The “Center” group, operating in the northwest and central parts of the Donetsk region, will be led by Andrey Ivanayev instead of 55-year-old Valery Solodchuk, who was previously the leader of the “East” group, Kremlin host announced during a meeting with the Defense Ministry leadership.
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“The ‘Center’ group is one of our main forces, performing the most important and responsible tasks related to the liberation of the Donetsk People’s Republic. And the question of who will lead the group is complicated,” said V. Putin.
V. Solodchuk, who is accused of involvement in the Bucha massacre, as seen from V. Putin’s statements, has been removed from direct command of the army and the order will be issued to the combined rear service of the Defense Ministry.
V. Putin assigned the “Vostok” group, operating in the southern Donetsk direction near the administrative border of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, to its chief of staff, Petr Bolgaev.
Appointed new drone forces commander
High-ranking Russian military officer Denis Liamin will lead the new Russian Armed Forces drone forces, V. Putin indicated.
“It is well known that we decided to create a new branch of forces – drone forces. The task was set to find a person who has distinguished himself best in this work. One of the most qualified specialists in this field is considered to be Denis Igorevich Liamin, who until now fought in the ‘Center’ group as chief of staff,” explained the Kremlin host.
“I want to express hope that you, as well as my minister and the chief of the general staff, being one of the most qualified specialists, will complete the formation of this new drone forces branch and will lead it in the near future,” he added.
Why decisions were made
As “The Moscow Times” writes, the Kremlin decided to change commanders shortly after the pace of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine sharply and significantly slowed down.
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According to data from the Ukrainian monitoring project “DeepState,” in July, Russian general staff generals managed to occupy only 88 sq.km of Ukrainian territory, in June – 57 sq.km, and in May the Russian army even suffered an 11 sq.km territorial loss.
For comparison: from January to April, Russian forces occupied 126–245 sq.km of Ukrainian territory per month, and at the end of last year – 500 sq.km per month.
The news agency “Reuters” reminds that the Russian general staff promised V. Putin last year that the Ukrainian front would soon collapse, and the “fortress belt” cities – Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Sloviansk, and Kramatorsk – would come under Russian control.
This year these deadlines were postponed first until autumn, and later until the end of the year. However, even these dates are considered unrealistic by some officers, warning that the war for Donbas will continue at least until 2027, Kremlin-affiliated sources told “Bloomberg” journalists.
According to agency interlocutors, despite the offensive stagnation and increasingly painful Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory, V. Putin remains firmly determined to fully occupy Donbas and does not intend to conduct any peace negotiations until the Donetsk region is under his control.
According to sources from the “Financial Times,” V. Putin’s ambitions may be much broader and aim to establish control over Ukraine up to the left bank of the Dnipro, including Kyiv and Odesa.
“He is told that the Ukrainians are exhausted, the front is collapsing, and they are running out of people,” one of the publication’s interlocutors described the situation.
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