“We are watching Russia wither before our eyes”

Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Associated Press

• Former US Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday called Russia’s war with Ukraine “operationally stupid”.

• “We’re watching Russia wither before our eyes right now,” Mattis said, speaking at the Seoul 2022 Forum, CNN reported.

• Mattis also described Russia’s military performance in the Eastern European country as “pathetic.”

Former US Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war with Ukraine as “operational folly” – and called Moscow’s military performance “pathetic”.

“We have a saying in America — we say that nations with allies prosper, nations without allies disappear, and we’re watching Russia wither before our eyes right now,” Mattis said while speaking at the 2022 Seoul Forum in South Korea, according to CNN.

Mattis, a former four-star Marine general who led the Pentagon during the first two years of Trump’s administration, condemned the “immoral, tactically incompetent, operationally stupid and strategically stupid effort” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, CNN reported.

Asked at the forum what military lessons could be learned from Russia’s more than four-month war with Ukraine, Mattis said: “The first is not to have incompetent generals in charge of your operations,” according to the news outlet.

More than a dozen Russian generals have so far been killed in the fighting, according to officials from Ukraine and other countries.

Putin launched his country’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, with Russian troops surrounding and shelling towns and cities across the country.

Russian forces have shifted their focus to eastern Ukraine after the military failed to quickly capture Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and other major cities early in the invasion.

Since the start of the war, thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides.

Last month, a former US general compared Russia’s war in Ukraine to a “heavyweight boxing match” and predicted a “knockout punch” was on the horizon.

“In 2 months of fighting, there has still not been a knockout blow. He will come as RU forces become increasingly depleted,” retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who served as commander of US Army Europe, said in a tweet.

Read the original article on Business Insider