If Vitaly Gerasimov's death is confirmed, he would be the second Russian general to be killed in Ukraine within a week following the death of the 41st Army’s deputy commander, Andrei Sukhovetsky
Russia’s failure to protect its top-ranking officers backs up reports from Ukraine that the Kremlin’s invasion force is in disarray. On the call released by the Ukrainian defense ministry, one FSB officer can be heard complaining that its encrypted comms system had been destroyed, allowing Ukrainian forces to listen in on Russian military orders.
Bellingcat’s executive director, Christo Grozev, wrote: “In the phone call in which the FSB officer assigned to the 41st Army reports the death to his boss in Tula, he says they’ve lost all secure communications. Thus the phone call using a local sim card. Thus the intercept.” Grozev went on: “His boss, who makes a looong pause when he hears the news of Gerassimov’s death , is Dmitry Shevchenko, a senior FSB officer from Tula. We identified him by searching for his phone in open source lookup apps... In the call, you hear the Ukraine-based FSB officer ask his boss if he can talk via the secure Era system. The boss says Era is not working.”
Grozen reported that Russia’s cryptophones may no longer work in Kharkiv because Russian forces had destroyed surrounding cell phone towers, and Russia’s encrypted comms system operates using 3G or 4G. The statement released by Ukraine’s military intelligence agency alluded to severe communications problems among Russian forces, saying: “The data obtained also indicate significant problems with communication in the occupier’s army and with the evacuation of their broken units.”