Russia arrests military commander over frontline failures - ISW

This is stated in the report of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

According to the Russian state news agency TASS, law enforcement officers arrested Peshkov and charged him with stealing food rations for Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. However, the Russian colonel pleaded not guilty. 

ISW analysts emphasize that Peshkov's arrest is likely part of the Kremlin's deliberate efforts to remove high-ranking Russian officials from the Russian Defense Ministry.

According to them, this can be used to indirectly punish commanders for the failures of their units or to maintain a cadre of loyal and compliant officers within the highest ranks of the Russian military. 

Units of the 144th Motorized Rifle Division have reportedly been conducting offensive operations in the area of Terny and Nevske in Luhansk region with limited success and have recently lost some territory to limited Ukrainian counterattacks in the area.

• Also recently, Russia's former Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov was detained and arrested in Moscow in connection with a corruption case.