Pro-Kremlin MP says Kyiv forces are gaining foothold near some of Moscow’s weakest defences
By Joe Barnes 29 August 2023 •
A former Russian general has called for a tactical nuclear strike in southern Ukraine after Kyiv’s forces were said to be gaining a foothold near some of Moscow’s weakest defences in the area.
Pro-Kremlin MP Andrey Gurulev, 55, a retired lieutenant-general, urged Russian military leaders to target the Zaporizhzhia region village of Robotyne recently recaptured by Kyiv.
“The village of Rabotino is an ideal place for the use of tactical nuclear weapons,” Mr Gurulev said.
“They [Ukrainians] have all gathered there in one place… It’s just perfect.”
Ukraine celebrated the tiny settlement’s liberation on Monday at the culmination of an 11-week battle on the southern front line.
were hitting enemy targets with artillery fire.
Enemy closing in
Russian sources warned that their enemy was slowly closing in on one of Moscow’s main lines of defence in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
One prominent pro-Kremlin military blogger, Romanov, described the situation in the area as “very dangerous” in a post on the Telegram messaging app on Tuesday.
WarGonzo, another blogger, who has more than a million subscribers, voiced concerns over the vulnerabilities of Russian positions along the defensive lines between Robotyne and Verbove if Ukraine continues to push in the area.
Success around Verbove would hand Kyiv’s forces a wider wedge of territory as they attempt to push towards the Russian-occupied Tokmak, a key road and rail hub.
Western analysts have suggested Ukraine was pushing to find a potential weakness in Russia’s “Surovikin Line”, the main chain of fortifications protecting its land bridge to Crimea.
The defensive line west of Verbove appeared to be “in a significantly worse state” than other areas across the heavily-fortified southern front line, Emil Kastehelmi, an open source intelligence analyst, said.
‘No covered firing positions’
A comparison of satellite images taken at the beginning and end of August appeared to show “almost no signs of any trench improvements”, he added.
“There are sections with no covered firing positions and very few accommodation bunkers, even though great effort was put into this in other places.”
Ukraine’s advance has been slow through the southern region as its forces attempt to fight through the Russian fortifications.
Minefields that stretch for more than half a mile each were blamed for much of the damage dealt to Western-donated tanks and armoured vehicles used by Kyiv’s men.
In the 13 weeks since Ukraine launched its counter-offensive, its forces have lost five of the 71 German-made Leopard 2 tanks, Forbes reported.
Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian official announced the mandatory evacuation of children from several villages close to the front lines in Zaporizhzhia.
Yuri Malashko, head of the region’s military administration, said: “There are 54 children and 67 accompanying family members. That is 121 people that need to be evacuated.”
“There are on average of 90 to 120 attacks per day, and these are the settlements that are constantly under fire. Given the fact that our information campaign that was constantly conducted did not give results, and due to the unconsciousness and negligence of parents, children suffered first of all, we decided that a decision should be made on mandatory evacuation,” he added.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Ukraine’s military said it was continuing offensive operations south of the Donetsk region city of Bakhmut, while halting Russian efforts to advance in other parts of the oblast.
Ukrainian forces purportedly raised their blue and yellow national flag near the Antonivka Bridge on the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro River near the city of Kherson.
A video of the moment was shared by Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, who said: “The Ukrainian flag in the left-bank Kherson region. Summer houses near the Antonivka Bridge.”
Selected comments from DT readers:
Random Name
I’m on holiday right now and am pretty sure I heard some tourists speaking Russian yesterday. Why are these people still being allowed to pollute our countries?
An Irish troll :
Ciaran Caughey
Totally no need for Nuclear weapons. The Russian military is motthsn capable of achieving it’s objective. Total Victory!
Ron Thompson
“A former Russian general has called for a tactical nuclear strike in southern Ukraine”
Which rather gives the game away that Russia isn’t in Ukraine to help anyone, but just to help themselves.
Gentleman Jim
Reply to Ron Thompson
Like that wasn’t obvious since 22 February 2022?
