comment: >
  
  I think strategically, Ukraine is happy to let them keep throwing themselves at Bakhmut and dying.  The city serves no real purpose for russia except to make Prigozhin look good for taking territory while the rest of the army constantly flounders.  Its awful for the Ukrainians on the ground there, though, even if the Ukrainian troops are rotated out every week or so. Contant shelling, bombing, armor and infantry assaults.  Some civilians are still living there, the fire department is still up, struggling to keep things together. But it serves as an apparent willing graveyard for russians, so they keep fighting.  Extremely demoralizing for russia if the city holds.
context: In his previous role, Nikiforov led the offensive on Kyiv. Some would call the promotion controversial as Lieutenant General Nikiforov is alleged to be partly responsible for failed attempts by the Eastern Group of Forces to advance into Kyiv via the toxic Chornobyl area.
  
  solid track record >
  
  Unconventional thinker! Lost fewer men to enemy action than friendly fire / stupidity. I like him already. >
  
  "Okay men, get on these elephants and go up those mountains!" >
  
  I would suggest that Hannible of Carthage is probably not a good comparison. Yes, he took significant losses going over the Alp, but it allowed him to get the drop on the Roman Empire, allowing him to run around Italy unchecked for a significant period of time. When he was challanged, he proved himself to be a very capable commander, and secured multiple victories against the Empire. He was able to do this, in part, by the fact that he walked a load of elephants over a mountain (which is, admittedly, a ridiculous idea).
  Hannible was competent enough that Rome was reluctant to challenge him directly, and he wondered around Italy for over a decade before finally having to redeploy to Africa to challenge the Roman advance there.  He was considered to be the greatest threat to Rome during the second Punic war. Not a bad effort, considering he was going toe to toe with one of the most powerful empires on earth.
  This guy, in stark contrast, is a clown. >
  
  Just to add on how scary he was , Roman’s used to tell their children that if they keep acting up , Hannibal was gonna come get them at night >
  
  Hannibal ad portas (Hannibal is at the gates)! >
  
  Ukrainian Invasion: Under New Management.  Please pardon our renovations! >
  
  This new guy is a Wagner guy.  Prigozhin is in control of the army now. >
  
  He doesn’t even have military experience, does he? He’s just an evil businessman who created the paramilitary company that is Putin’s SS, from what I understand. >
  
  Correct.  Spent some time in prison in the 80s/90s, became a putin crony, "made" his fortune with government food catering contracts and some restaurants that Putin liked to go to.  Then started Wagner for the 2014 war.  He's a mob boss/oligarch trying to groom himself to be Putin's successor, and Wagner is his personal army and current tool to try to make himself look good at the moment. >
  
  He'll have to to somehow dodge being scapegoated for the army's continuous poor performance in Ukraine. I think he's still to early and we'll likely see few more replacements fall before Russia is forced into full retreat. >
  
  He publicly ridicules the army and those in charge of it, hes trying to get Wagner to succeed where the army keeps failing so that he is seen as a guy who can get the job done.  Thats exactly the reason why Bakhmut is hell on earth right now, he keeps demanding they push to take useless ground and they keep getting slaughtered by the Ukrainian army.  The irony is really sad, because it becomes increasingly obvious that Wagner wont succeed, and meanwhile theres so may videos of doomed russians caught in the absolute dumbest situations.  Their lives are being thrown away just to see where Ukrainians are shooting from. >
  
  It's much worse even. Russia throwing all this manpower and materiel into capturing a single city. One that's not even going to give them much of a strategic advantage as it's bordered by two even larger cities just west of it.
  Meanwhile Ukraine is taking back large swaths of land everywhere else and is dealing painful blows to ammo dumps and airfields deep behind enemy lines.