Putin cleared out the “Syrian butcher”? The commander of the Russian army in Ukraine disappeared from the front

The Kremlin continues to clean up the ranks of the military command after the failures in Ukraine. Russian General Alexander Dvornikov, who was given command of the war on Ukrainian territory in April, has not been at the front for two weeks, according to The New York Times.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed a new commander, General Alexander Dvornikov, in April, in what many saw as recognition that Russia’s original military plan had failed.

Shortly after his appointment, General Dvornikov tried to get disparate air and ground units to coordinate their attacks, according to US officials. But he has not been seen for the past two weeks, leading some officials to wonder if he is still in charge of the war effort.

In the first weeks of the war, Russia conducted its military campaign from Moscow, and there was no central military commander on the ground who could command. In early April, after Russia’s logistical and morale problems became apparent, Putin assigned General Dvornikov to lead orderly military operations.

General Dvornikov began his career as a platoon leader in 1982 and later fought in Russia’s brutal second war in Chechnya. Moscow also sent him to Syria, where forces under his command were accused of targeting civilians.

In Ukraine, he established a more orderly process. Russian pilots began to coordinate with ground troops to achieve a similar goal in the eastern region of Donbass, and Russian units discussed common goals with each other.

However, these measures failed to change the nature of the Russian military, said Frederick Kagan, senior fellow and director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. According to him, the shortcomings of the Russian armed forces are deep and fundamental.

What is wrong with the Russian army

It is noted that the Russian armed forces follow a Soviet-style doctrinal method, according to which grassroots troops are not authorized to point out shortcomings in the strategy that should be obvious, or to make adjustments. According to the US military, Ukrainians, after seven years of training, along with military personnel from the US and other NATO countries, follow a more Western method and have shown particular flexibility in adapting to circumstances.

According to General Breedlove, the two-week combat pause after the Russian military abandoned the fight for Kyiv was not enough to turn the tide of the campaign, even with a more limited goal. When General Dvornikov took control, “the forces were thrown into battle too quickly. This decision probably came from Moscow.”

The Russian military, shattered and demoralized after three months of war, is making the same mistakes in its campaign to seize parts of eastern Ukraine that forced them to abandon their quest to take over the entire country.

A Pentagon spokesman said their “slow and forward” pace had worn them out and that the overall combat strength of the military had been reduced by about 20 percent. And since the war began, Russia has lost 1,000 tanks, a senior Pentagon official said last week.

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