“Dead and injured by enemy artillery”: Because he publicly expresses dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war, Ivan Popov has to leave his post. The chief of staff accuses him of “scaremongering”.
Russia’s military leadership has reportedly fired the commander-in-chief of the Russian 58th Army stationed in southern Ukraine, Ivan Popov. Addressing the soldiers in a voice message distributed on Duma Deputy Andrei Gurulev’s Telegram channel on Wednesday, Popov said he had been relieved of his post because of his criticism of the inefficient conduct of the war.
“I have drawn attention to the greatest tragedy of modern warfare – the lack of artillery detection and countermeasures and the multiple deaths and injuries at the hands of enemy artillery.” After that, the Ministry of Defense got rid of him.
Popov, whose army was fighting in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia, harshly criticized his superiors: “The soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces could not break through our front, but the commander-in-chief dealt us a treacherous blow from behind, smashing the army at the most difficult moment of the highest tension has decapitated.” Other Telegram channels had previously reported that Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov had described Popov as a “panic” and replaced him.
Popov’s dismissal and criticism fits into the picture that military experts are painting of the Russian army a good 16 months after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine ordered by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
According to this, large parts of the Russian armed forces are dissatisfied with their own military leadership and their embellished situation reports. The unsuccessful uprising of the Wagner private army, which had been fighting for Moscow for a long time, was also explicitly directed against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who accused the mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin of corruption and incompetence.
Source: Stern
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