Russia is on Track to Lose the Majority of its Generals in Ukraine if it Doesn't Withdraw

     Thus far, seven Russian generals have been killed in a month of warfare in Ukraine. The first to die was Andrey Sukhovetsky, a major general who participated in the atrocities in Syria, Georgia, and Crimea before being killed on February28th, 2022, just four days after the invasion began. Then there was Major General Oleg Mityaev, who was shot by a sniper during the Battle of Mariupol. As a bisexual man, the most personally satisfying was the death of Magomed Tushayev, a general who led the murder, beatings, torture, and internment of LGBT2SQIA+ people in Chechnya and died at Antonov International Airport. Andrei Mordvichev, a lieutenant general, was the most powerful general killed when he was struck in an airfield in Chornobayivka in Kherson. Major General Vitaly Gerasimov was killed during the Battle of Kharkiv. Andrei Kolesnikov was another major general that NATO confirmed had been killed by Ukrainian forces in March 2022. Finally, there was Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev, another general of the highest rank who lied to his troops by telling them the conflict would be over in "hours."

     That stacks up to seven generals: two lieutenant generals and five major generals. It is unknown how many lieutenant generals were sent to supervise the Russo-Ukrainian War, but Russia itself stated that 20 major generals. At that rate, the number of lieutenant generals in Russia can be placed at around eight, bringing the total number of generals in Russia to 28. Seven have been killed in one month, amounting to one in four generals sent to Ukraine. Western sources have been skeptical each time a general has been reported dead, yet each time these reports have subsequently been confirmed. This is a rate of death that generals, who are generally safer from being killed in battle, have not experienced in any modern conflict, or, as a matter of fact, in any conflict since World War II. It dwarfs the losses that Russia experienced in Chechnya, Syria, Georgia, and Crimea.

     Generals aren't the only ones dying quickly. Dozens of colonels and other officers have been killed in combat, including one of the former who was run over by a tank by his own men after half of their unit was killed in action. (As somebody who has covered armed conflict for a long time, I can tell you that it is as horrible a way to die as it sounds, your legs being crushed and your innards forced upwards to the point that your brain comes out of your head.) This news comes just days after the revelation that 40,000 Russians have been killed, captured, wounded, or surrendered since the invasion began, representing about 25 percent of the total invasion force. Generals may be being killed rather than injured or captured, but they are being lost at roughly the same rate as their men.

     I am heartened to hear of the peace talks being held in Turkey. Russia has ruled out nuclear weapons, reduced shelling around Kyiv, said it no longer wants to "demilitarize" Ukraine, and said it would not retaliate if Ukraine joined the European Union. My recommendation is this: if Ukraine wishes to forgo NATO for peace, the United States and her allies are prepared to fill in that void. If President Zelenskyy wishes to allow a referendum on Luhansk and Donetsk, it, as well as Ukraine's decision on NATO, must be made by public opinion of the people of Ukraine. On Crimea: it should be agreed that a diplomatic solution must be found, but that said negotiations should be unrelated to the Russo-Ukrainian War. Any lifting of sanctions must be conditioned on the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

     The bottom line is this: right now, Russia has a lot to lose, and, right now, it is losing. Ukraine has wiped out 40,000 troops, including seven generals, each of whom was a legend in his own right to the people of Russia. Putin sent generals to boot morale, and instead he has achieved the opposite. Russian men have nothing to fight for but tyrannical aggression; the people of Ukraine are fighting for freedom itself. If Russia wants any chance of this being anything but a death blow to the entirety of the country, it should make peace in Turkey this week.