The commander of Russia’s airborne troops is dealing with requires his firing amid proof {that a} newly fashioned division in his command suffered “exceptionally heavy losses” and failed to realize its goal throughout its fight debut in Ukraine, in line with a Western intelligence evaluation.
Britain’s Defense Ministry mentioned within the evaluation circulated Thursday that Russian army bloggers — a few of whom have the ear of President Vladimir Putin — are demanding the resignation of Col. Gen. Mikhail Teplinsky, who at present heads the Russian army’s “Dnipro Group of Forces” in Ukraine.
The calls for come within the wake of an early December battlefield failure of Russia’s 104th Guards Airborne Division whereas combating in Eastern Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast, in line with the British evaluation posted on the social media platform X.
“This is a blow to Teplinsky’s reputation as one of the more capable Russian field commanders of the war,” the evaluation mentioned.
The 104th Guards Airborne Division operation in query occurred after the division joined Russia’s Dnipro Group and did not dislodge a newly established Ukrainian army bridgehead close to the village of Krynky on the east financial institution of the Dnipro River.
The division “was reportedly poorly supported by airpower and artillery, while many of the troops were highly inexperienced,” British officers mentioned.
In August 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu introduced plans to reestablish the 104th Guards Airborne Division, which had been downsized to a smaller, brigade-sized formation in 1998.
Following the division’s reestablishment, British intelligence analysts predicted the division would doubtless be poorly educated and unable to fulfill the “elite” requirements of different Russian airborne forces.
