Boris Johnson, Canada’s Justin Trudeau and European commission president Ursula von der Leyen all mocked the Russian dictator as they sat down for discussions in Bavaria. In a reference to Putin’s notorious macho photo ops, they suggested doing some ‘bare chested horseback riding’ to show they were ‘tougher’ than him. The undiplomatic chat risks further inflaming tensions amid the standoff over Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Beast from the East! Panicking Putin ‘calls up OBESE 280lbs retired general, 67, to lead forces in Ukraine’ after ‘most of his best and battle-hardened senior commanders are killed’ in war
Putin has called an obese, 20-stone former general out of retirement to fight
General Pavel likes to eat five meals a day and wash it down with a litre of vodka
Overall commander of Russian forces in Ukraine also reported to be dismissed
The ‘Butcher of Aleppo’ will be replaced by a ‘corrupt and brutal’ general
Last week the commander of Russian airborne forces was reportedly sacked
Reports suggest between 11 and 14 Russian generals have been killed in action
Putin has called an obese general out of retirement to take command of forces in Ukraine after yet another round of purges of top commanders has left him ‘scraping the barrel’.
The 20 stone General Pavel, 67, has been summoned from his comfortable life in the Moscow suburbs and told to don his specially-made army fatigues and go to the front lines of eastern Ukraine.
He will now take charge of Russian special forces operating in the region after the unit’s former commander was seriously injured in an artillery strike.
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A veteran of the Soviet Union’s ill-fated invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s and a member of Russia‘s special forces, General Pavel has let himself go considerably since retirement five years ago.
He is understood to eat five meals a day and polish it all off with a litre of vodka. Since coming back to the service, he has had to have his uniform specially made and he needs to wear two sets of body armour to ensure his torso is protected.
A senior intelligence source last night told the Daily Star Sunday: ‘Putin is now scraping the barrel.
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General Pavel, 67 and 20 stone, has been called out of retirement by Vladimir Putin after yet another round of purges of top commanders has left him ‘scraping the barrel’
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Putin, pictured here during his meeting with Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko yesterday, has been firing commanders at an unprecedented rate and has been reduced to bringing unfit generals out of retirement to replace them
‘Most of his best and battle-hardened senior commanders have been killed or injured fighting in Ukraine so he is resorting to sending second rate officers to the front who don’t last very long.
‘Putin is like a mafia boss who no one can refuse to obey. If a retired general gets a message from Putin saying mother Russia needs you to fight in Ukraine there is not much you can do. There is now escape from Russia thanks to the sanctions.’
Despite capturing the key city of Severodonetsk yesterday, there have been reports that Putin has now sacked his number one general in Ukraine, ostensibly over the glacial pace of advance of the Russian army’s primary thrust to annex the Donbas.
The dismissal of Gen Alexander Dvornikov, rumoured to be a drunk and distrusted by his officers, would mark yet another major shake up of Putin’s command structure, and an expression of the dictator’s frustration with the state of his war in Ukraine, which he had supposed would be successfully over within four days.
Dvornikov, known as the ‘Butcher of Aleppo’ for his 2015 aerial destruction of Syria’s largest city which reduced it to a bombed out husk, would be the the seventh general Putin is reported to have sacked since the start of June, as well as losing as many as fourteen killed in action.
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Gen Alexander Dvornikov, known as the ‘Butcher of Aleppo’ for his 2015 aerial destruction of Syria’s largest city which reduced it to a bombed out husk, has reportedly been removed by Putin from overall command of Russian forces in Ukraine
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Dvornikov will reportedly be replaced by Colonel-General Sergei Surovikin (pictured left, receiving a medal from Putin) as commander of the SGF, as the army group encompasses the primary forces of the Russian army seeking to capture and occupy Ukrainian territory
Russian high command is thought to have removed a number of high-ranking officers from key command roles in Ukraine since the start of June, according to the British Ministry of Defence.
