Vladimir Putin fires top General after catastrophic losses
Vladimir Putin has sacked one of his generals, in what is being described as the “most senior military dismissal of this year”, after a slew of shocking fatalities.
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A top Russian general who directed attacks in Ukraine, which ended in the deaths of thousands of soldiers, has been sacked, Western officials have claimed.
General Rustam Muradov led Russia’s Eastern Group of Forces (EGF) for almost a year.
General Muradov, a close ally of Russia’s military chief Valery Gerasimov, earlier this year launched an attack on the mining town of Vuhledar in the eastern Donetsk region.
His daylight assault on the town ended in complete disaster.
Survivors claim one marine brigade of 5000 men was almost obliterated, and at least 130 armoured vehicles, including 36 tanks, were destroyed.
Shocking aerial footage taken by Ukrainian drones showed dead bodies and destroyed vehicles scattering fields around the town.
General Muradov was also involved in planning a similarly disastrous attack on the village of Pavlivka, in which hundreds of Vladimir Putin’s troops were reportedly killed.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said General Muradov’s departure was the most senior military sacking of the year – but warned more are on the horizon as Moscow fails to achieve its objectives in eastern Ukraine.
“The Russian MoD has highly likely dismissed Colonel-General Rustam Muradov as commander of the Eastern Group of Forces (EGF) in Ukraine,” an intelligence update read, the Daily Mail reported.
“The EGF under Muradov has suffered exceptionally heavy casualties in recent months as its poorly conceived assaults repeatedly failed to capture the Donetsk Oblast town of Vuhledar.”
General Muradov’s dismissal will be welcomed by Russian media who, in the days after the Vuhledar massacre in February, called for public show trials to punish the commanders and generals behind the losses.
“Some of them are complete cretins – all the mistakes that were made before were repeated,” said Igor “Strelkov” Girkin, a Russian former intelligence officer who helped stage the pro-Moscow 2014 insurgencies in Donetsk and Crimea.
Mr Girkin alleged that top Russian soldiers were shot down “like turkeys in a shooting range” as Ukrainians held higher positions “without much difficulty”.
One particular Russian unit – the Pacific Fleet’s 155th Marine Brigade – reportedly lost hundreds of soldiers in a doomed attack authorised by General Muradov in Pavlivka in late 2022.
Survivors of the mission reportedly blamed General Muradov for the shocking number of casualties, asking for him to be replaced. Nothing was done at the time.
“Muradov was suspended because he was a mad idiot who was able to … order soldiers to go to certain death. A lot of people complained about him,” one Russian military source told The Moscow Times:
The removal of top Russian commanders from their post is not rare.
The current head of Russia’s army, Valery Gerasimov, replaced “General Armageddon” Sergei Surovikin in January — just three months after General Surovikin himself was elevated to the role.
RUSSIAN ARMY FIRES AT UKRANIAN ‘SABOTEURS’
Russian security forces foiled an attempt of a group of Ukrainian “saboteurs” to enter Russia, the governor of the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine said on Thursday.
The announcement came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin had warned saboteurs were acting inside Russia.
“Today, the border department of the FSB (security service) of the Bryansk region thwarted an attempt by a Ukrainian saboteur group of 20 people that tried to cross into the Russian Federation near the village of Sluchovsk,” Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region, said on Telegram.
He said Russian army units and border troops had shot at the group. Sluchovsk is a village in Russia on the border with northern Ukraine and lies relatively far from active fighting zones.
Earlier on Thursday he said Ukrainians had shot at the nearby village of Zapesochye.
“There were no casualties. There is partial damage to around 10 houses and a car,” Bogomaz said.
The alleged attempted incursion came a day after Russia’s FSB security service said it detained a pilot of a Ukrainian light aircraft that crashed into the Bryansk region.
In early March, Russian security services had accused Ukrainian combatants of crossing into the Bryansk region and killing two civilians.
PUTIN ACCUSES THE WEST OF ‘STAGING TERROR ATTACKS’
President Vladimir Putin has accused Western security services of having helped Kyiv stage “terror attacks” in Russia, after giving an icy welcome to the new US and EU ambassadors.
His Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy meanwhile made a rare foreign visit to Warsaw in a show of thanks for Poland’s support since the start of Russia’s offensive.
Mr Putin spoke on Wednesday at a meeting of the Kremlin’s Security Council dedicated to ensuring law and order in four Ukrainian territories he claimed to have annexed last year.
“There are grounds to assert” that other countries and Western intelligence services were involved “in staging sabotage and terrorist attacks”, Mr Putin said in televised remarks.
In what appeared to be a reference to the Ukrainian authorities, Mr Putin said “neo-Nazis and their accomplices were acting” in Russia as well as the annexed territories including the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Mr Putin’s remarks come days after an explosion at a cafe in Russia’s second city, Saint Petersburg, killed a high-profile military blogger and staunch supporter of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine, Vladlen Tatarsky.
Moscow said the attack had been orchestrated by Ukraine with help from supporters of jailed critic Alexei Navalny. Kyiv has blamed it on Russia’s domestic infighting.
But Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday said the blogger’s death would be “one of the topics of discussion” at the UN Security Council, where Moscow has taken over the rotating presidency.
Hours earlier, Mr Putin had received the new foreign ambassadors to Moscow at a ceremony in the Kremlin.
He told US ambassador Lynne Tracy that Washington was responsible for the “Ukrainian crisis”, adding that ties between Russia and the US were in “deep crisis”.
Mr Putin also told the new EU envoy to Moscow, Roland Galharague, that the bloc instigated “geopolitical confrontation” with Moscow.
RUSSIA’S CHILLING NUKE WARNING AS FINLAND JOINS NATO
Finland has officially joined NATO in a historic move which has prompted anger in Russia where officials have labelled the move as a threat.
The Finnish flag was raised at the Brussels headquarters of the world’s largest military alliance on Tuesday local time, a year after the Nordic nation applied to join.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto signed the official documents before handing them over Secretary of State Antony Blinken at NATO HQ in Brussels.
Head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, hailed the move as “a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security and for NATO as a whole”.
He added that Sweden will also become a full-fledged member.
“President Putin wanted to slam NATO‘s door shut. Today we show the world that he failed, that aggression and intimidation do not work,” he said.
“This will make Finland safer and NATO stronger. This has been the fastest accession process in NATO’s history.”
But hours before Finland became the 31st NATO member, Russia warned that Belarusian military aircraft have been upgraded to launch nuclear strikes.
Belarus warplanes have been upgraded so they are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, Russia’s defence chief warned today – hours before Finland officially joined NATO.
Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said they were taking practical steps to boost the nuclear strike potential of its close ally Belarus.
He said some Belarusian military jets were now capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and that Russia had sent Iskander rocket systems — which can carry conventional or nuclear missiles — to Belarus.
“Some of the Belarusian ground attack aircraft have gained the ability to strike at enemy targets with nuclear-armed weapons,” he said.
Mr Shoigu warned Finland’s entry into the military alliance and NATO’s move to increase its combat readiness has ramped up the risk of conflict.
Finland’s membership now roughly doubles the length of the border NATO shares with Russia and bolsters its eastern flank as the war in Ukraine rages on.
‘PREPARE NOW’: RUSSIAN THREAT THE WEST MUST BRACE FOR
The break-up of Russia is something the West needs to start planning for now, Ukraine’s national security adviser has warned.
Oleksiy Danilov said the collapse of the Soviet Union showed what could happen – when it fell apart quickly the West was not prepared for it.
“The West doesn’t know Russia and is afraid of fragmentation in Russia, but this process is under way,” Mr Danilov said.
He said the end would be “spectacular” and would happen within three to seven years.
“It is a historic process – and you can’t stop history.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s relocation of nuclear weapons to Belarus was a sign of weakness, not strength, Mr Danilov told The Times.
He believed Russia would lose control of the parts of eastern Ukraine it now occupies, of Abkhazia, the breakaway, pro-Russian Georgian republic, and of its possessions in the Caucasus.
Mr Danilov said China would be interested in Russia’s Siberian far east, where many Chinese people live.
“Letting China take Russian territory will be very dangerous for the West, because by unlocking one problem they will create another,” he said. The West should prepare now,” he said.
PUTIN A ‘DEAD MAN WALKING’
Vladimir Putin could be taken out by high-ranking officials in his own military angry at their losses, a former CIA official says.
James Olson, a 30-year veteran of the US spy agency, said Mr Putin is a “dead man walking”.
“It is not going well at all. I believe Putin is in a no-win situation now,” Mr Olson told The Sun.
Mr Olson said Putin would never agree to withdraw from Ukraine until he had complete control of the four partially occupied regions.
“If Putin stays in power, there will be a long war because he will not give up — but I do not think that Putin is going to stay in power,” Mr Olson said.
“I believe that he will be removed from power.”
He continued: “I think Putin will be taken out,” adding “I would not rule out assassination.”
CHILLING MOMENT FEMALE ASSASSIN BOMBS CAFE
Two alleged female anti-Putin bombers have been accused of orchestrating a deadly bomb that killed a pro-Putin Russian military blogger.
Darya Tripova, 26, reportedly handed the explosives-laden statue to Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, before it blew up in a St Petersburg cafe, The Sun reports.
Ms Tripova was found at a rented flat close to the scene on Monday by the FSB and Investigative Committee, according to local media.
Cops are still hunting her alleged Ukraine-born accomplice Maria Yarun, 40, although some reports say she is in hospital after the blast.
Ms Tripova is said to have delivered the lethal statue that contained up to 450 grams of TNT.
Chilling CCTV footage captured the moment the bomb ripped through the Street Bar cafe on Sunday, killing Mr Tatarsky and injuring at least 25 others.
The blogger was handed the gift rigged with an explosive device at an event organised by Cyber Front Z, which refers to itself on social media as “Russia’s information troops”, local media report.
