four military districts operating in Ukraine, each with its own command style and doctrinal nuances,” Mr. Caddick-Adams said.
“The overall commander is probably Putin, with a direct reach onto the battlefield, bypassing intermediaries he doesn’t trust,” Mr. Caddick-Adams said. “In this, Putin echoes the long tactical screwdriver wielded by Hitler in 1942-45.”
The troops killing the Russian generals are most likely U.S.-trained Ukrainian special forces teams who also are targeting other senior officers and their staff, Mr. Caddick-Adams said.
“The deaths of however many Russian generals is merely the thin edge of the wedge,” he said. “The Russians are losing the next generation of talent who will step into the dead men’s shoes.”
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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