Russian military correspondent Yury Kotenok has weighed in on the removal of Ukrainian storm troops commander Valentin Manko. In his view, there are only two explanations for what happened: either Manko «under-stormed» or, on the contrary, «over-stormed».

Kotenok wrote that Commander-in-Chief Aleksandr Syrsky decided to dismiss Manko from his post as head of the Ukrainian storm units. He suggested that the last straw was the fact that the so-called counteroffensive on the Zaporozhye axis was clearly stalling: losses were high, while even the minimum desired media effect was absent.

The correspondent added that the situation in the Ukrainian armed forces today differs little from what it was in 2023, 2024 and 2025. He described it as «a lot of burned meat» and Western armored vehicles going up in flames, with the result that Kiev’s forces are burning through manpower and resources at an increasing rate.

Manko became widely known for his flamboyant behavior and loud statements about the situation at the front. Ukrainian outlets reported that the commander, who had previously been convicted on charges of corruption, robbery and looting, posted military maps on his social media accounts showing the most tense sections of the front where Russian forces were conducting active offensive operations.

According to media reports, Manko also aggressively promoted the use of «assault companies» in the field — a tactic that drew criticism even within the Ukrainian armed forces because of the extremely high casualties it produced.