The Kremlin has found a replacement for the “Syrian butcher”. What is known about the new head of the Russian army in Ukraine

Instead of Russian General Alexander Dvornikov The grouping of Russian troops in Ukraine has been commanded by General Gennady Zhidko for a week now. He is the former commander of the Eastern Military District. Also, Zhidko was the chief of staff of the grouping of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Syria.

“NV” told what is known about the likely successor of Dvornikov – Gennady Zhidko.

Who is Gennady Zhidko?

Investigator Ruslan Levin said that about a week and a half ago he talked with his sources among the soldiers, who said that instead of Dvornikov, General Zhidko is now in command of this entire “operation”, the battle for Donbass.

“He is the former commander of the Eastern Military District, he was the commander of this district until November 2021, after which he was transferred to the post of Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia for military-political work. That is, he, in fact, is such a chief political officer, chief political officer of the Russian army “, Levin said.

It is known that in 2016 Zhidko was the chief of staff of the grouping of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Syria.

Biography Zhidko

• Worked his way up from platoon commander to division commander in the 27th Guards Motorized Rifle Division of the Volga and Volga-Ural Military Districts based in the village of Totskoye
• Totsky district of the Orenburg region. Then he was the commander of the 92nd motorized rifle regiment based in Dushanbe.
• In 1997 he graduated from the Military Academy of the Armored Forces named after Marshal of the Soviet Union R. Ya. Malinovsky, and in 2007 from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
• From August 2007 to July 2009 he commanded the 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division of the North Caucasian Military District based in Volgograd.
• From July 2009 to January 2011 he was deputy commander of the 20th Guards Army of the Moscow, then the Western military districts with headquarters in Voronezh.
• From January 2011 to January 2015, he was Chief of Staff – First Deputy Commander of the 6th Combined Arms Army of the Western Military District based in St. Petersburg.
• From January 2015 to September 2016, he was Chief of Staff – First Deputy Commander of the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army.
• From September 2016 to November 2017 he was commander of the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District with headquarters in Samara.
• On February 20, 2016 he was promoted to major general.
• In the same 2016, he was chief of staff of the grouping of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Syria.
• From November 22, 2017 to November 3, 2018, he was Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
• In June 2018, he was promoted to lieutenant general.
• In November 2018, he was appointed Commander of the Eastern Military District.
• In June 2020, he was promoted to Colonel General.
• On November 12, 2021, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation – Head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

What Gennady Zhidko looks like

Putin cleared out the “Syrian butcher”? The commander of the Russian army in Ukraine disappeared from the front

The Kremlin continues to clean up the ranks of the military command after the failures in Ukraine. Russian General Alexander Dvornikov, who was entrusted with command of the war on Ukrainian territory in April, has not appeared at the front for two weeks.according to The New York Times.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed a new commander, General Alexander Dvornikov, in April, in what many saw as recognition that Russia’s original military plan had failed.

Shortly after his appointment, General Dvornikov tried to get disparate air and ground units to coordinate their attacks, according to US officials. But he has not been seen for the past two weeks, leading some officials to wonder if he is still in charge of the war effort.

In the first weeks of the war, Russia conducted its military campaign from Moscow, and there was no central military commander on the ground who could command. In early April, after Russia’s logistical and morale problems became apparent, Putin assigned General Dvornikov to lead orderly military operations.

General Dvornikov began his career as a platoon leader in 1982 and later fought in Russia’s brutal second war in Chechnya. Moscow also sent him to Syria, where forces under his command were accused of targeting civilians.

In Ukraine, he established a more orderly process. Russian pilots began to coordinate with ground troops to achieve a similar goal in the eastern region of Donbass, and Russian units discussed common goals with each other.

However, these measures failed to change the nature of the Russian military, said Frederick Kagan, senior fellow and director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. According to him, the shortcomings of the Russian armed forces are deep and fundamental.

What is wrong with the Russian army

It is noted that the Russian armed forces follow a Soviet-style doctrinal method, according to which grassroots troops are not authorized to point out shortcomings in the strategy that should be obvious, or to make adjustments. According to the US military, Ukrainians, after seven years of training, along with military personnel from the US and other NATO countries, follow a more Western method and have shown particular flexibility in adapting to circumstances.

According to General Breedlove, the two-week combat pause after the Russian military abandoned the fight for Kyiv was not enough to turn the tide of the campaign, even with a more limited goal. When General Dvornikov took control, “the forces were thrown into battle too quickly. This decision probably came from Moscow.”

The Russian military, shattered and demoralized after three months of war, is making the same mistakes in its campaign to seize parts of eastern Ukraine that forced them to abandon their quest to take over the entire country.

A Pentagon spokesman said their “slow and forward” pace had worn them out and that the overall combat strength of the military had been reduced by about 20 percent. And since the war began, Russia has lost 1,000 tanks, a senior Pentagon official said last week.

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