Scott Driver
nuclear threats = means Orcs losing = loser talk.
A filthy troll “Paul Dal” writes:
“Do people in the U.K. consider a tactical nuke worse than what Ukraine did when blowing up a dam and killing thousands of civilians?”
I would never tire of punching this asshole’s face. He got 25 replies. Here are a few:
Stephen Westwood
Reply to Paul Dal
The Russian phrase for pathetic troll is….?
Peter Clarke
Reply to Paul Dal
When did you stop beating your wife?
See? Questions can be phrased to provoke a response that is intrinsically false.
Learned that as a lad. Are you juvenile? Or just desperate??
Peter Clarke
Reply to Paul Dal
What war crimes? Rape, torture, kidnapping and murder of children, women and the elderly?
That’s what Russia has done. Do you really support that??
Gentleman Jim
Reply to Paul Dal
You are doing very poorly here, comrade. Why don’t you go and bother people on a different message board, they may be more open to your obvious nonsense.
Terrence Morrison
Reply to Paul Dal
Your thoughts are going down like a lead balloon. You should have a quiet word with your handler, tovarich.
Other comments :
AJM Reese
“The village of Rabotino is an ideal place for the use of tactical nuclear weapons,” Mr Gurulev said.”
If Russia used tactical nuclear weapons, NATO would consider it an act of war on itself and it would therefore enjoin the war directly and destroy Russia. Russia understands this, which is why it has not used tactical nuclear weapons to date. Whatever Russia does now, it is destroyed and ruined. That is Putin’s legacy.
David Eyke
Reply to AJM Reese
Russia doesn’t want to risk one not going off. Nuclear weapons require extensive maintenance.
That’s why they will never use them.
Retaining strategic ambiguity is much more powerful.
Christopher Toone
Once someone uses a nuclear weapon then an immediate devastating response would have to be used otherwise put your hands up THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE AND IT NEEDS BEING FORCEFULLY STATED NO PREVARICATING ON THIS.
Itso Edgy
If gurulev gets his way and a nuclear missile is dropped on Ukraine,
Exactly how will NATO respond,surely it won’t be just a simple statement of condemnation to putin
Lily Blue
Reply to Itso Edgy
My guess is initially some extended visits from some very focused F35’s.
Afterwards if it’s very very good Russia might be able to retain Rostov.
Interestingly the USS Gerald R Ford is currently in the Med. exercising with the Turkish forces.
James Schneider
Reply to Itso Edgy
I see more of a shock and awe missile campaign. Why endanger pilots and F35s?
Graham Boyd
One minute Russia is claiming Ukraine’s offensive has failed. The next minute they need to use a nuclear warhead to stop it. On that basis I suggest it is going quite well.
Hedley Shannon
This is simply an occasion to tell Russians that use of a tactical nuke will involve Ukraine making use of a tactical nuke on a Russian city and that Ukraine will have “developed” this weapon itself.
That’s all their asking. “We are thinking of doing this. What will you do?” That’s the answer.
ROSEMARY WALKER With right and the demonstrated determination of the Ukrainian armed forces the outcome of this war will see Ukranian Victory.
* Comment by DJA Ch.
* These psychotic dinosaurs are as inhuman as they are insane. And they have the temerity to call Ukraine a nest of Nazis. Comment by OH Bee. The rantings of an ex Russian General (due to Russian rank structure, generals are not the same as generals in European armies) are only going to embarrass Putin further. It means Russia is in a desperate position in Ukraine and the assertion from general Gurulev is that tactical nuclear missiles are the only option to stop the Ukrainian offensive. Good news that he has assessed the situation as such.
Mr Laurence
Reply to OH Bee –
Gurulev was the same one who made comments about wiping Britain off the face of the earth. A drunkard, like Medvedev.
Michael Sims
Reply to Mr Laurence
He’s probably a corporal by European standards. Sorry, got that wrong, corporals in UK have brains, enjoy delegated powers and know how to take the initiative and lead.
