Friday, March 29, 2024

How US Intelligence is Helping Ukraine Kill Russian Generals

-

ANALYSIS – I have written about how the staggering number of Russian generals killed in combat in  is a big deal. Some have argued that Russian brigadier generals are more akin to NATO colonels, hence not as significant and that their doctrine relies on ‘leading from the front.'

This is especially true since they can't rely on their junior officers and noncommissioned troops.

However, to me, this still could not explain the number of senior commanders killed in only a few weeks of fighting – now reportedly up to 12. Especially since there has been no information of any Ukrainian commanders of that rank being lost under the massive Russian onslaught.

Previously I noted how the Ukrainians were specifically targeting Russian command posts and the generals themselves as part of a special mission set and objective to decapitate the Russian command leadership on the ground.

I explained that:

A dedicated team of Ukrainian military intelligence special operations forces has been tasked with specifically locating and targeting 's officer class, according to a person in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's inner circle.

“They look for high profile generals, pilots, artillery commanders,” said the person. “They have all their details, names, army numbers,” adding that the officers were then targeted either with sniper fire or artillery.

This was aided by Russia's poor tactics, as well as communications and operational security, with Russian generals often leaving themselves exposed to electronic eavesdropping by speaking over unsecured phones and radios. As The New York Times (NYT) reports:

“It shows poor discipline, lack of experience, arrogance and failure to appreciate Ukrainian capabilities,” said Frederick B. Hodges, the former top U.S. Army commander in Europe who is now with the Center for European Policy Analysis. “It is not hard to geo-locate someone on a phone talking in the clear.”

But now we are getting a fuller picture of this effort. And U.S. intel is a part of it.

The NYT is noting that:

The has provided intelligence about Russian units that has allowed Ukrainians to target and kill many of the Russian generals who have died in action in the Ukraine war, according to senior American officials.

The NYT added that the targeting help is part of a classified U.S. effort to give Ukraine real-time battlefield intelligence, noting that:

That intelligence also includes anticipated Russian troop movements gleaned from recent American assessments of Moscow's secret battle plan for the fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the officials said.

It continues:

U.S. intelligence support to the Ukrainians has had a decisive effect on the battlefield, confirming targets identified by the Ukrainian military and pointing it to new targets. The flow of actionable intelligence on the movement of Russian troops that America has given Ukraine has few precedents.

How is the Agency doing this? The NYT writes:

American officials would not describe how they have acquired information on Russian troop headquarters, for fear of endangering their methods of collection. But throughout the war, the U.S. intelligence agencies have used a variety of sources, including classified and commercial satellites, to trace Russian troop movements.

In response to this news report, Adrienne Watson, a National Security Council spokeswoman, said that battlefield intelligence provided to the Ukrainians wasn't given “with the intent to kill Russian generals.” Other U.S. officials also said the United States does not provide intelligence about the most senior Russian leaders.

And according to multiple U.S. officials, not all Ukrainian strikes on Russian commanders have been carried out with American intelligence.

A recent strike in eastern Ukraine where Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Russia's highest-ranking uniformed officer, was reportedly injured, was done without U.S. intel, for example. But American intelligence was critical in the deaths of other Russian generals, officials admit.

And this effort is aided by new surgical strike weapons such as the smaller version of the Switchblade drone I have written about, being sent to Ukraine, that with real-time intelligence, can identify and kill individual soldiers, like a Russian general sitting in a vehicle or barking orders on the front lines.

Expect many more Russian senior officers killed as this horrific Putin war against Ukraine drags on.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

Paul Crespo
Paul Crespohttps://paulcrespo.com/
Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Liberty Defense News. As a Marine Corps officer, he led Marines, served aboard ships in the Pacific and jumped from helicopters and airplanes. He was also a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide. He later ran for office, taught political science, wrote for a major newspaper and had his own radio show. A graduate of Georgetown, London and Cambridge universities, he brings decades of experience and insight to the issues that most threaten our American liberty – at home and from abroad.

3 COMMENTS

  1. This is information that the NYT should have kept to themselves. It can only get Putin even more upset over our aid to Ukraine.

  2. NATO-EU-NWO-USDOD-Soros-Biden-Schwab propaganda. The “Ghost of Kiev” stories for gullible cretins. The desperate bleating of a panic stricken animal. The Russians are winning methodically, they will win decisively and the bureaucratic horde of impotent parasites called NATO & the EU will freeze in the coming winter.

Comments are closed.

Latest News