Putin sacks Sergei Shoigu as defense minister, appoints him as leader of security council
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 3 months ago • 23 commentsBy: The Associated PressBy The Associated Press
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed replacing Sergei Shoigu as defense minister and appointed him as secretary of Russia's national security council.
The appointment comes after Putin proposed appointing Andrei Belousov as the country's defense minister in place of Shoigu, who has served in the post for years. The reshuffle comes as Putin starts his fifth presidential term and as the war in Ukraine drags on for the third year
In line with Russian law, the entire Russian Cabinet resigned on Tuesday following Putin's glittering inauguration in the Kremlin.
The announcement came as thousands more civilians have fled Russia's renewed ground offensive in Ukraine's northeast that has targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar shelling, officials said Sunday.
The intense battles have forced at least one Ukrainian unit to withdraw in the Kharkiv region, capitulating more land to Russian forces across less defended settlements in the so-called contested gray zone along the Russian border.
By Sunday afternoon, the town of Vovchansk, among the largest in the northeast with a prewar population of 17,000, emerged as a focal point in the battle.
Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the Kharkiv regional police, said that Russian forces were on the outskirts of the town and approaching from three directions.
"Infantry fighting is already taking place," he said.
A Russian tank was spotted along a major road leading to the town, Tymoshko said, illustrating Moscow's confidence to deploy heavy weaponry.
An Associated Press team, positioned in a nearby village, saw plumes of smoke rising from the town as Russian forces hurled shells. Evacuation teams worked nonstop throughout the day to take residents, most of whom were older, out of harm's way.
At least 4,000 civilians have fled the Kharkiv region since Friday, when Moscow's forces launched the operation, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in a social media statement. Heavy fighting raged Sunday along the northeast front line, where Russian forces attacked 27 settlements in the past 24 hours, he said.
Analysts say the Russian push is designed to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front line.
Ukrainian soldiers said that the Kremlin is using the usual Russian tactic of launching a disproportionate amount of fire and infantry assaults to exhaust their troops and firepower. By intensifying battles in what was previously a static patch of the front line, Russian forces threaten to pin down Ukrainian forces in the northeast, while carrying out intense battles farther south where Moscow is also gaining ground.
It comes after Russia stepped up attacks in March targeting energy infrastructure and settlements, which analysts predicted were a concerted effort to shape conditions for an offensive.
Meanwhile, a 10-story apartment building partially collapsed in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border, killing at least eight people and injuring 20 others. Russian authorities said that the building collapsed following Ukrainian shelling. Ukraine hasn't commented on the incident.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that halting Russia's offensive in the northeast was a priority, and that Kyiv's troops were continuing counteroffensive operations in seven villages around the Kharkiv region.
"Disrupting the Russian offensive intentions is our No. 1 task now. Whether we succeed in that task depends on every soldier, every sergeant, every officer," Zelenskyy said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces had captured four villages on the border along Ukraine's Kharkiv region, in addition to five villages reported to have been seized on Saturday. These areas were likely poorly fortified because of the dynamic fighting and constant heavy shelling, easing a Russian advance.
Ukraine's leadership hasn't confirmed Moscow's gains. But Tymoshko said that Strilecha, Pylna and Borsivika were under Russian occupation, and it was from their direction they were bringing in infantry to stage attacks in other embattled villages of Hlyboke and Lukiantsi.
Russian tactics in Vovchansk mirror those used in the battles for Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, he said, in which heavy aerial attacks were accompanied by droves of infantry assaults.
"Now the Russians are simply wiping it (Vovchansk) off the face of the earth and advancing with the scorched earth method. That is, they first scorch a specific area and then the infantry comes in, and they always advance in this way," he said.
A Ukrainian unit said that they had been forced to retreat in some areas and that Russian forces had captured at least one more village late Saturday.
In a video Saturday evening, the Hostri Kartuzy unit, part of the special forces' detachment of Ukraine's national guard, said that they were fighting for control of the village of Hlyboke.
"Today, during heavy fighting, our defenders were forced to withdraw from a few more of their positions, and today, another settlement has come completely under Russian control. As of 20:00, fighting for the village of Hlyboke is ongoing," the fighters said in the clip.
The Institute for the Study of War said Saturday that it believed claims that Moscow had captured Strilecha, Pylna, Pletenivka and Borsivika were accurate, and that geolocated footage also appeared to show that Russian forces have seized Morokhovets and Oliinykove. The Washington-based think tank described the recent Russian gains as "tactically significant."
In the war's early days, Russia made a botched attempt to quickly storm Kharkiv, which is Ukraine's second-largest city, but retreated from its outskirts after about a month. In the fall of 2022, seven months later, Ukraine's army pushed them out of Kharkiv. The bold counterattack helped persuade Western countries that Ukraine could defeat Russia on the battlefield and merited military support.
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heh, I wouldn't be taking a private plane ride anywhere within russia if I was that guy...
Or be in any rooms above the second floor that has windows.
Evening Drak... funny about that, was thinking the same thing... it's not the fall, it's the sudden stop at the end..
Obviously, you're quite a cultured and intelligent individual ; )
I wonder what the over/under is on his expiration date...
Have to love the Russian meat grinder. It runs in both directions at the same time and never seems to get clogged.
If Russia ever learns how to fight a modern war they just might be dangerous.
Until then Russian troops will be forever an expendable commodity.
At least Ukraine has finally given the Russian troops something to fight for by their continuous attacks on the motherland. Seems Zelenskyy never studied history; or he would have learn from Napoleon's and Hitler's failures.