With Dvornikov the commander of Southern Group of Forces and likely acting as the overall operational commander for the Russian army in Ukraine, his removal is reported to have come along with that of Airborne Forces (VDV) General-Colonel Andrei Serdyukov.
Dvornikov will reportedly be replaced by Colonel-General Sergei Surovikin as commander of the SGF. The army group encompasses the primary forces of the Russian army seeking to capture and occupy Ukrainian territory.
‘For over 30 years, Surovikin’s career has been dogged with allegations of corruption and brutality,’ the MoD adds.
According to Rob Lee, respected war academic from Kings College London among other institutions, Surovikin was jailed twice in his career.
Once for allegedly illegally selling guns, and once for leading a military column during the August 1991 coup that killed three protesters in Moscow. This record was an issue when he was put in charge of military police.
Several sources claim that Putin is personally micromanaging war decisions and wielding the axe on commanders he sees as under performing.
The sacking of airborne chief Serdyukov would indicate he was held responsible for the poor performance – and high casualties – of Russian airborne units, particularly in early operations around Kyiv.
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Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, 60, has paid the price of devastating ‘mass casualties’ among paratroopers, it has been reported
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He has reportedly been replaced by Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky, 53, current chief of staff of the Central Military District, who was born in the Donetsk region
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The reported sacking would indicate that Serdyukov is being held responsible for the poor performance of, and high casualties, among Russian [airborne] units, particularly in early operations around Kyiv
Serdyukov has apparently been blamed for failures in the operation to capture the airport as Hostomel near Kyiv on February 24 – the first day of the war – in which elite troops from the Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) were decimated in repeated failed assaults.
These soldiers, some of Putin’s most highly trained, were systematically destroyed by Ukrainian defenders, who operated with greater numbers and far more competence than the Russians had anticipated.
Overall as many as fourteen Russian generals are thought to have been killed during the invasion of Ukraine, although the number is contested. Russia does not release information on the high-ranking officers it loses.
Among the Russian generals confirmed dead are Major General Anton Simonov, 55, who was killed during an attack on a Russian command post near Kharkiv and Lt General Andrey Mordvichev who was killed in Kherson on March 19.
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Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev (left), commander of Russia’s 49th combined army, was killed in a strike near the southern city of Kherson on March 25, whilst Major General Anton Simonov, 55, (right) died during the attack on a Russian army command post in Kharkiv
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Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, (left) deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District, was killed by a sniper whilst General Magomed Tushaev (right) was blown up in the early stages of the war by Ukraine after they joined the Russian invasion
Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, commander of the army’s 150th motorised rifle division, died fighting in the besieged city of Mariupol while Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, 45, was killed on March 7 outside the eastern city of Kharkiv.
Meanwhile Major-General Andrey Kolesnikov, Commander of the Guards Tank Kantemirovskaya Division, was also killed in fighting on March 11 and Major-General Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, was killed during a special operation by a sniper on March 3.
In addition, General Magomed Tushaev, a Chechen special forces leader, was killed in an ambush near Hostomel, Lt General Yakov Rezantsev, commander of Russia’s 49th combined army, was killed in a strike near Kherson and Major General Vladimir Frolov died in battle.
