Russia dismisses General Popov, commander of army that fought in Zaporizhzhia

This was reported by the Russian media outlet Medusa.

He told about his suspension in an address to the military. 

"I'm honestly telling you - there was a difficult situation with the senior officers, when it was necessary either to keep silent and hide what they did not want to hear, or to call it like it is. In the name of you, in the name of all our fallen combat friends, I had no right to lie, so I identified all the problematic issues that exist in the army today in terms of combat work and logistics," the commander said.

He said that the main problem of the Russian army is the lack of counter-battery combat, the absence of artillery reconnaissance stations and the massive deaths of Russian soldiers from Ukrainian artillery.

Popov claims that due to his frank pointing out of problems, the Russian military leadership "felt a danger in him."

"I also reported a number of other problems, expressed it at the highest level - frankly, extremely harshly. In this regard, apparently, the senior commanders felt some kind of danger in me and quickly, in one day's time, prepared an order from the Minister of Defense, took me out of favor and got rid of me," Popov says.

The ex-commander says that the Russian army was "attacked from the rear by a senior officer, who treacherously and vilely beheaded the army at the most difficult moment."

"Medusa notes that earlier the Grey Zone telegram channel, associated with Wagner's PMC, reported Popov's dismissal. According to the channel, Popov was dismissed after he made a report to the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and, in particular, proposed to rotate Russian units on the front line. According to Grey Zone, Gerasimov said that Popov was "engaged in disinformation and panic-mongering."