Moscow has begun sacking commanders of military units involved in the fighting in Ukraine as part of a growing crackdown on high-level insubordination against top officials in the Defense Ministry.
The firings involve commanders from some of the Russian army’s most combat-effective units, such as the recent dismissal of Gen. Ivan Popov of the 58th Combined Arms Army.
Gen. Popov attempted to bypass Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, and bring his complaints about the frontlines in western Zaporizhia directly to President Vladimir Putin, according to the Institute for the Study of War think tank.
Maj. Gen. Vladimir Seliverstov, commander of the 106th Guards Airborne Division, also was reportedly sacked as part of the purge of top commanders, the ISW reported.
“These formations and units are conducting defensive and offensive operations in key sectors of the front in Ukraine,” the ISW said Sunday. “The 58th CAA has conducted a relatively successful defense against Ukrainian counteroffensives in western Zaporizhia Oblast.”
After his firing, Gen. Popov said his key complaint had been about the lack of artillery protection for his troops. Detecting and striking an opponent’s artillery is key to survivability on a battlefield.
“A key component of this approach is counter-battery radar, which allows commanders to rapidly locate enemy gun lines,” British military officials said Monday.
Gen. Popov complained that his troops were not supplied with an adequate number of counter-battery radars to offset the increasing number of U.S. and NATO-supplied artillery units that Ukraine was putting on the battlefield.
“Russia is suffering from a worsening shortage of counter-battery radars, especially its modern ZOOPARK-1M. Only a handful of the originally-deployed ZOOPARK fleet are likely to remain operational in Ukraine,” British intelligence officials tweeted in their latest assessment of the battlefield.
Mr. Putin established the precedent for disregarding the military chain of command by regularly bypassing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Gerasimov, ISW analysts said.
“Putin had cultivated an environment in which military personnel, officials, and even Russian war correspondents bypassed Shoigu and Gerasimov to present Putin their understandings of the current state of the war and recommendations for what to do,” the ISW said.
The Kremlin’s “chronic disregard” for the chain of command is likely hindering Mr. Shoigu and Gen. Gerasimov in their attempts to suppress insubordination and establish full control over the Russian military in Ukraine, the ISW said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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