None are safe! Ukrainians kill Putin’s top commanders one by one

Ukraine’s targeted campaign to eliminate senior Russian officers—combining HIMARS and drone strikes in occupied territories with covert agents and improvised explosive devices inside Russia—is systematically degrading Moscow’s operational command capacity. The elimination of specialized aerospace leadership, exemplified by the sixth Air Army’s chief navigator and Aerospace Forces commander Colonel General Alexander Chayko, directly disrupts strike-corridor design, flight-routing calculations, weapons-targeting precision, and regional air defense integration against massed Ukrainian drone strikes. Spanning approximately nineteen confirmed high-ranking commanders and over five thousand mid-ranking officers, this attrition induces cumulative institutional friction rather than an abrupt front-line collapse. Although Russia can formally replace fallen personnel, incoming deputies face prolonged adaptation periods to rebuild situational awareness, subordinate relationships, and synchronized staff workflows. Simultaneously, lethal operations in Saint Petersburg and Moscow—including the shooting of General Staff intelligence deputy head Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev and operatives exfiltrating via Pulkovo Airport—expose acute domestic counterintelligence vulnerabilities. Over the long term, the sustained depletion of experienced operational planners compels Moscow to divert security apparatus bandwidth toward internal protection while progressively weakening its multi-unit combat coordination.

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