A Russian general said he had been dismissed as a commander after telling Vladimir Putin’s military leadership about the dire situation at the front in Ukraine.
Major General Ivan Popov, who commanded the 58th Combined Arms Army, accused Moscow’s defence top brass of stabbing Russian soldiers in the back by a string of failures in the invasion of Ukraine.
He said in a voice message published by Russian lawmaker Andrei Gurulyov that he had been dismissed.
There was no immediate comment from the Defence Ministry in Moscow and the voice message could not be independently verified.
Gurulyov is a hardline former army commander who regularly appears on state television.
"There was a tough situation with the senior bosses in which it was necessary either to keep quiet and be a coward or to say it the way it is," Popov said.
"I had no right to lie in the name of you, in the name of my fallen comrades in arms, so I outlined all the problems which exist."
He said he raised the deaths of Russian soldiers from Ukrainian artillery and said the army lacked proper counter battery systems and reconnaissance of enemy.
"The senior chiefs apparently sensed some kind of danger from me and quickly concocted an order from the defence minister in just one day and got rid of me,” Popov added.
"The Ukrainian army could not break through our ranks at the front but our senior chief hit us from the rear, viciously beheading the army at the most difficult and intense moment.”
British defence chiefs suggested on Wednesday that there was growing evidence which pointed to senior Russian general Sergei Surovikin, who reportedly has close links to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, had been “sidelined” after the failed mutiny by the mercenary group.
In its intelligence update, the MoD in London said: “On 10 July 2023, Russian Chief of the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov made his first TV appearance since the abortive Wagner mutiny of 24 June 2023.
“Gerasimov was seen being briefed by video link by Russian Aerospace Forces Chief of Staff Colonel-General Viktor Afzalov. Afzalov has been in post for at least four years, but this is probably his first public appearance with Gerasimov.”
The briefing added: “Afzalov is deputy to Commander-in-Chief Russian Aerospace Forces, General Sergei Surovikin. Afzalov’s increased public profile, while Surovikin’s whereabouts remains unclear, adds further weight to the hypothesis that Surovikin has been sidelined following the mutiny.”
Ukrainian forces were reported to be making limited gains in their counter-offensive in the east of the country.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least one person was killed today in a third successive night of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital.
Air defences shot down 20 drones launched by Russia to attack Kyiv and the surrounding region, as well as two Kalibr missiles in other parts of the country, the air force said.
But falling debris from the downed drones caused fires in the capital, and a body was recovered in the historic Podil district, according to civic chiefs.
“This night, Russian terrorists again resorted to a mass attack. The enemy attacked the Kyiv region with drones and missiles. The air alert lasted more than three hours," Ruslan Kravchenko, the governor of the Kyiv region, said on the Telegram messaging app.
A Kalibr missile and several drones were shot down in the Mykolayiv region in southern Ukraine, but a school and about 10 private houses were damaged by falling debris, President Volodymyr Zelensky's office said.