RUSSIA’S FALLEN GENERALS
General Magomed Tushaev: Chechen special forces leader who had led ‘anti-gay purges’ killed in an ambush near Hostomel on February 26;
Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky: Deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District killed during a special operation by a sniper on March 4;
General Magomed Tushaev (right) was blown up in the early stages of the war by Ukraine after they joined the Russian invasion
Major General Vitaly Gerasimov: First deputy commander of Russia’s 41st army who took part in operations in Syria and Crimea, killed in fighting around Kharkiv on March 8;
Major General Andrei Kolesnikov: Commander of the 29th Combined Army Army killed on March 11;
Major General Oleg Mityaev, died fighting near the city of Mariupol on 16 March;
Lt Gen Andrey Mordvichev, killed in the Kherson region on March 19 ;
Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev, commander of Russia’s 49th combined army, was killed in a strike near the southern city of Kherson on March 25;
Major GeneralVladimir Frolov was deputy commander of the 8th Guards Army in east Ukraine;
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Major General Vitaly Gerasimov (left) was first deputy commander of Russia’s 41st army, taking part in operations in Syria and Crimea. He was killed in fighting around Kharkiv on March 8
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Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev, commander of Russia’s 49th combined army. He was killed in a strike near the southern city of Kherson on March 25
Major General Anton Simonov, 55, was seen as the Russian military’s leading electronic warfare specialist. He died during an attack on a Russian army command past in northern Ukraine in early May;
Major General Kanamat Botashev, was enjoying retirement when Russian tanks rolled across the border on February 24 and had not flown since 2012. His Su-25 fighter jet was hit by a Stinger missile on May 22 in the Donbas skies, and he was unable to eject;
Major-General Roman Kutuzov was the chief of staff of the 29th Combined Arms Army. His death was confirmed on June 5, and is believed to have been slain in an ambush carried out by Ukrainian forces.
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The grave of Major General Vladimir Frolov in Serafimovskoe Cemetery, St Petersburg. The circumstances of his death remain unclear
Two Russian colonels confirmed dead in Putin’s war against Ukraine
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Major General Andrey Simonov (picture date unknown) was an electronic warfare commander
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Russia confirmed the death of Major-General Roman Kutuzov (pictured) this month
I fought with the NLaw, and won! Ukraine releases tribute video to the UK featuring Russian tanks being blown up to a soundtrack of The Clash to thank it for military support
Ukraine releases video paying tribute to the support it has received from the UK
Accompanied by The Clash it celebrates the NLAW’s successes on battlefield
UK has sent 120 armoured vehicles, air defence systems and 6,500 NLAWs
Ukrainian forces have reportedly been ordered to retreat from Severodonetsk
The US is sending long-range, high-precision HIMARs artillery to Ukraine
The EU granted candidate status to Ukraine to join the bloc on Thursday
Ukraine has released a video paying tribute to the support it has received from the United Kingdom in its defence against Vladimir Putin‘s unprovoked invasion, complete with a soundtrack by The Clash and shots of Russian tanks being destroyed by British-built NLAWs.
The United Kingdom has been one of Ukraine’s most stalwart allies in the face of Russian aggression – along with Poland, Estonia and Latvia and others – committing nearly £3billion in humanitarian aid and grants.
That includes 120 armoured vehicles, air defence systems and more than 6,500 of the now-famous NLAW anti-tank missiles, according to a government website.
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The weapons systems have been put to good use by Ukraine’s NATO-trained army as they have laid waste to an estimated 1,000 Russian tanks – even bringing the very future of the tank into question.
Previously, the under-equipped Ukrainian military had been relying mostly on ageing legacy equipment from the Soviet Union.
The tribute video opens in cinéma vérité style, with sweeping shots of London and the English countryside and captions that reference William Blake’s famous line, ‘that green and pleasant land of…’
Some famous figures of British culture and history flash past the screen, including William Shakespeare, David Bowie, the Queen during the Second World War, and sports stars Steven Gerrard and Lewis Hamilton.
Ukraine thanks UK with tribute video featuring Queen and James Bond
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David Bowie is one of the famous figures of British culture and history that flash up on the screen during the intro to Ukraine’s tribute video to the UK
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The phrase ‘that green and pleasant land’ references the famous William Blake poem Milton: A Poem in Two Books from 1808
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A Ukrainian serviceman wields one of the 6,500 Swedish-British NLAW anti-tank missiles donated by the UK on his shoulder
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The burning husk of a Russian tank destroyed by an NLAW outside a suburban house, one of an estimated 1,000 Russian tanks taken out by the Ukrainian army
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An NLAW missile is launched (right of shot) from the building window at a passing Russian tank, destined to hit its top rear, one of the most vulnerable parts of a tank
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The video rounds out with the iconic James Bond gun barrel sequence where 007 shoots directly at the screen towards an implied assassin and blood runs down the screen, with the words: ‘Thank you, UK!’
