Vladimir Putin has fired his favourite army general and hired the "Butcher of Mariupol" to replace him.
The president sacked deputy general Dmitry Bulgakov, 68, to bring in Mikhail Mizintsev after a string of failures during the Russian war in Ukraine.
Bulgakov has been made a scapegoat for the country's failures during the conflict.
Now the dangerous Mizintsev, who was recently sanctioned by Britain for his role in blitzing of Mariupol, has taken up the new role.
The 59-year-old's promotion has been welcomed by pro-war hardliners in Moscow after repeated military reversals and humiliation in Ukraine.
The appointment follows Putin breaking his promise not to mobilise reservists by forcing at least 300,000 to report for war duty as conscripts.
The Kremlin leader has also taken powers to permit martial law in Russian regions, though has not made this move yet.
"Army General Dmitry Bulgakov has been relieved of the post of deputy minister of defence of the Russian Federation in connection with his transition to another job,” an official statement revealed.
Putin got rid of Bulgakoc after 14 years in charge of the armed forces, which was seen as a positive move by pro-war hardliners, for botching sending supplies to Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Mizintsev will be seen as putting pressure on defence minister Sergei Shoigu, 67, who some sources claimed has begged Putin to resign.
For now Shoigu remains in post despite strong suggestions he has been sidelined from day to day control of the war.
Mizintsev led the operation in Syria before the Russian-Ukrainian war, and was responsible for the destruction of Aleppo.
He gave the order to strike at a maternity hospital, drama theatre, a children's hospital and peaceful homes in Mariupol.
Mizintsev, born in 1962, studied in Soviet Ukraine at the Kyiv Higher All-Arms Command School and served in East Germany, before being made a lieutenant general in 2014.
