Ukraine mocks Putin for firing military commanders due to battle failures

THE Ukrainian military has today mocked Russian President Vladimir Putin for firing military commanders deemed to have failed in delivering victories in battles carried out in Ukraine since February 24.

On Tuesday, May 17, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence took shots at Russia and said that Putin’s decision to sack his top commanders due to military setbacks in Ukraine was a reason for optimism.

“During the Russian-Ukrainian war, none of the strategic tasks announced by Putin ahead of the invasion have been fulfilled by the Russian forces,” the MoD said on Facebook.

“Putin’s unprecedented and legendary army turned out to be a horde of murderers, looters and fear-mongers under the leadership of the ungrateful and evil-doers.

“In order to reduce the consequences of future political and criminal liability, the Kremlin authorities are trying to blame all the failures and injuries on the commanders of the occupying units and unions.”

On March 11, it was revealed that since the start of his ‘special operation’ in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin had fired eight of his generals.

According to Oleksiy Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s security council, at the time, Putin was rumoured to be livid over the slow advance on Kyiv by his military forces, coupled with the estimated high losses, which led to him wielding the axe on his commanders.

The Ukrainian MoD said that due to heavy losses of Russian troops and high-profile failures such as the sinking of Russia’s flagship missile cruiser Moskva, top commanders were sidelined, sacked and even arrested due to their incompetence.

“The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice-Admiral Igor Osipov, was sidelined and arrested for the ‘heroic loss’ of the pride of the Russian Black Sea Fleet missile cruiser Moskva, while investigations were also launched against his first deputy commander, Vice-Admiral Serhiy Pinchuk,” the ministry said.

“The unprecedented loss of personnel, equipment and military hardware saw the removal of Vladislav Yershov, who was in charge of the Russian Federal Security Service’s 100th Army, from office.

“For the same reasons, Lieutenant-General Sergey Kisel, commander of the first tank army of the Western Military District, was also dismissed.”

They added: “Major General Arkady Marzoyev was dismissed from his post as commander of the 22nd AC of the Eastern Military District in Crimea because of his failure to perform the assigned tasks and Colonel Mikhail Ponomariov, commander of the 103rd Brigade for Material and Technical Support, was also removed from his post.

“These showdowns have only served to spread distrust among the Putin’s soldiers towards their commanders. The leaders of Russia continue to malign the world with their incompetence and desire for self-improvement,” they concluded.

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