Putin fires top general described as a ‘crazy idiot who sent soldiers to die’ during failed offensive on Vugledar in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin allegedly fired Colonel-General Rustam Muradov for failing in the offensive on the Ukrainian town of  Vugledar.

Colonel-General Rustam Muradov has been relieved of his post as commander of the Eastern Military District (VVO) by Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to The Moscow Times, citing two military sources, the officer was also removed from his command in Ukraine.

It was suggested that 50-year-old Muradov – a former commander of Russian forces in Syria and later a peacekeeper in Nagorno-Karabakh – was sacked after his offensive on the town of Vugledar in eastern Ukraine failed.

In February, Muradov directed his army into minefields just outside the town while under fire from Ukrainian artillery. As a result, he lost two elite marine brigades, and 103 pieces of equipment. According to Oryx estimates, these included 36 tanks in three days. At the same time, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost only 20 pieces of equipment.

Earlier, the military Z-channels reported Muradov’s resignation just 7 months after his appointment on October 5, 2022. The general was allegedly removed from his post due to military setbacks and losses, a source in the BVO confirmed to The Moscow Times.

The capture of Vuhledar could allow the Russian army to bypass the Ukrainian fortifications around Avdiivka and open the way for a broad offensive into the Donbas. Muradov’s actions caused the loss of 500 people a day according to the British Ministry of Defence.

A source told the news outlet: “Muradov was suspended because he was a crazy idiot who sent soldiers to die. Many complained about him”.

The battle for Vuhledar, some 100 miles south-west of Bakhmut, is said to have been one of the most embarrassing defeats suffered by Moscow in the entire war. Igor Girkin-Strelkov, the former defence minister of the DPR – who was convicted in The Hague for downing a Boeing jet aircraft over the Donbas – called the commanding officers near Vuhledar ‘complete cretins’.

Michael Kofman, the military analyst, commented: “Muradov repeatedly sent forces to attack in small mechanised formations through minefields and open terrain, and they accomplished nothing in Vuhledar”.

However, a change in commander in an important sector of the front is unlikely to help the army make any progress, he added: “There are key problems with the quality of forces, with junior commanders, which cannot be easily solved. It’s not just a matter of changing tactics”.

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