General Syrsky Takes Charge And Ukraine Continues To Falter

The leadership shakeup in Kiev, with President Zelensky giving he boot to General Zaluzhny and promoting General Syrsky to the top military slot, has not changed the dire situation the Ukrainian Army faces on the Donbass front. If anything, it has made matters worse. General Syrsky, who is known derisively among Ukrainian troops as “The Butcher,” seems intent on living up to his reputation as a leader who is careless with the lives of this troops.

One of his first moves was to move four Ukrainian brigades from the Kharkiv region to Avdeevka. Initial reports today indicate that did not go well:

There has reportedly been a mass casualty event In town of Selidovo where Russian iskander and reportedly cluster munitions from smerch devastated an AFU training ground. Some sources are saying ~600 casualties but number that is completely unconfirmed and subject to review. This estimate comes from the accompanying reports that hospitals beds in Dnepropetrovsk have been completely filled.

Ex-deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Igor Mosiychuk confirmed arrivals. It is also being widely discussed in Ukrainian telegrams. . . .

“In the Selidovo area, traffic has been restricted; in the next 24 hours, the dead will be removed from the landfill. The SBU began searching for gunners among the locals who could help strike a concentration of enemy manpower at the training ground, which was hit by several missile strikes. The death toll is in the dozens.”

Selidovo is located just west of Donetsk. Meanwhile, Russian forces attacking Avdeevka are encircling Ukrainian units and have cut the major supply route in and out of the city.

Russian forces also captured two Ukrainian strongpoints just north of Ivanivkse and south of the cemetery. This gives Russian troops control of the high ground and puts them in position to move on Chasov Yar.

Here you can see General Syrsky describe the peril.

It is not just Syrsky reporting bad news. A French correspondent on the ground shared her perspective.

Biden’s fruitless effort to wrangle an additional $61 billion dollars out of Congress to send to Ukraine will not change Ukraine’s tactical disadvantage. Ukraine lacks the critical resource required to sustain the war — a well-trained cadre of soldiers. Russia’s successful strike on Selidovo is a brutal reminder that anytime Ukraine assembles a large group of soldiers (or trainees) they can be hit and decimated.

Syrsky is reported to be sending more of his best troops towards Avdeevka. If true, he is living up to his reputation as “General Butcher.” Those soldiers are likely to chewed up by the Russian grinding offensive. And the death of every experienced soldier puts Ukraine further into a hole that it cannot climb out of.

Russian war correspondent Marat Kharullin provides an excellent summary of the effect of the command shake up on the front line Ukrainian troops:

In general, information has been coming from the other side about the repressions of the SBU against the senior command staff. According to unofficial information, since the beginning of the year, 6 commanders of the Ukrop brigades have disappeared in the dungeons of the SBU. Nobody knows what happened to them. There is only one crime – abandoning positions. And it doesn’t matter that the Ukies simply can’t hold them back anymore – they can’t retreat, period. In any case, you will be killed either on the front line or by your own during the retreat.

In this context, the story of Syrsky’s appointment is very interesting. Obviously, it happened under pressure. I have already written that Zelensky’s overseas masters trust this character the least. First of all, because he has great connections with Russia (parents, classmates, colleagues, etc.). And in order to achieve his absolute loyalty, the Zelensky regime is actually holding Syrsky’s family hostage (they are kept locked up in a special gated community).

The appointment of Syrsky instead of Zaluzhny occurred against the will of Zelensky’s overseas masters – this means that they actually gave up on him (do what you want, we don’t care anymore).
Zelensky, in turn, believes that Syrsky will continue to fulfill his wishes unquestioningly – control over Syrsky’s family is enough. However, Zelensky forgets that, to put it mildly, people do not like blackmailers and, as soon as the opportunity arises, they take revenge.

But let’s return to the original thesis. The past week clearly showed that the Ukies are increasingly losing control over what is happening on the battlefield. Apparently, the commanders are simply afraid to report the real situation to the top, since this could threaten them with arrest or even execution. That is, the monster began to devour itself.

This is exactly what we will now see in the northern direction from Kupyansk to Artemovsk – the Ukies officially continue to “not see” the advance of our troops in most of the directions that I will talk about today.

And one more important point: the past week demonstrated how excellently our commanders are able to maneuver, constantly changing directions of attack. By striking where Ukrainians do not expect.

I hope the U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (no relation to me) holds the line and does not waste American taxpayer dollars on a lost cause.