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Gerasimov’s reassignment points to an upcoming major Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
A former US Marine Corps intelligence officer has not only warned that Russia is escalating its special military operation in Ukraine, but that this will result in “a slaughter, a massacre” for Ukraine. His statement comes as a lot of speculation is circulating following the appointment of Valery Gerasimov as commander of the overall Ukraine campaign, with the pre-eminent idea being that there was a “reshuffle”.
Russia’s Defence Ministry announced on January 11 a realignment of the commanders leading the war in Ukraine, with General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, becoming the overall commander of the campaign. The former commander, Sergey Surovikin, is now one of his three deputies.
“The time has come where 300,000 reservists have been mobilised, trained, equipped. Russia is getting ready to change the nature of the conflict,” said Scott Ritter, a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm and in Iraq overseeing the disarmament of WMD’s.
Ritter said how the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are evidently preparing to expand the special military operation in Ukraine to a full war effort. From his experience, there has not been a great Russian failure, as Western media would have you believe, and rather, placing Gerasimov in his position is an indication that the military operation in Ukraine will expand.
The former intelligence officer believes that Russia will complete its demilitarisation and deNazification of Ukraine in 2023. Gerasimov having greater responsibilities is an indication of this.
“When Russia finishes this current military campaign, I believe the Ukrainian Army will be physically destroyed,” he said. “Tragically this means that tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are going to lose their lives. This is going to be a slaughter, a massacre, but they opted for this so they pay the price.”
He also warned that there will likely be a “dedicated Strategic Air Campaign” with the aim of destroying Ukraine so-much-so that “there will be no viable functioning nation.” Ritter explained that this will force the final collapse of the Zelensky regime and allow a new government to come to power and accept surrender.
However, for the next phase of the expanded campaign to be a success, someone of Gerasimov’s experience is most suitable as he will contribute to improving the effectiveness of decision-making and coordinating the actions of the Russian armed forces in the combat zone and their provision of equipment.
Although Russia already had a commander, his authority did not cover the full range of tasks necessary for the military operation to be successful. With Russia evidently preparing for a major offensive, many issues need to be resolved, and quickly, such as the effective supply of arms and equipment to troops, the evacuation of the wounded, and others.
It is recalled that the commander of the Air Force, Army General Sergey Surovikin, who was appointed as the commander of the Ukraine military operation in October 2022, was only responsible for the units that were directly on the front lines of the fighting. However, some military units involved in combat operations, mainly aviation and the Navy, were located outside the area of the operation, which caused some problems in coordinating decisions and synchronising actions.
Now, Gerasimov will be on the ground among his soldiers on the front line. In modern warfare, the physical presence of the highest-ranking military office on the battlefield is exceptional, especially given the hybrid nature of modern conflicts which empowers advanced technology. None-the-less, technology cannot completely replace troops on the ground, and the presence of Gerasimov will surely be a massive morale boost.
As Gerasimov will have more leverage to ensure a better coordination of Russian air, land and naval forces against the Ukrainian military, it can be safely assumed that there will be an intensification of the conflict, likely in the springtime. This also aligns with Ritter’s belief that the total destruction of the Ukrainian state is an inevitable eventuality in 2023.
It is for this reason that only weeks before the first anniversary of the military operation, the West is scrambling to send a flurry of offensive armoured vehicles and other equipment to the Ukrainian military, even though there were initial fears on how Russia would react. Unfortunately for the West though, the war in Ukraine has reached a phase where all new equipment is quickly being turned into scrap metal.
Now, the current situation is about to become even more difficult for Ukraine with the reassignment of Valery Gerasimov.
IMPORTANT NEWS ZELENSKY FLED TO POLAND!
He’s always been in Poland, they’ve created a copy of Kiev’s office in Poland, along with green screens and all.
All the defense lines of the Nazis is falling apart. Elensky is running out of cannon fodder.
Ukraine is losing 70 – 80% of its forces in intense engagements with Russian forces. They have lost most of their experienced soldiers already. The gives Ukraine a huge problem as more weapons especially tanks will not be very efficiently used with green soldiers supporting them. The reality the war is being fought out to the last Ukrainian and that the death rate of Ukrainians will accelerate in tandem with tank additions.
NATO does not care how many Ukrainians die in this senseless proxy war. Think about the depopulation nature of the Great Reset and it’s green warfare character being deployed to slaughter entire populations just like imperial wars of the past. Believe it when you are told about these synarchists with their malthusian mindset and genocidal tendencies.
Guenon’s synarchism is not the same with these Malthusian pricks.
