A Russian commander says Russia must “stop” the war on the current front. His critique of military leadership is reminiscent of the disgraced Wagner boss.
Russian commander Alexander Kodakovsky said that Russia cannot defeat Ukraine militarily “now and in the future”. Instead, the war “must remain frozen” on the current front, he wrote in a telegram on Thursday. The commander called for a ceasefire.
Kodakovsky is a Ukrainian by birth from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine who switched sides in 2014 and founded the pro-Russian Vostok Battalion. He fought on the side of the Kremlin in the Russian War of Aggression. In his Telegram message, Kodakovsky writes that the Russians “must not go forward” and “must not turn the front into Pakmuts” like the Ukrainians. With this, the commander apparently refers to the slow-moving Ukrainian counteroffensive, which advances only at the cost of high casualties.
During the ten-month battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Pakmut, Ukrainians and Russians alike had to mourn many deaths and injuries. Sodakovsky thinks it is a mistake to fight hard for individual places while sacrificing the lives of many players.
Ukraine recently captured the village of Uroschaine in southern Ukraine after weeks of fighting. Kodakovsky is said to have led a battalion near Uroszine. According to the Kyiv Independent, his own troops were also attacked by Ukrainian soldiers.
Video | Ukraine liberates another village – Russians flee in “panic”.
ISW: Russian security may lack confidence
In addition, Kotakovsky said that instead of the current “special military operation” — as Russia officially calls the war against Ukraine — territories currently occupied by Russia should be recognized and placed under Russian protection. On his Telegram channel, Sodakovsky calls it “a completely different twist to the story.”
In his view, “affairs,” as Sodakovsky calls war, must end with a “peace.” According to him, this situation, when there is no war or peace, will be very unfavorable not for Russia, but for Ukraine. He didn’t explain why.
According to the American think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Kotakovsky’s comments were related to the Ukrainian liberation of the village of Uroshine in southern Ukraine. Kodakovsky commanded a Russian division defending Uroszine, which was forced to withdraw on 15 August.
Kodakovsky’s warning may indicate that Russian forces’ confidence in their defense lines along a front hundreds of kilometers wide in southern Ukraine has collapsed, ISW said.
Memories of Prigogine arose
ISW writes that Khodakovsky has previously criticized Russian security along the border between the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Zaporizhia. The commander complained about the insufficient capabilities of the Russian troops, high losses, depleted forces and lack of reserves.
On 13 August, Kodakovsky called for a pause in operations so that Russian forces could gather resources for new operations.
A combat commander’s complaints about the shortcomings of the Russian army are reminiscent of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozin, who had addressed similar grievances a few months earlier. But since Prigozhin’s armed uprising at the end of June, such criticism has subsided in the Russian media, ISW writes. In the wake of Prigozhin’s rise, the Kremlin cracked down on the ultranationalist camp that Moscow’s war effort was inadequate.
It remains to be seen whether Sodakovsky lives dangerously with his open criticism of the Russian military. ISW assesses his influence on the Russian leadership as minimal.
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