Vladimir Putin appears to have expected to march Russian troops into Ukraine and see them immediately fold to his imperialistic whims. Over 100 days into the war, that hasn’t happened, and we’ve already heard that things are disastrous behind the military scenes. Putin’s inner circle is said to be maneuvering to insert a successor in his place amid national embarrassment, and U.S. intelligence offers dug through documents that revealed how his “rule is no longer absolute,” given an assassination attempt and Putin’s ongoing health battles, among other concerns.
Russian troops are also reportedly completely over this invasion, to the point where they stomped their feet and almost blew up their general. Amid other disappearing military leaders (after either being killed in the line of duty or being fired by an irate Putin), Newsweek is now relaying how a top Russian commander — known not-so-lovingly as “The Executioner” — lost his life as well. Vladimir Andonov, who’s believed to have murdered POWs and civilians, bit the dust by way of a sniper:
Social media channels and Russian newspapers reported that Vladimir Andonov, 44, had been killed by a sniper in Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv.
“He died at night during reconnaissance of the area, along with his comrade, presumably at the hands of a sniper,” said the Peleng 03 telegram channel on Sunday, in a post reported by the mass circulation Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets.
Yeah, Ukrain is not messing around here. From the very beginning of the invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky, refused to be airlifted to safety, stating his firm belief that he must help defend his country and people. And with Ukrainian citizens brandishing molotov cocktails and Russia making much slower progress than expected, it appears that Putin’s struggle is real, and so is the survival of his army and presidential tenure.
(Via Newsweek)