Fuming Putin fires 8 generals over ‘clusterf**k’ Ukraine invasion: Report

A fuming Vladimir Putin has fired eight Russian generals over Moscow’s military losses in the botched invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities claimed on Thursday.

“[The enemy] had about 8 generals removed from their posts because they did not complete the task. New ones have been appointed,” Ukraine’s defence secretary Oleksiy Danilov was quoted as saying on Ukrainian television by newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda.

“We clearly understand what is happening in the Russian Federation. What’s more, I can tell they’re desperate,” Danilov further said on television as per the newspaper report.

Also read | No Ukrainian combat position? Russia now denies airstrike on Mariupol maternity ward

Danilov’s comments came as the Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its 15th day, and losses continued to rise on both sides.

Despite its superior military might, Russia has thus far not been able to gain control of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, nor other major cities such as Odessa and Mariupol, and many on the Russian side reportedly believe that the invasion has been a complete disaster.

Also read | Watch | Ukrainian forces ambush and destroy Russian tank convoy near Kyiv

Indeed, according to a March 1 report by independent Russian journalist Farida Rustamova, senior officials in Kremlin were already describing the situation in Ukraine as a complete “clusterf**k” after the death of several Russian generals at the hands of Ukrainian forces a week into the invasion.

“They’re carefully enunciating the word clusterf**k,” read a translated version of Rustamova’s report that cited Kremlin insiders.

Also read | UK echoes US fears that Russia may use chemical weapons in Ukraine

Rustamova, a former BBC and TV Rain journalist, also claimed that “the attitude toward the war within the corridors of power [in Moscow] is ambiguous.”

“Many of them are discouraged, frightened, and are making apocalyptic forecasts,” the journalist further wrote on March 1, claiming that some members of the Russian assembly were considering tendering their resignation in light of Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

As for the Russian President himself, Rustamova quoted a Kremlin source as saying, “He is in a state of being offended and insulted. It’s paranoia that has reached the point of absurdity.”