The high command of the Russian Armed Forces has dismissed Major General Ivan Popov for revealing information about the complicated situation of his army on the Ukrainian front. “I tell you honestly, there has been a complex situation with the leadership: you had to be a coward, shut up and say what they wanted to hear or call things by their name”, says Popov in an audio published on the channel of the Russian deputy Andrei Guruliov.
The general points out that he drew the attention of the high command to the “main tragedy” of the war, which he defined with the following words: “It is about lack of counter-battery fighting, the lack of artillery exploration and the massive injuries and deaths of our brothers by enemy artillery.
The commander of the 58th army of the Russian Armed Forces has been considered “a danger” for his statements. As he declares, “in a single day, they hastily drafted an order. The Minister of Defense (Sergei Shoigu) signed a provision and they got rid of me.”
Ivan Popov, commander of the 58th Army of the Russian armed formations, currently in Zaporizhzhia, who was removed from his position earlier today says that Ukrainian artillery and missile strikes are causing significant casualties to the occupiers holding defense.
Explaining in… pic.twitter.com/iKFP0KtlnQ
—Dmitry (@wartranslated) July 12, 2023
The Russian 58th Army is fighting on the Zaporizhia front in southeastern Ukraine. “As many regimental commanders of the various divisions have said: the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine could not with our army, but our top commander hit us from the rearwhich has headed the Army in a creeping and treasonous way at the most difficult moment,” Popov denounced.
The vice president of the Senate and secretary of the General Council of the ruling United Russia party, Andrei Turchak, today lashed out at deputy Guruliov for turning Popov’s message into a “political show.”
“General Popov’s message was not public and was posted in private chats of the commanders and soldiers of the 58th Army. That Deputy Guruliov received it and made a political show out of it will remain on his conscience,” Turchak wrote on his YouTube channel. Telegram.
He added that “Ivan (Popov), on the other hand, has a clear conscience. The homeland can be proud of commanders like him. The Army has been and is outside of politics.”