Then there’s a step change as Joe Strummer’s guitar riffs and vocals kick in. The famous lyrics ‘I fought the law and the law won’ are intercut with battlefield video of NLAW missiles strike and destroy Russian tanks.
‘Just remember that every Russian villain an NLAW takes out in Ukraine… is one less Russian villain he’ll have to deal with,’ flashes on the screen.
The video rounds out with the iconic James Bond gun barrel sequence where 007 shoots directly at the screen towards an implied assassin and blood runs down the screen, with the words: ‘Thank you, UK!’
The NLAW, or Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapon, is a Swedish-designed, British-built weapons system that has become a popular meme. Its catchy association with The Clash song has inspired the punk rebel association between the NLAW and Ukraine standing up to Russia.
Of all the nations supporting Ukraine, by far the largest quantity of military systems and other aid has come from the United States, which has announced it is sending another $450 million in fresh armaments, including four Himars rocket systems.
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A Ukrainian serviceman fires an NLAW anti-tank weapon during an exercise in the Joint Forces Operation, in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, a little over a week before Russia invaded
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The famous meme that came out of the early days of the war and inspired the punk rebel association between the NLAW and Ukraine standing up to Russia
The systems can simultaneously launch multiple precision missiles at an extended range, and provide a capability that Ukraine is sorely lacking in the raging battlefields around Luhansk and the Donetsk in the east.
Oleksii Reznikov, the Ukrainian Minister of Defence, tweeted yesterday: ‘HIMARS have arrived to Ukraine. Thank you to my American colleague and friend, US Defence Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III for these powerful tools! Summer will be hot for Russian occupiers. And the last one for some of them.’
The Ukranian military is being forced to retreat from Severodonetsk, according to a senior Ukrainian official, due to a brutal Russian offensive that is reducing the battleground city to rubble with massed heavy artillery shelling that the Ukrainians cannot match.
‘Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to 15 Russian artillery pieces,’ Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence said two weeks ago, ‘and we are losing in terms of artillery’.
‘Everything now depends on what [the west] gives us,’ said Skibitsky. ‘Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to 15 Russian artillery pieces. Our western partners have given us about 10% of what they have.’
Capturing Severodonetsk, in the Donbas region, has become a key goal of the Russians as they focus their offensive on eastern Ukraine after being repelled from Kyiv following their February invasion.
The strategically important industrial hub has been the scene of weeks of street battles as the outgunned Ukrainians put up a fierce defence.
But Sergiy Gaiday – governor of Lugansk, which includes the city – said the Ukrainian military would have to retreat.
‘They have received an order to do so,’ he said on Telegram.
‘Remaining in positions that have been relentlessly shelled for months just doesn’t make sense.’
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US military personnel stand by a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) in Saudi Arabia
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The US is cooperating with Ukrainian demands to provide accurate, long-range weapons systems such as the HIMAR to match and exceed Russia on the battlefield
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The Himars use precision-guided munitions with a range is about 50 miles (80 kilometres)
The city has been ‘nearly turned to rubble’ by continual bombardment, he added.
‘All critical infrastructure has been destroyed. Ninety percent of the city is damaged, 80 percent (of) houses will have to be demolished,’ he said.
The Ukrainians had already been pushed back from much of the city, leaving them in control of only industrial areas.
Capturing Severodonetsk and its twin city of Lysychansk, Severodonetsk’s sister city across the Donets river, would give the Russians control of Lugansk, and allow them to push further into the wider Donbas.
Gaiday said the Russians were now advancing on Lysychansk, which has been facing increasingly heavy Russian bombardment.
