Yakov Rezantsev, who boasted that the war in Ukraine would end within hours, has become the seventh Russian general to die in the war that has been ongoing since February 24.
On the fourth day of the invasion, Rezantsev told Russian soldiers that their campaign to "disarm" Ukraine would achieve victory in a matter of hours, according to intercepted communications by the Ukrainian army. Rezantsev was the commander of the 49th Combined Arms Army in the Southern Military District, based in the city of Stavropol, approximately 300 miles from the Ukrainian border. He was killed in a Ukrainian strike on an airport near the city of Kherson, north of the Crimean Peninsula.
The Ukrainian security service shared a call between a frustrated Russian soldier and his commander on social media earlier last week. In the conversation, the soldier painted a bleak picture of life on the front lines, noting that his unit had come under friendly fire. He stated, "Rezantsev is responsible here; we have only met him once since our arrival, four days after the invasion. Do you know what he told us? He said it would take us hours to complete this operation. Well, we are still counting those hours."
**Pressure on Generals**
In an attempt to bolster the morale of Russian troops, generals have faced pressure to engage on the front lines, exposing them to the risks of Ukrainian ambushes, according to Western officials. Seven Russian generals have been killed, including six from the Russian army and one from Chechen special forces. Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed General Vladislav Yershov and placed him under house arrest.
The United States has been unable to determine whether Russia appointed a single commander to oversee the invasion, with defense experts noting that the chaos in the Russian offensive is due to a lack of clear leadership.
**Rumors**
Rumors have circulated that Putin is frustrated with the progress of the war, leading Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu to briefly appear on Russian state television on Thursday after being absent for about two weeks. General Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, has not been seen at all during this period.
Colonel Sergey Rudskoy, Gerasimov's deputy, spoke of a radical change in tactics, explaining that Russian forces would focus on securing the eastern Donbas region, paving the way for a Russian withdrawal from Kyiv.
In another indication of turmoil within the Kremlin, the Pentagon announced that it had been unable to reach Shoigu and Gerasimov since the beginning of the war. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby revealed that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley had been unable to speak to their Russian counterparts through usual diplomatic channels.
The Ministry of Defense identified six senior leaders responsible for overseeing different regions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: Colonel General Alexander Lapin, Colonel Alexander Chayko, Colonel General Alexander Dvornikov, Colonel Alexander Zhuravlyov, Colonel Andrei Serdyukov, and General Sergey Surovikin. All six have witnessed battles in Syria, where the Russian military intervened to prevent rebels from taking control of the country.
