According to Western military sources, Vladimir Putin is so personally involved in the war in Ukrainethat it makes operational and tactical decisions “at the level of colonel or brigadier”, reveals the Guardian newspaper.
They added that the Russian president was helping to determine the movement of forces in Donbass, where the invaders suffered a bloody defeat last week as they repeatedly tried to crossed a strategic river in eastern Ukraine.
Sources added that Putin was still working closely with General Valery Gerasimov, commander of Russia’s armed forces, contrary to Ukraine’s claims last week that the top military commander has been pushed aside.
“We believe that Putin and Gerasimov are involved in tactical decision-making at a level that we would normally expect to be taken by a colonel or a brigadier,” the military source said, referring to the ongoing battle in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow’s armies have so far failed to make a breakthrough in the Donbass, where they have been conducting an offensive for a month, which on several occasions has failed to surround the smaller Ukrainian forces.
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