The situation for those that remain in the city was increasingly bleak.
Liliya Nesterenko said her house had no gas, water or electricity and she and her mother were cooking on a campfire. She was cycling along the street, and had come out to feed a friend’s pets.
But the 39-year-old was upbeat about the city’s defences: ‘I believe in our Ukrainian army, they should (be able to) cope.
‘They’ve prepared already.’
A representative of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine earlier told AFP the resistance of Ukrainian forces trying to defend Lysychansk and Severodonetsk was ‘pointless and futile’.
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Smoke billows over the oil refinery outside the town of Lysychansk. The neighbouring city of Severodonetsk has been ‘nearly turned to rubble’ by continual bombardment
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A Ukrainian serviceman on a position in the city of Severodonetsk of Luhansk area. Ukrainian forces have been given the order to retreat, according the the mayor of Luhansk
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Ukrainian troop ride a tank on a road of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas on June 21, 2022, as Ukraine says Russian shelling has caused ‘catastrophic destruction’ in the eastern industrial city of Lysychansk, which lies just across a river from Severodonetsk where Russian and Ukrainian troops have been locked in battle for weeks
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Locals look at destroyed buildings in Lysychansk after heavy fighting in the Luhansk area. Capturing Severodonetsk and its twin city of Lysychansk, Severodonetsk’s sister city across the Donets river, would give the Russians control of Lugansk, and allow them to push further into the wider Donbas
‘At the rate our soldiers are going, very soon the whole territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic will be liberated,’ said Andrei Marochko, a spokesman for the Moscow-backed army of Lugansk.
Off the battlefield, Ukraine made promising progress in its bid for European Union membership, with EU leaders granting it and neighbouring Moldova candidate status at a Brussels summit on Thursday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the news as ‘a unique and historic moment’, adding: ‘Ukraine’s future is within the EU.’
French President Emmanuel Macron said the decision by EU leaders sent a ‘very strong signal’ to Russia that Europeans support the pro-Western aspirations of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin had declared Ukraine to be part of Moscow’s sphere and insisted he was acting due to attempts to bring the country into NATO, the Western alliance that comes with security guarantees.
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President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (L), President of the European Council Charles Michel (C) and France’s President Emmanuel Macron (R)
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Ukraine and neighbouring Moldova were granted candidate status by the EU at a Brussels summit on Thursday
European powers before the invasion had distanced themselves from US support for Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, and EU membership is at least years away.
Ukraine and Moldova will have to go through protracted negotiations and the European Union has laid out steps that Kyiv must take even before that, including bolstering the rule of law and fighting corruption.
Putin reacted to the news of Ukraine’s potential accession to the EU with unexpected equanimity, saying last week that he had ‘nothing against’ it.
‘We have nothing against it. It is not a military bloc. It’s the right of any country to join economic unions,’ Putin said on Friday when asked about the prospects of Ukraine joining the EU.
Western officials have also accused Russia of weaponising its key exports of gas as well as grain from Ukraine, contributing to global inflation and rising hunger in the world.
A US official warned of new retaliatory measures against Russia at the Group of Seven summit being attended by President Joe Biden in Germany starting Sunday.
Germany ratcheted up an emergency gas plan to its second alert level, just one short of the maximum that could require rationing in Europe’s largest economy, after Russia slashed supplies.
‘Gas is now a scarce commodity,’ German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told reporters, urging households to cut back on use.
Demand for gas is lower in the summer but shortages could cause problems with heating in the winter.
A Kremlin spokesman reiterated its claim that the supply cuts were due to maintenance and that necessary equipment from abroad had not arrived.
What we need is PEACE
Putin must be removed and Russia must leave Ukraine
![The reported sacking would indicate that Serdyukov is being held responsible for the poor performance of, and high casualties, among Russian [airborne] units, particularly in early operations around Kyiv](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/06/18/16/59231441-10929999-image-a-82_1655564510929.jpg)
