Ukraine War, 24 December 2024: Incompetent Generals & Forgotten Corners

Hello everybody!

They say something like that victories at war have lots of fathers, defeats none. In the case of Ukraine, the tragic matter of fact is that the fathers of defeat are as clearly defined as a diamond. What’s more: the same are meanwhile more busy with muddling the waters than with actually fighting the war. This is also what ‘provoked’ this (‘unplanned’) post today.

What’s the story, you might ask?

From my point of view, it all began back in mid-August 2024…

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1.) The Glavcom and his GenStab-U (i.e. ‘Syrsky & Buddies’) have ‘forgotten’ (whether literally or figuratively: that’s, actually, on them to explain) to help the 72nd Mechanised Brigade, ZSU, in Vuhledar.

The unit defended the ruined town for 1,5 years without respite.

Contrary to the situation from January 2023, though, as of August 2024 it was entirely abandoned by superior commanders. Literally left on its own, and had neither the necessary artillery support, nor was it properly resupplied with mines and ammunition. The command of the 72nd was demanding help for weeks, requesting to be replaced, at least demanding supplies and reinforcements: Syrsky & Buddies did nothing. Sure, they’ve ‘planned’ to send reinforcements to Vuhledar, to ‘replace’ the 72nd with the 59th Motorised….but, and actually: they didn’t even care to at least reinforce the flanks of Vuhledar, to take care the units there to receive the necessary mines, FPVs, and ammunition. Simply nothing happened.

When, finally, deciding to ‘do something’, Syrsky & Buddies have sent the 123rd Territorial Defence Brigade. A unit neither equipped nor trained for the task. What a surprise, as reported at the time, the 123rd fell apart: the mass of troops from its 186th, 187th, and 189th Battalions defected in protest; went protesting against incompetent generals. The disheartened CO 187th Battalion even committed a suicide…

Did Syrsky & Buddies draw any kind of lessons from this?

Nope. When the 72nd was then cut off and lost (what was left of) one of its battalions inside the town, or as this was forced to try breaching out towards north), Syrsky & Buddies began blaming Mariana Bezuhla, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, for ‘revealing’ to the public their (‘fantastic’) plan to replace the 72nd in Vuhledar, thus ‘informing’ the Russians when and where to attack…

Which, to express it diplomatically, is a stinking pile of moronic bu… erm… nonsense. Except Syrsky & Buddies are as dumb as to think the Russians didn’t know about the poor state of the 72nd, or were as incompetent as they have proven themselves to be, time and again, and thus are running no field reconnaissance, nor having clue about the importance of flank-protection - the situation was plain clear. Foremost: one can’t organise and then run such an assault like the Russians run on Vuhledar in a matter of minutes, hours, or even a few days, and then on basis of social-media reports.

Actually, and as written above: it was already in mid-August this year that the Keystone Cops in Moscow began deploying reinforcements in this sector and planning to assault. Only Syrsky & Buddies have missed this. Therefore, it’s de-facto certain that Syrsky & Buddies have ignored this ‘corner’ of the battlefield. They were so busy running the Kursk operation and micromanaging other sectors, that they have found no time and no resources to help the 72nd.

But then: nothing else can be expected from glorious generals (most have been decorated with the title ‘Hero of Ukraine’ by Zelensky) - that, in the third year of this war, can’t even organise local production of mines, not to talk about so many other, urgently necessary items…

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2.) Syrsky & Buddies’ performance during the ‘II Act’ of this drama was nothing better: following the fall of Vuhledar, they continued their practice of bolstering failures.

They’ve cobbled together a battalion from what troops were left of the 123rd Brigade, and deployed it to the area west of Vuhledar. Atop of that, they took the sole Mechanised Battalion from the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade (at the time, this unit was deployed in southern Zaporizhzhya), and deployed it between that ‘123rd Brigade’ and ZSU positions - meanwhile - north and west of Vuhledar.

I hope, readers have understanding that we can’t always reveal positions of ZSU-units the way they really are. In the case of this map drawn around 20-21 October: there was no 58th Brigade in the denoted area: actually, the Mechanised Battalion of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade was holding the line along the hedgerow stretching east-west, north of the blue square marking the ‘58th Brigade’, while the ‘123rd Territorial Defence Brigade’ - i.e. a battalion assembled from parts of its three battalions, was on its right/western flank, protecting southern approaches to Shakhtarske.

From afar - indeed: from their headquarters in Kyiv (and from monitoring different of ‘war maps’ widely available to you, estimated readers, in the social media) - that surely looked ‘fine’. In reality, not one of units now lined up along this sector of the frontline has received any mines, nor any FPVs, and all had to construct a new defence line on their own (without any kind of outside support). To ‘put the proverbial dot on i’, the HQ Khortsiya OSG - the level of command responsible for coordination of all these units - didn’t do anything at all to coordinate.

