U.S. Intelligence Is Helping Ukraine Kill Russian Generals, Officials Say

[Botany]

Source: NY Times

WASHINGTON — The United States 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.

Ukrainian officials said they have killed approximately 12 generals on the front lines, a number that has astonished military analysts.

The targeting help is part of a classified effort by the Biden administration to provide real-time battlefield intelligence to Ukraine. 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. Officials declined to specify how many generals had been killed as a result of U.S. assistance.

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Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III went so far as to say last month that “we want to see Russia weakened to the degree it cannot do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”

Asked about the intelligence being provided to the Ukrainians, John F. Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, said that “we will not speak to the details of that information.” But he acknowledged that the United States provides “Ukraine with information and intelligence that they can use to defend themselves.”



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/04/us/politics/russia-generals-killed-ukraine.html

[OneCrazyDiamond]

1. Good

Consider it retaliation for bounties on our soldiers in Afghanistan.

[Igel]

7. Link

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/remember-those-russian-bounties-dead-u-s-troops-biden-admin-n1264215

They still have not found any evidence, a senior defense official said Thursday. And the Biden administration also made clear in a fact sheet released Thursday that the CIA's intelligence on the matter is far from conclusive, acknowledging that analysts labeled it "low to moderate confidence."

[OneCrazyDiamond]

16. Jan Psaki covered why the low rating.

She also covered what they viewed at a high rating. Sounds exactly how Rissia would act.

[Evolve Dammit]

14. indeed

[ck4829]

2. I call it counter-terrorism

[Botany]

3. Please Gen Ivan pick up that phone

n/t

[Igel]

6. Call it removing "tactical ambiguity"

and eradicating plausible deniability.


Anonymous person feels more important by saying something that should not be said.

[Warpy]

4. Part of that is how boneheaded the Russian chain of command is

Generals are sent to the front to coordinate efforts instead of being kept in the rear with information passing up and down the chain of command freely. Enlisted soldiers and their version of the NCO are not listened to or the information is discounted or lower officers are simply afraid to pass bad news along. NCOs also lack any autonomy, they are unable to decide anything about getting a job done.

So the generals have to go to the front, in harm's way, if they're to know anything at all about how the war is going.

It then becomes fairly easy to pick them off.

Russia denies Garasimov was injured. Given his absence, I think he was. Oh, he'll be back. He knows it was a near miss, though.

[Clash City Rocker]

9. I've read that it's in part due to a communication issue

The story goes that Russia had developed a sophisticated encryption system for communication, but on invading, they knocked out Ukraine’s best wifi communication systems, making that encryption inoperable. As a result, they have to use insecure modes of communication, like walky talkies and landlines. So Ukraine knows where the generals are.

I don’t know if it’s true, but I like the notion of it, because it makes Putin look pretty dumb.

[Warpy]

11. That's how they poinpoint the locations

but having generals at the front, at all, is insanity to most military organizations.

And remember, the generals aren't the only officers getting picked off.

Russia has never trusted its own people. That is highly reflected in its military command structure.

[oldsoftie]

12. I read a pretty in depth story about that; you're right. They're stupid.

[Postal Grunt]

17. It's not landlines

The Russians resorted to using cell phones, oftentimes cell phones stolen from civilians. Ukrainian intelligence agencies can easily intercept the conversations.

[Itchinjim]

5. Don't put bounties on our soldiers, Vlad.

Or meddle our elections

[OverBurn]

8. Being a Russian General seems to the most dangerous job on earth. Keep up the good work!

[oldsoftie]

10. WHY DO WE TELL EVERYONE WHAT WE'RE DOING?!?!?!

Jeeze things are called "secrets" for a reason.

[Botany]

13. "plausible deniability"

Asked about the intelligence being provided to the Ukrainians, John F. Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, said that “we will not speak to the details of that information.” But he acknowledged that the United States provides “Ukraine with information and intelligence that they can use to defend themselves.”

After this article published, Adrienne Watson, a National Security Council spokeswoman, said in a statement that the battlefield intelligence was not provided to the Ukrainians “with the intent to kill Russian generals.”

Not all the strikes have been carried out with American intelligence. A strike over the weekend at a location in eastern Ukraine where Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, had visited was not aided by American intelligence, according to multiple U.S. officials. The United States prohibits itself from providing intelligence about the most senior Russian leaders, officials said.

[brooklynite]

15. UPDATE: "Pentagon denies U.S. is providing Ukraine intel to kill Russian generals"

The Pentagon denied Thursday that the U.S. has shared intelligence with Ukraine with the intent of targeting and killing senior Russian military leaders, stressing that the goal of U.S. intelligence is simply to allow Ukrainian forces to defend themselves against Russia's invasion.

Why it matters: The New York Times published a report Wednesday suggesting that U.S. intelligence-sharing has played a key role in the death of "many" of the Russian generals who have been killed in action during the war.

Ukrainian officials claim their forces have killed at least 12 Russian generals — a an attrition rate that has exceeded the pace of senior commanders killed during Russian or Soviet campaigns in Syria, Chechnya and Afghanistan.

The U.S. sharing specific, real-time targeting intelligence with Ukraine would be seen as highly provocative in Moscow and have "few precedents," according to the Times.

https://www.axios.com/2022/05/05/ukraine-us-intelligence-russian-generals

[GB_RN]

19. Of Course They'll Deny It.

No way they'll admit to helping deliberately target their generals. That would be inviting huge political and military consequences at some point.

However, if they actually ARE doing it (and I suspect they are/were), as I said below, I wonder if it's payback for the bounties Vlad the Impaler was paying out to the Taliboneheads for each of our soldiers they killed.

[GB_RN]

18. I Wonder If This Is In Part, Payback...

For the bounties Russia/Putin was paying the Taliboneheads for our soldiers in Afghanistan.

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. I know I'm an anti-war and anti-violence, but this still makes me giggle. Fucking terrorists.

it's really hard to keep the non-violent stance when it comes to terrorists and other evil shits.

I find myself not mourning a single one of those generals or other officers. I mourn the deaths of the rank and file soldiers, because they're being suckered into this pit of evil, but then they also rape and pillage and slaughter, and they're targeting civilians, so maybe just to hell with all of them.

[Botany]

21. I want every single Russian that is still fighting* in Ukraine be it in the Air, @ sea, or on the...

... ground to be dead or wounded to the point they can no longer fight. And most of all I hope some Russian
or a group of Russians do what is needed to be done to Putin.

* If they surrender or walk away then let 'em live. I also want the air and missile bases in Russia and
Belarus hit too.