An eyewitness said that the woman who gave him the device called herself an “artist” and “wanted to show the heroes of Putin’s special military operation”.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Vladimir Putin’s private Wagner army, is believed to own the cafe and was allegedly expected at the event.
Russia’s foreign ministry lashed out at Western governments for failing to react to the attack.
Bloggers like Vladlen Tatarsky “are defenders of the truth”, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram, adding that the lack of reaction from Western governments “despite their concerns for the welfare of journalists and the free press speaks for itself”.
“Russian journalists constantly feel the threat of reprisals from the Kyiv regime,” she said.
“It is thanks to Russian war correspondents that the world sees true, operational images and finds out what is happening in Ukraine,” she said.
She added that Mr Tatarsky was “dangerous” for Ukraine “but bravely went on until the end, fulfilling his duty”.
FINLAND JOINS NATO
Russia said it would boost its military presence in the west and northwest of the country in response to Finland joining NATO.
Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg announced earlier that Finland will become the 31st member of the military alliance on Tuesday, local time.
“We will strengthen our military potential in the western and northwestern direction,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA Novosti.
“In the event of the deployment of forces and resources of other NATO members on the territory of Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security,” he added.
Russia and Finland share a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border. Finland and Sweden dropped a decades-long policy of military non-alignment and applied to join the western alliance last May in the wake of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
The Kremlin insisted in March that Russia was not a threat to the two Nordic countries and has no “dispute” with them.
Russia, however, sees NATO enlargement as an “existential” threat to its security and has used Ukraine’s wish to join the alliance to justify the offensive.
WAGNER GROUP CLAIMS ‘LEGAL’ CAPTURE OF BAKHMUT
Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group claims it has “in a legal sense” captured the eastern Ukraine town of Bakhmut – the site of the longest battle of Moscow’s operation in the country – with its units now in control of city hall.
The Wagner group has supported Russian troops throughout the offensive to surround Bakhmut, the fight for which both sides have invested heavily, despite analysts’ assertions that the city carries little strategic value.
“The commanders of the units that took city hall and the whole centre will go and put up this flag,” Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said on his Telegram channel, referencing a Russian flag he is seen holding in a video accompanying the post on Monday.
“This is the Wagner private military company, these are the guys who took Bakhmut. In a legal sense, it’s ours.”
On March 20, Prigozhin had claimed Wagner units controlled 70 per cent of the town.
Hours before Prigozhin’s claim, the Ukrainian general staff late Sunday said that though “the enemy has not stopped its assault of Bakhmut … Ukrainian defenders are courageously holding the city as they repel numerous enemy attacks”.
Also Sunday evening, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had praised Ukrainian troops’ defence of the city, much of which now lies in ruins.
“I am grateful to our warriors who are fighting near Avdiivka, Maryinka, near Bakhmut … Especially Bakhmut! It’s especially hot there today!” Mr Zelenskyy said in his own post to Telegram.
Near Bakhmut, about 27km away in Kostyantynivka, a “massive attack” of Russian missiles left three men and three women dead and eleven wounded Sunday, Ukrainian authorities said.
Zelensky said the affected zones are “just residential areas”, where “ordinary civilians of an ordinary city of Donbas” were targeted.
There was a large crater in a yard and windows were shattered from ground to top floors in two 14-storey tower blocks, while private homes nearby had smashed roofs, AFP journalists saw.
CHINA WARNS OF WWIII AFTER RUSSIAN ARMS MOVE
China has issued a grim warning of a WWIII following Moscow’s plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
China’s representative in the UN, Geng Shuang, called for world powers to step back from the brink, The Sun reports.
Speaking at a Security Council meeting on international peace, Shuang stated that Beijing opposed armed attacks against nuclear power plants and the threat or use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
He called on nations to maintain “global strategic stability”, raising the spectre of an international conflict and possible WWIII, The Sun reports.
Shuang said he was addressing his concerns at “all” nuclear weapons states – and called the devices “the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads”.
“China calls on all nuclear weapon states to abide by the vision of the statement, effectively reduce the risk of a nuclear war, and avoid any armed conflict between nuclear weapons states,” he said.
“We call for the abolition of the nuclear-sharing arrangements and advocate no deployment of nuclear weapons abroad by all nuclear weapons states, and the withdrawal of nuclear weapons deployed abroad.”
Geng also said “a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought” before adding that China’s position on nuclear weapons has been “clear and consistent.”
“China has firmly committed to a defensive nuclear strategy and honoured the pledge to no first use of nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances.
“And China has also clearly committed unconditionally not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones,” Geng said.
Geng did not mention Russia directly but said all parties must “stay rational, avoid aggravating tensions, and intensifying frictions, or fanning the flames.”
Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya welcomed Beijing’s comments.
“To the credit of the Chinese side, the Chinese side reminded Moscow in a very sensible manner that nuclear war cannot be won and fought, and that nuclear proliferation must be prevented,” he told the council.
Last week Mr Putin announced the plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which Ukraine branded a “desperate Kremlin attempt to avoid military defeat and threaten the world with nuclear apocalypse.”
– With AFP
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