Why should the generals at that level care about doing their job, where nobody cared when they didn’t do their job over the last year? (BTW, making sure the HQ Khortsiya OSG is doing its job would’ve been the job of the commander, Ukrainian ground forces/army, and the commander ZSU…)

Result: following two weeks of careful field reconnaissance, the Russians assaulted the unprepared, untrained, and poorly equipped ‘123rd Brigade’ (read: one battalion cobbled together from three) in the Shakhtarske area, and - what a surprise - punched through, then drove into the back of the Mechanised Battalion of the 128th, and destroyed the same. Out of some 440 ZSU troops encircled this way, perhaps 150 came out alive, and they were short on literally everything: even the FPV-pilots and mortar-crews of that unit went down fighting the Russians with RPGs, assault rifles and hand-grenades…

What did Syrsky & Buddies do this time?

They’ve granted permission for release of ‘spectacular’ videos showing scattered tanks and positions of the 128th ‘blowing up the Russians’ - as these were actually cut off and desperately shooting at the Russians passing by and advancing into their rear. They didn’t explain to the public what happened: not a word about their own mistakes, negligence of duty and failures to command. They also did not send an intact brigade to the scene. Nope. As usually, they’ve reacted by ordering entirely pointless counterattacks ‘to restore lost positions’, while patching up the frontline by deploying ever additional disparate battalions from nearly a dozen of different brigades.

Can’t but conclude: one of ‘most amazing performances’ by Ukrainian generals at least since the times of the Battle of Bakhmut is that they all the time can’t stop complaining how they ‘do not have troops’ - when it’s about taking action on time.

However, they ‘do have troops’ - when it’s too late…?

Fascinating.

BTW, just like before this catastrophe, when the new defence line was established further north, neither the GenStab-U, nor the HQ Khortsiya OSG took care to supply units rushed to the scene with necessary mines and FPVs, nor to coordinate between them: whatever the battalions arriving to the new line south of the Sukhi Yaly River brought with them was what they could use to fight the assaulting Russians. Nothing else. Result was simple: all the battalions had to strictly curb their ammunition expenditure. So much so, most were limited to 4-10 artillery shells, perhaps 20 mortar bombs (if there were any), and 4-6 FPVs a day. And, as usually, it was on their commanders to coordinate. For example: abandoned by generals responsible for them, the survivors of the destroyed Mechanised Battalion of the 128th rallied and - in cooperation with what was left of the 72nd Mechanised - organised a new defence line between Maksymivka and Bohoyavlenka. It was nothing but a wonder (sure: enabled by lots of tactical incompetence on the part of the Russians) the same has ‘held’ for the next month….

Sure, the ZSU was ‘constructing a new defence line’ - but deep in their rear, further north (south of Kurakhove): not along the Sukhi Yaly River. Constructing a defence line along the Sukhi Yaly River had to be done by all the disparate battalions rushed to the scene. Moreover, and as meanwhile usual for this sector: that defence line was not protected by mines.

There were none - because three years into this war, Zelensky & Yermak, plus their Ministry of Defence, not to talk about Syrsky & Buddies - all still can’t organise production of mines in Ukraine…

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3.) The net result of the two failures by Syrsky & Buddies described above was that now the 79th Mechanised Brigade - the unit that was so highly successful in defending the area south of Mariinka for over a year - suddenly found not only its southern flank ‘naked’: even its rear was threatened by the Russian advance from the south. There was nothing to its right and the rear to keep it safe. Unsurprisingly, it had to withdraw ever further west: from Katerynivka to Illinka, from Ilinka to Romanivka, from Romanivka to Hannivka…

And because the 79th had to withdraw, the 33rd Mech - which was doing so well in the defence of the south-eastern approaches to Kurakhove - had to withdraw; and because the 33rd Mech had to withdraw, the 46th Airborne (which was defending Kurkakhove) had to withdraw, too (as described the last week)…

Simply perfect. Exactly along the - Russian - plan. What a surprise the conclusion is unavoidable that Syrsky & Buddies are convinced all the ‘red arrows’ on their maps are denoting their, not the Russian units…

What’s more: Syrsky & Buddies are so incompetent, they couldn’t even properly coordinate that withdrawal. About two weeks ago they did not inform the 79th Airborne that the 33rd Mech was forced to withdraw from Dalnje, and thus the Russians then cut off a battalion of the former by advancing from Dalnje in southern direction, on Uspenivka. It took an intervention of two other Ukrainian battalions to box the encircled battalion of the 79th out (right ‘blue arrow’ on the map below)…

Pay attention: Syrsky & Buddies did not even react. It was on local commanders to coordinate the operation to save the encircled battalion of the 79th. When the glorious generals did react was one week after all of this was happening - and then in form of blaming ‘journalists & social media’ for reporting the encirclement of ZSU troops in Hannivka and Uspenivka…

Free along the motto: if not reported on time, then this did not happen, and even if anything happened, it was not the generals who are in command, but somebody else to blame…

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4.) Now comes the ‘IV Act’…

As usual whenever incompetent generals are retained in their positions, there is no end of their incompetence: they just continue screwing up. And so, Syrsky & Buddies continued messing up at every opportunity. Sure, as reported about week ago, Syrsky did dismiss one of his buddies, but then the one who was screwing up the Pokrovsk area. However, he didn’t ‘dismiss himself’ - he didn’t quit, as he should have (and that already months ago): consequently, the practice of bolstering failures, and then lying to the ZSU and to the Ukrainian public (not to talk about Zelensky & Yermak) - was continued.

