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In response to
"Western Tanks Appear Headed to Ukraine, Breaking Another Taboo"
by
crash davis
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The Pentagon says ‘systemic problems’ in the Russian Army led to its military shake-up.
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Russia’s abrupt replacement of its war commander in Ukraine this week is most likely a reflection of the same struggles the Russian military has faced since the start of the conflict, a Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday.
Gen. Sergei Surovikin, who led Russian forces in Syria, was demoted after just three months of leading the war effort in Ukraine, and his command was given to Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, the Kremlin’s top military officer, who helped plan the botched invasion in February.
Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said that the shake-up probably reflected systemic obstacles the Russian military has encountered, including “logistics problems, command and control problems, sustainment problems, morale and the large failure to achieve the strategic objectives that they’ve set for themselves.”
“Frankly,” General Ryder added, “I think that the world would rather see Russia focus on withdrawing from Ukraine and saving innocent lives versus spending time on numerous management reshuffles. Russian soldiers and their families would probably like to see that, too.”
Analysts do not expect the change in leadership to alter much about Russian forces’ consistent difficulties in Ukraine.
General Gerasimov is unlikely to meet President Vladimir V. Putin’s “unrealistic expectations for his performance,” the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based research organization, said in a report on Wednesday, adding that the general would most likely be presiding over “a disorganized command structure plagued by endemic, persistent, and self-reinforcing failures that he largely set into motion in his initial role before the invasion of Ukraine.”
The reshuffling of commanders also failed to reassure some Russian commentators, whose critical views of the conduct of the war have become increasingly influential. General Gerasimov’s appointment was probably intended, at least in part, to ward off further criticism, the institute’s report said.
The Russian Defense Ministry has also faced challenges to its authority from Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, who claimed on Tuesday to have seized the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar and given Russia its first significant victory in months — a claim the Kremlin later walked back.
The ousted General Surovikin had been a “favorite” of Mr. Prigozhin’s, the institute noted, calling his demotion part of a Kremlin effort to have its military come out on top in “an internal Russian power struggle.”
Matthew Mpoke Bigg contributed reporting.
— Anushka Patil
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