General Alexander Dvornikov of the Russian Ground Forces, best known for his scorched-earth tactics in campaigns he led in Syria and Chechnya during his 44-year military career, was appointed supreme commander of the war in Ukraine in April. He lasted about seven weeks before being dismissed as part of what appeared to be a broader reorganization in response to heavy casualties and strategic failures.
Around the same time, another four-decade soldier, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, the commander-in-chief of the elite Airborne Forces, was relieved of his post after almost all Airborne Forces divisions suffered heavy casualties.
And just last week, Colonel-General Alexander Zhuravlev, the head of the Western Military District in charge of Kharkiv, where Russian forces lost huge areas in early September, was ousted after four years on the job, according to Russian business daily RBC.
Far from giving glory to Russia’s military leadership, the war in Ukraine is proving poisonous to top commanders, with at least eight generals fired, transferred or otherwise sidelined since the invasion began on February 24. Western governments have said at least 10 others were killed in action, a remarkably high number that military analysts say is evidence of serious strategic errors.
The uproar in the upper ranks of uniformed officers underscores Russia’s fundamental flaws in war planning and the dysfunctional chain of command that initially led to Moscow’s failure to achieve its primary military goal — to quickly seize Kiev and overthrow the Ukrainian government — and more recently in retreats on the eastern and southern fronts.
But the sackings also reflect a scramble by political elites to blame the costly and faltering war, while open criticism is growing louder, particularly among pro-war and propagandists.
Like their ill-prepared front-line forces, Russian armed forces commanders are proving easy targets, even as high-ranking political leaders, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov and President Vladimir Putin himself, had largely avoided direct criticism.
However, recent criticism of Shoigu has signaled that his job too may finally be in jeopardy.
As his troops withdraw, the Russian defense chief comes under pressure at home
Unlike in Ukraine, where top generals, including supreme commander Valery Zaluzhny and Oleksandr Syrsky, who led the recent offensive in Kharkiv, are now respected figures, it has often been difficult to know who is actually at war in Russia . Personnel changes are often carried out with little public announcement and seep into the Russian media with little or no explanation.
On Friday, RBC reported that the commander of Russia’s Eastern Military District, Colonel-General Alexander Chaiko, had been replaced by Lieutenant-General Rustam Muradov. The switch was not explained.
In a rare public announcement of personnel changes late last month, Russia’s defense ministry said it was removing the general in charge of “logistical support for the armed forces”, Dmitry Bulgakov, and appointing Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev in his place.
Mizintsev was an obscure figure before the Ukraine war but earned the cruel nickname “Butcher of Mariupol” after Ukrainian officials and activists accused him of orchestrating a brutal siege of the southern Ukrainian port city that killed thousands of civilians and destroyed apartment buildings became.
And on Friday, after weeks of speculation, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet admitted it had replaced its commander, Admiral Igor Osipov, with Vice Admiral Viktor Sokolov, who vowed to “increase the fleet’s combat readiness.”
In late April, Ukraine sank the fleet’s flagship cruiser Moskva with a bold but successful strike with two Neptun anti-ship missiles. On Navy Day in July, the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet was attacked by a makeshift combat drone that dropped an explosive device on the roof, a symbolic attack showing Ukraine’s ability to penetrate deep into Russian positions.
As the war in Ukraine falters, Russians are asking a risky question: could Putin fall?
Recent public announcements of layoffs may reflect a growing need to meet demands for blame and accountability. Such calls and criticism of the war effort in general have been intensified since Putin’s declaration last month of a partial military mobilization that prompted more than 200,000 military-age men to flee the country and angry complaints about men wrongly drafted into service Service and conscripts who receive poor treatment, including minimal food and rusting weapons.
After a long string of failures and few significant victories, the Russian generals now appear to have the knives amid criticism from prominent Russian military correspondents, state television propagandists and even members of the normally obedient parliament.
Two Russian lawmakers — Defense Committee Chairman Andrei Kartapolov and Anti-Corruption Committee member Vasily Piskarev — are meeting behind closed doors in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, to review the “supply situation for the Russian army.”
Kartapolov and Piskarev also sent a written request to the Attorney General, urging him to investigate “how funding was wasted behind the scenes” – alleging that commanders looted the military budget.
The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who sent his own fighters to Ukraine, slammed the commander of the Central Military District Alexander Lapin as a “talentless” leader and a product of “nepotism” in the leadership of the General Staff, e.g. using fighters from one of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian separatist areas without adequate support or preparation.
“The colonel-general deployed mobilized fighters of the Lugansk People’s Republic and other units on all borders of the Lyman direction, but failed to provide them with communications, coordination and proper supply of ammunition,” Kadyrov wrote in a scathing post last Saturday.
Critics, including Kadyrov and Kartapolov, have accused top officers of lying about what was happening at the front.
“It is necessary to stop lying,” said Kartapolov, the chairman of the defense committee, hitting Soloviev Live, an online channel run by leading state TV propagandist Vladimir Soloviev. “Almost all border villages of the Belgorod region were destroyed, but we learn about this from everyone: governors, telegram channels, military correspondents. But not the Defense Ministry,” Kartapolov said.
On another show this week, Soloviev said that “lying must be punished most severely at all levels.”
“I don’t claim to know the art of warfare, but what is the ingenious idea behind the General Staff’s plans now?” Soloviev asked rhetorically. “Do you think time is on our side? [Ukrainians] have concentrated weapons and mercenaries… and what have you been doing during that time?”
According to the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), an independent group that has been monitoring Russian military activities in Ukraine since 2014, Colonel-General Gennady Zhidko succeeded Dvornikov as commander-in-chief of the Russian war in May.
Dvornikov’s sacking may be related to the destruction of the 58th Combined Arms Army, normally stationed in southern Vladikavkaz, which was hailed as one of Russia’s most combat-ready armies and key to the 2008 invasion of Georgia, the BBC’s Russian service reported.
But Zhidko, who also held the title of deputy defense minister, which seems to be a devastating trend for generals in Ukraine, was in charge for about a month before more problems surfaced and he was demoted to head of the Eastern Military District.
It is not clear which general is currently in charge of the overall Russian war operation.
War in Ukraine: What you need to know
The newest: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed decrees annexing four occupied regions of Ukraine after staged referenda were widely denounced as illegal. Follow our live updates here.
The answer: The Biden administration on Friday announced a new round of sanctions against Russia in response to the annexations, targeting government officials and family members, Russian and Belarusian military officials and defense procurement networks. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said on Friday that Ukraine was requesting “accelerated entry” into NATO in an apparent response to the annexations.
In Russia: Putin on September 21 declared a military mobilization to call up up to 300,000 reservists in a dramatic attempt to reverse setbacks in his war against Ukraine. The announcement prompted an exodus of more than 180,000 people, mostly conscript men, and renewed protests and other acts of defiance against the war.
The fight: Ukraine launched a successful counteroffensive that forced a major Russian retreat in the northeastern Kharkiv region in early September, as troops fled towns and villages they had occupied since the early days of the war, leaving behind large amounts of military equipment.
Photos: Washington Post photographers have been on the ground since the war began – here is some of their most impressive work.
How can you help: Here are ways people in the US can support the people of Ukraine, as well as what people around the world have donated.
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