USA officials said General Gerasimov's covert visit to the Eastern Front highlighted the problems facing Russian forces in the Donbas. “This probably means that things are not going well for the Russians”. "They have thousands killed in action, the morale of the troops is low, and, very importantly, their offensive in the south and east seems to have stalled."
Then why did Putin send the third most important person in the state to the epicenter of hostilities, where thousands of Russian soldiers are dying? General Gerasimov spent several days in eastern Ukraine and on Saturday afternoon arrived at 12th School, which was used as a base for the Russian 2nd Combined Arms Army and airborne troops stationed in the region, a senior Ukrainian official said. According to preliminary information from the Ukrainian security forces, Major General Andrei Simonov, who was among the commanders of the base in Izyum, died as a result of the shelling.
“The decision to destroy this facility was made not because of Gerasimov, but because it is an important operational base,” the official said.
Gerasimov fled from the front, abandoning senior officers and troops, and was urgently evacuated by helicopter to Russian territory.
