The Russian Defense Ministry is being fine-tuned for the ongoing hostilities, the president has said.
President Vladimir Putin has announced changes among senior military commanders of the Russian armed forces, which he described as fine-tuning of the Defense Ministry for the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
The reshuffle was made public during a government meeting on Wednesday. It includes appointing a single person in charge of military logistics and arms supplies. He named Col. Gen. Valery Solodchuk, the commander of the ‘Center’ group of forces, to the position.
“Leading the logistics is a combat mission too,” Putin said, addressing the general directly. “I am confident that you will demonstrate your best qualities while organizing it.”
Col. Gen. Andrey Ivanaev, the commander of the ‘Vostok’ group, will be taking Solodchuk’s previous job. Ivanaev recommended Maj. Gen. Pyotr Bolgarev, the chief of staff of the Vostok group, as his replacement, which Putin approved.
Putin also appointed Col. Gen. Denis Lyamin as the commander of the Russian Unmanned Systems Forces, a new military arm officially created last November.
Defense Minister Andrey Belousov and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov attended the meeting with the president alongside the appointed commanders.
The reshuffle in Russia comes as Kiev faces growing political and military turbulence. Last month, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky ordered a 40-day “pressure campaign” involving intensified long-range strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, retail warehouses, cargo ships and other targets, as well as sabotage operations on Russian soil.
The 40 days ended this week with mixed results. Critics have argued that Russia’s retaliatory strikes inflicted greater economic damage, including a de facto blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, than what Kiev managed to achieve through its own operations.
During the offensive, Zelensky also carried out his latest cabinet reshuffle, triggering a political crisis and mass protests in Kiev after former Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov publicly opposed his dismissal and criticized Gen. Aleksandr Syrsky. Zelensky subsequently removed Syrsky as commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, but declined to reinstate Fedorov.