…with unavoidable results.

I’m sure many are going to stress it wasn’t Syrsky & Buddies to blame for the success of the Russian assault on Novy Komar, north of Velyka Novosilka, the last week. And, no doubt: one could even say it was simply a combination of good Russian planning and a weak-spot in the ZSU lines. However, cold fact is: it’s Syrsky who is in charge. He is not only in overall command of the ZSU, but also bearing responsibility for the outcome of his own actions, and actions of his subordinates.

….but, also: of his own inactions, mistakes, and failures.

Except for seizing Novy Komar, over the following days, the VKS has systematically destroyed all the bridges over the Mokry Yaly River: the river meandring (from around Volnovakha) in north/north-western direction, past Velyka Novosilka.

In this fashion, the Russians have cut off all the ZSU units deployed on the right/eastern bank of the Mokry Yaly River from Ukrainian-controlled territory west and north: those in Blahodatne and in Makarivka.

As next, the Russians assaulted and seized Blahodatne. With this - and as indicated in the introduction to the Donald’s Weekly from yesterday - they have cut off the ZSU units in the Makarivka area, too.

That happened already four days ago. And, sure: the ZSU unit in question has meanwhile managed to extricate itself to the Velyka Novosilka area - but: it had to leave behind lots of equipment and ammunition.

Moreover, and just like in almost every similar case of this kind in the last three months, Syrsky & Buddies were - and still are - reacting in exactly the same fashion like before. First they order (entirely pointless) ‘counterattacks to restore lost positions’, then they blame those who report about results of their own blunders and mistakes in the public. In this case, they’re blaming the DeepState, and St Peter and Paul, and whoever else… the situation escalated to the point where Yuriy Butusov attempted to ‘mediate’…

What’s the point?

The Glavcom/Syrsky & Buddies are lying when accusing the DeepState of reporting an encirclement of a ZSU unit in Makarivka. There might be none any more, but that doesn’t mean this was not the case just three or four days ago.

The DeepState might be responsible to itself and to the Ukrainian and foreign public, but it is NOT responsible to a bunch of incompetent generals. Like Butusov, it is certainly responsible - to Ukraine and its people - not to reveal ‘too much’ about the present-times situation. Unsurprisingly, it’s self-censoring and postponning the release of different information, time and again. However, the DeepState is not in command and control of the ZSU, and not in command and control of this battle: it is not due to its mistakes that ZSU troops were encircled in Vuhledar, then south-east of Shakhtarske, then in Hannivka and Uspenivka, and then in Makarivka. This all happened solely and exclusively due to the incompetence of Sirsky & Buddies.

Finally, the job of the team behind the DeepState’s social media presence is NOT to cover-up the incompetence and resulting failures of Sirsky & Buddies.

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I have pointed out - at least back in mid-October (see: Dreamland) - that Zelensky & Yermak, but especially Syrsky & Buddies must go. Regardless what are the relevant laws and regulations in Ukraine: they all have to quit their positions and be replaced. Right now. Immediately, and without any hesitance.

Perhaps my colleagues in Ukraine are not free to say it as clearly, but I am: their - that of Zelensky & Yermak, and that of Syrsky & Buddies - incompetence, their mistakes, and the utter chaos into which they’re throwing the entire ZSU are solely their. Nobody else’s. They are refusing to learn from their own mistakes, they are refusing to review their own actions, they are refusing to reform the country, its governance, and its armed forces, they are refusing even to admit their own mistakes and all the time blaming somebody else, and therefore: they are wrong in place. They are no ‘leaders’ but two gangs of incompetents lacking ideas and solutions (most of the time: they’re even unable of acting at all - before it’s too late).

They all must go. The sooner the better.

Exactly as ‘predicted’ (if you like), the urgency for replacement of both Zelensky & Yermak and Syrsky & Buddies is constantly growing. Because it is the people subjected to their command and control, the people for whom they are responsible, who are paying the ultimate price for their mistakes - while the characters in question can’t care less. Should there be doubts, then mind: since I’ve written and posted ‘Dreamland’, the ZSU has - just in the four above-mentioned cases - lost an equivalent of a fully-equipped mechanised brigade in troops and in equipment. Within two months. This is a situation in which no ‘aid from Western allies’ (however miserably insufficient) can help, and where it’s no ‘NATO’, nor ‘Poles’ or ‘Russians’, or ‘Korean War’ or whatever other sorts of nonsensical excuses I’ve heard the last weeks and moths, matter. This is also a rate of losses no armed force fighting under conditions under which the ZSU has to fight, can sustain.

This must stop, immediately, and once and for all - and the only way for it to stop is for those who are in charge to go. Immediately, and without any further excuses.