C Daw
If the Orcs use tactical nukes then NATO will get involved conventionally and that will be the end of Russian forces in Ukraine. Alternatively the west will have to give Ukraine tactical nukes to level the playing field. Either way the Russians would bloody their nose again if they went down that route.
Percy Blakeney
Lovely story, elsewhere, for those who haven’t seen it. A Russian Colonel out mowing the lawn of his cottage not far from the Ukraine border at the weekend, was ‘interrupted’ by a drone strike! Another one bites the dust.
Josh Fiddler
NATO needs to warn the Orcs or Russian peasants, as they are also referred to, that any use of nuclear weapons will see NATO get involved. We need to warn the Orcs that the first place we will liberate will be Kaliningrad, followed by a push from Latvia and Finland into Russia. The orcs are still scared of the Fins.
Scott Driver
If the Orcs are stupid enough to use nukes or try to light up the Zaphorizhzhia nuclear power plant, NATO will get directly involved using conventional means to wipe out Orclandia’s army in Ukraine…so says General Petreaus.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/02/us-russia-putin-ukraine-war-david-petraeus
. Dawn Maranto Reply to Scott Driver From the attached link: 1). Note use of word hypothetical 2). No reference to conventional means 3). Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was not mentioned Petraeus said that he had not spoken to national security adviser Jake Sullivan on the likely US response to nuclear escalation from Russia, which administration officials have said has been repeatedly communicated to Moscow. He told ABC News: “Just to give you a hypothetical, we would respond by leading a Nato – a collective – effort that would take out every Russian conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship in the Black Sea.” — Maybe you meant to attach a different link?
Scott Driver
Its a nightmare to be an Orc infantryman at the moment with low odds of survival when you’re blasted by:
1) Cluster munitions,
2) JDAM bunker busting bombs – Used with much greater frequency now that most Orc SAM sites/radars and ECM equipment has been destroyed,
3) HIMARS Alternative Wide Area Rockets – While the Ukrainians have mostly been using the –M31A1– high precision missiles, they’re now also using the alternative –M30A1– blast fragmentation missiles containing 182,000 tungsten warheads that explodes over the tops of infantry’s heads destroying men and equipment within half a mile radius.
There is no doubt that foul nazi scum like the putler murder gang would not hesitate to use nukes if they thought they would get away with it.
The only question is how firm and clear was the warning from the US as to their response to such a desperate, evil and despicable action?
RuZZia in its present form must die.
“Pro-Kremlin MP Andrey Gurulev, 55, a retired lieutenant-general, urged Russian military leaders to target the Zaporizhzhia region village of Robotyne recently recaptured by Kyiv.”
Good that he’s retired, because he’s a dangerous nutcase. There’s no way to limit the blast, radiation and fallout to Ukrainian soldiers, this would hit the Russians, too. And they can’t afford to turn the comparatively thin landbridge to the Crimea into a nuclear wasteland. So, this won’t happen, it’s just the murderous fantasy of a total idiot.
It could be a maverick comment, but more likely this nazi is fulfilling the same role as Zhirinovsky (hopefully now burning in hell) and Medvedev, which is to express in public the private thoughts of fuhrer putler.
Now don’t make afraid, scradgel! Not even Putin can be that nuts. 🙁
This is why the orcs are losing this war, a total lack of brains. Yeah they can nuke Robotyne, and in the process wipe out 17 russian regiments that are in the area.
“Russia doesn’t want to risk one not going off. Nuclear weapons require extensive maintenance.
That’s why they will never use them.
Retaining strategic ambiguity is much more powerful.”
Spot on, this comment. Although, I’m sure that bat virus land has already warned the mafiosi about using nukes. They at least are sane enough to know what a terrible Pandora’s Box would be opened by this.
The White House? Who knows.
At any rate, this nutcase “general” no doubt never achieved this rank through intelligence, like a real general does, but through dirty, deep-seated corruption, like the orc generals usually do.