MOSCOW: A senior Russian general said on Thursday that he has been fired after telling army laders the truth about the dire situation on the front line in Ukraine.
Major General Ivan Popov was the commander of the 58th Army, which has been fightingdeployed in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
The general said in a In a voice note that he raised questions about high casualty rate and lack of artillery support. It was important either to keep silence and be a coward or to say it the way it is, BBC reported.
Popov added that he had no right to lie in the name his dead comrades in arms, so he expressed his thoughts about the existing problems.
The voice note was shared on Telegram by Russian MP Andrei Gurulyov, who is a former army commander and frequent commentator on state TV. The timing of the message recording is unclear.
Among the problems Major General Popov said he underlined to his superiors were the lack of counter battery systems to assist in repel Ukrainian artillery attacks, and a lack of army intelligence.
General accuses top Russian commanders of treason
The general said his dismissal was demanded by top commanders – who he blamed for treason – and approved by the defence minister of Russia Sergei Shoigu.
The military bloggers in Russia said that the order to remove Major General Popov had come from the Russian armed forces’ head General Valery Gerasimov.
They said General Gerasimov accused Major General Popov of alarmism and blackmailing top management after he underlined the need to rotate soldiers on the front line for a longer period of time and had suffered considerable losses.
Major General Popov said that the senior chiefs apparently felt some kind of danger from him and quickly got an order from the defence minister in just one day and fired him.
He added that the Ukrainian military could not break through the Russian ranks at the front but its senior chief hit it from the rear.
The defence ministry of Russia did not comment yet.