Russia needs to up its game. 300,000 reservists getting trained is not enough. Russia needs a million plus soldiers to win this war decisively.
Yeah, the shit is about to hit the fan, but there is a lot of rubbish to read if you want to, everywhere.
Winter offensive, well, it seems that the winning formula is already working, cuting up the deffencess, slipping thru and with max firepower able to inflict substasial damages and with an nedle of combined forces it, works and RF have whatever they need to overcome obstacles, and to focus on one, like winter should be an display of ignorance.
The ancient water analogy about warfare, is right now, perfectly executed.
Unfortunately for the West though, the war in Ukraine has reached a phase where all new equipment is quickly being turned into scrap metal…. This is beautiful coming right out of one of the yankee’s sons mouth..
I suggest they start this slaughter soon, its a very mild winter so far.
Things like roads, rail yards, power stations, warehouses, and so forth tend to stay in one place, and once the russian army knows where it is, then they can drop flaming shirtballs on it for a day or so and make it not worth anything anymore. If they do that enough then the ukraine will become uninhabitable and generally a bad place to be, and all the people will leave. Zelensky needs to do what’s right for his people and what’s left of his military and formally surrender on their behalf to russian authorities and cause his military to stack arms by the roadside and wait to be picked up by a russian army convoy. While they still have a road.
Russia will go all-in, while NATO, hardly even pretending it‘s not at war, throws in what they csn quickly spare. It would be fair to say that Russia too will suffer substantial losses. However, I agree that a massive offensive with combined forces would accelerate the campaign and hence reduce losses.
Russia should nuke Poland, this will create buffer zone and send strong signal to other western criminals to back off
Every week we hear “the end is soon”” , each week disappoints.
Lets see if the comedian eats his tie.
There was no real reorganization of Russian command.
Surovikin has reported to Gerasimov since his assignment in the SMO.
Gerasimov was running the SMO from his position in the Stavka, with Surovikin and the other 2 commanders independently reporting to Gerasimov via High Command communications.
The chain of command has been restructured, with Gerasimov becoming the theater commander and Surovikin placed directly under him. Surovikin retains the same responsibilities and, along with the 2 other SMO generals, this places ALL SMO leadership staff under the same command.
Now all SMO command staff reports directly to Gerasimov, streamlining operational, logistical, supply, intelligence, air/aerospace, sea and land forces under a single command.
That includes SpecOps and Wagner.
Scott Ritter and Douglas MacGregor are the only real truth in Western Media, keep up the great work Fellas.
After January 20th escalation I expect western targets, both military and civil, hit by Russians simultaneously with their offensive on the ground.
Intelligence is in need
Yes Ukraine loses more than one thousand soldiers a day according to BND news. And Russia has even not sended its trained reinforcements to Ukraine.
Yes, unfortunately nothing but the total destruction of the Ukrainian “maidan” state will solve the issue. Since the Merkle, Hollande admission regarding the Minsk accords, no negotiation is possible due to a complete lack of trust.
The new armament talks in Ramstein are aimed to protect Ukraine defense lines with new equipment. Western media are telling stories about a reconquest of territories.
In my opinion zthe deliveries only lead to another stalemate and makes it necessary for Russia to gain control over the West boarders of Ukraine to avoid new deliveries. This turns out to get a full scale war against NATO in Ukraine. Really mad news.
the trolls are out in force here. Wow.
The ukrop nazi piss are finished. Soldar, Bahkmut are the opening floodgates. Now the real slaughter begins
I don’t fully agree with the article. And I find that on this site, there is something that you never explain, and which is fundamental. Even if the West knows that Ukraine will lose. Even if the West sends too heavy tanks which are unsuitable to be useful, because too heavy for the weight standards of the bridges and roads of Ukraine which are about 46 tons. The West does it and continues. Because what the West wants is to indebt the Ukraine which will NEVER be able to pay for these armaments. Ukraine is bought in ‘spare parts’ by the West in exchange for this military ‘aid’. That’s why the West sends so many weapons, which will not change anything. The West has gone too far. And he desperately needs to win to save his bet, like in poker. If Russia wins, the West will lose everything, because it will not get its money back, exploiting the agricultural and mining resources of rich Ukraine.
The west doesn’t even care about the money they’ll just print more
If the bridges over the Dniepr river and airfields next to front, eg Poltava, are left intact, failure looms for any expanded Russian military ops.
The Egyptian analyst forget that figures of equipment and soldiers don’t war, but strategy does.
During the 7 days war, Israel made good strategic decisions. They were dwarfed by figures from the opposition.