Russia’s military commanders are ‘terrified’ by Putin’s demands for new offensive on multiple fronts in Ukraine and fear ‘mass slaughter’ and ‘are giving up hope’ of winning the war, experts claim

• Kremlin has now lost a staggering total of more than 175,000 troops in the war
• Putin’s demand for further assault has caused deep divisions in high command 
• Read: Moscow accuses Kyiv of ‘deliberate’ bombing in Kremlin-held territory 

Russia’s top brass are ‘horrified’ at Vladimir Putin’s demand for an urgent new military offensive on multiple fronts in Ukraine, it has been claimed.

They fear more ‘slaughter’ as new analysis suggests the Kremlin has now lost a staggering total of more than 175,000 troops in the war.

Putin’s demand for his war supremo General Valery Gerasimov to unleash ‘an assault in several directions at once’ has evoked deep divisions in his high command, political analyst Valery Solovey has alleged. 

Dr Solovey is a former professor at Moscow’s prestigious Institute of International Relations, a training school for diplomats and spies.

Political analyst Valery Solovey has said Putin’s demand to unleash ‘an assault in several directions at once’ has evoked deep divisions in his high command

General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian army’s general staff, is under pressure by Putin to attack in more than one direction 

He said on pro-opposition Khodorkovsky Live channel: ‘The Army General Staff is terrified by the instructions of the commander-in-chief [Putin]. I am not exaggerating. They are horrified.

‘They are afraid to lose the remaining armed forces in the slaughter that they are being dragged into by [Putin’s] order.’

Despite senior commanders giving up hope for their ‘goal of winning’ the war, they will obey Putin.

Dr Solovey said: ‘Well, they saluted – “As you wish, Your Highness, you’re the genius, you know it better than us, you started it all, and our job is to sort it out now”.

Senior commanders have allegedly given up hope for their ‘goal of winning’ the war, but they will continue to obey Putin (pictured)

The Kremlin high command fear more ‘slaughter’ as it has lost a total of more than 175,000 troops in the war. Pictured: General Valery Gerasimov, left, and Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu, right

‘This [offensive] is all planned for February. And Gerasimov, a close ally of defence minister Sergei Shoigu, is the “most capable of Russian generals”.

But the top brass in the general staff ‘are afraid they won’t make it in time, because Ukraine might obtain new weapons – more dangerous, more modern, offensive [from the West].

‘That’s why now is the last chance to try to strike Ukraine, but not with the goal of winning,’ Dr Solovey said.

‘This is very important to understand. There is no [longer] such goal at all. The goal is totally different – to end it in an honourable way. That is, to achieve peace.

‘It’s about keeping a minimum of [Russian gains]. That is Donbas, a part of new territories – not all of them, and to defend Crimea. They are not expecting more.’

His analysis is far from the public position of the Kremlin which insists Putin’s military adventure is going according to plan.

This comes as Telegram channel General SVR suggests the ‘irretrievable military operational losses of manpower’ in the Russian army is more than 126,500, a rise of more than 20,000 this month.

On top of this, there have been more than 44,000 killed in pro-Kremlin private military armies operating in Ukraine to support Putin’s illegal invasion.

If true, it means more than 10,000 lost in this month’s heavy fighting in these private military companies – the best known of which is Wagner, substantially staffed by prisoners released from Russian jails to fight for Putin.

In addition, more than 6,250 Russian national guards have been slain, states the channel.

The overall toll is put at 176,863. The channel’s figures for war losses are routinely higher than other sources.

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