The Russian forces can experience 60-70 pct casualties taking an objective and preparing fortified defenses. The 30 pct that's left can hold off just about anything, short of nuclear attack, from those fortified defenses. That's the strategy and tactics of modern warfare developed in WWI (which have been refined but never made obsolete). Russians are fighting to take and occupy territory. Russia is not fighting to overthrow a government, impose an ideology, or win hearts & minds. Russians are driving the civil population out of the territories they occupy; they want the territory but not the people.
Russians don't continue advancing until they encounter insurmountable opposition unless the movement is a feint or is punitive. Russia advances, step by step, from fortified defenses. That's the lesson of Stalingrad. That's not how the United States fights any longer; we've forgotten the lessons of the Pacific Theater in WWII.
As the US/NATO has proven with Serbia, Iraq, Syria, and Libya- overwhelming air power can bring any government down.
If Russia had learned that lesson and concentrated on taking out Ukraine's infrastructure, airfields, training groundings, businesses, etc- the war would already have been over. Russian ground forces would have swept through Ukraine in a matter of weeks.
Instead the meat grinder is hoping to win yet another war of attrition. How long will it take the Russian military to rebuild, retrain, and reman into even the force it was before the start of the war?
Which of those conflicts did the US/NATO win? The US had demonstrated that overwhelming air power can decapitate a government. But air power can't occupy territory.
Russia has been taking out Ukraine's civilian and military infrastructure. Russia has been utilizing its air power to attack infrastructure instead of attacking the political government or to support ground operations. It appears that Russia has been deliberately avoiding decapitating the Ukrainian government.
Keep in mind that Ukraine produces modern weapons systems including air defense systems. Ukraine has been attacking the Black Sea Fleet with Ukrainian made munitions. Ukraine was a major arms supplier to Russia. Russia has been taking out the Ukrainian arms infrastructure using air power.
The meat grinder is necessary to take and occupy territory. The United States couldn't avoid the meat grinder with nation building over the decades of fighting. Nation building only pushed the natives into the meat grinder. And, after decades of fighting, what did the United States win?
Putin has stated the objective was to 'liberate' Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts as independent Republics. What if Putin wasn't lying? It certainly doesn't look like Russia is fighting a US style war. It certainly doesn't look like Russia's objectives for the war are what our military brassheads have been telling us. The war in Ukraine only demonstrates that Russia ain't the United States.
Actually they were dangerous during The Cold War...with all their nukes.
Fortunately their leadership decided not to start a nuclear war with the U.S.-- but if they had-- they would have been quite dangerous-- they did have that potential!!!
Nukes are the only reason NATO/US hasn't rolled into Moscow already.
It sure isn't as hell their military tactics or prowess.
Napoleon was fighting an invasive war where he had to defend his supply lines. The Ukrainians have to fight the red tape of getting arms so they can defend themselves. I think the Ukrainians got an easier pull.
"Seems Zelenskyy never studied history; or he would have learned from Napoleon's and Hitler's failures."
Learned what?
At least Ukraine has finally given the Russian troops something to fight for by their continuous attacks on the motherland.
That is what needs to be learned.
russian war infrastructure can no longer produce armaments fast enough, which is why putin is in china.
bccrane is correct- never fuck with Mother Russia.
Russian soldiers might not care about dying trying to take Ukraine; but defending Mother Russia is a completely different matter.
So, Sergei Shoigu is moving into Putin's inner circle. Does this place Shoigu in the line of succession? The move certainly doesn't garner any hope for a quick end to the war in Ukraine.
The battlefield results definitely reveals how little support Europe has been providing Kiev. Without United States weapons and munitions, the Ukrainians are forced to retreat. The rest of NATO isn't even providing sufficient support to allow Kiev to hold its ground.
What I have never understood from the battlefield reporting is how Kiev has experienced so few casualties attacking fortified Russian defensive positions. The lesson of Stalingrad is to fight from a defensive position. Russians may be noted for their scorched earth attacks but those attacks aren't a blitzkrieg. When Russians begin using shovels then that's a sign that they're there to stay.
What I see is happening is the Russians make a push and take over some territory, then the Ukrainians have a "counterattack" and retake the same territory and we're all like "Yay for our side" and making the claim that Russia can be taken, but all that has happened is now the Ukrainians are now fighting from a territory that has no infrastructure, food, water, power, shelter and Russia digs in and lets those conditions eliminate some of the Ukrainians and the Ukrainians also use up their munitions in the process without really gaining anything.
Well, we are only seeing what the unbiased liberal press wants us to see.
Ukrainians must counterattack very quickly after losing ground. Otherwise Russians begin preparing fortified defensive positions. Driving Russians from defensive positions requires expending a huge amount of ordinance. And a counteroffensive against defensive positions will result in a large number of Ukrainian casualties unless the Russians are deliberately trying to avoid that (which seems unlikely).
The scorched earth tactics deprives both sides of infrastructure, food, water, power, shelter, etc. Russians are occupying those scorched objectives. The advantage for the attacking Russians is there aren't any civilians to contend with.
Russians that remain loyal to Putin get kicked upstairs. Russians that aren't get thrown out of upstairs windows.
Same as any dictator would do.
I am not sure why anyone finds it surprising?
Xi and China does the same thing. His opponents get sent to reeducation camps, forcefully retired, or just flat out vanish.
Do you know someone who finds it surprising?