Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine without a commander-in-chief. Fatal mistake, as it turns out. He repeatedly tried to correct this mistake, but he only made everything worse, according to the analyzes of the American think tank “Institute for the Study of War” (ISW).
The Russian president allowed his military to invade the neighboring country in February of last year without a clear chain of command. He was reluctant to appoint a general commander of the armed forces. And from that moment on, he tried several times to correct this mistake, each time weakening the command structures of the Russian army. This is what the news website of the German “Focus” magazine writes, based on the latest report issued by “ISW”.
Initially, Putin wanted to portray himself as the supreme commander and mastermind of the invasion of Ukraine, according to military experts at the ISW. Russian military plans that fell into Ukrainian hands showed that the Kremlin expected to take Kiev within days. Then Putin could put feathers on his hat.
According to military analysts, he probably didn’t want a quick success to be attributed to a military leader – but he did. This happened, for example, to Joseph Stalin in World War II. He envied the exploits and fame of Soviet General Georgy Zhukov.
As with Stalin, a lack of military experience may have contributed to Putin’s decision not to immediately appoint a commander-in-chief, ISW experts say. Try several times to correct this decision. For example, the notorious generals Alexander Dvornikov (“Slaughter of Syria”) and Sergey Surovikin (“General Armageddon”) had to give way to General Valery Gerasimov, who would eventually successfully end the invasion.
look. This is the new leader of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
But so far, none of the appointed leaders has been able to turn the tide for a long time, because even Putin’s most successful hard-liners during the war in Syria have not achieved any special successes in Ukraine. As the ISW military experts point out, the constant replacement of the Army’s leadership makes it more difficult to wage a successful war.
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