Russian generals are dying in Ukraine partly because they are struggling to get conscripts to follow orders, report says

• Ukraine said it has killed five Russian generals, an unusually high total for senior officers.
• One European diplomat told Foreign Policy poor communications are leaving commanders exposed. 
• Russia is sustaining high overall casualties in its invasion of Ukraine. 

Russian generals are moving into advanced positions leaving them exposed to attacks because they’re struggling to get their orders through to conscripts, European officials told Foreign Policy magazine.

Ukrainian forces have killed five Russian generals so far in the four-week-old Ukrainian and US officials say. The toll is unusually high for such senior officers. 

The most recent was on Saturday, when Ukraine said its forces had killed Lieutenant-General Andrei Mordvichev when it struck an airfield near Kherson, one of the few Ukrainian cities Russia has managed to occupy.

On Sunday, Russian officials said a senior naval commander, Andrey Paly, had been killed by Ukrainian forces near the besieged city of Mariupol. 

A European diplomat briefed on intelligence reports told Foreign Policy that the failure of Russian communications systems was leaving them exposed to interception and targeted strikes.

Difficulties in getting conscripted troops to follow orders, the source said, was making them take positions close to the front. 

The Russian military is using conscripts alongside its regular military in the invasion of Ukraine, despite promising that it would not. Experts say conscripted troops are often poorly trained and have low morale.

“They’re struggling on the front line to get their orders through,” said the European diplomat. “They’re having to go to the front line to make things happen, which is putting them at much greater risk than you would normally see.”

The official said that around 20% of Russia’s top commanders had been killed in the conflict, reducing its military effectiveness and stalling its advance. 

The theory corroborates a report published Monday by Insider’s Christopher Woody.

The report cited a US official saying that Russian generals are inherently at greater risk than their US counterparts because of a Russian command structure that gives lower-ranking officers less autonomy and demands closer involvement of generals.

US officials believe that around 7,000 Russian troops have been killed in the fighting so far. A Russian tabloid citing the country’s defense ministry on Monday reported that the death toll was as high as 9,000 but subsequently retracted the claim.