The Kyiv Post’s Stefan Korshak reports that a senior Russian general once favoured by the Kremlin but widely disliked by his troops for brutal frontal assaults, Lt. Gen. Sukhrab Akhmedov, has reportedly been dismissed after four years in top command roles in Ukraine, according to Russian mil-bloggers and independent media, though no official statement has been issued.
The fast-rising officer from Dagestan with a background in elite Naval Infantry units, Akhmedov had no prior combat experience in Ukraine or Syria before 2022 but commanded the Kremlin-favoured 155th Marine Infantry Brigade and later led major operations in the war.
He participated in the failed early 2022 assault on Kyiv and subsequently oversaw costly attacks in northern Kyiv Oblast and eastern Donetsk, earning a reputation for prioritising results, however meagre, over troop casualties. In late 2022 and early 2023, marines from his former brigade publicly accused him of wasting lives in tactically ignorant offensives, particularly during disastrous assaults around Vuhledar that resulted in heavy losses of men and equipment.
Despite these criticisms, Akhmedov was promoted and continued to command large-scale operations, including armored assaults that Ukrainian forces repelled with mines, artillery, and missiles, inflicting devastating losses while suffering minimal casualties themselves. He also drew criticism in 2023 after troops he had ordered into parade formation were struck by Ukrainian missiles while waiting hours for his arrival, causing around 200 casualties.
Reassigned in 2024, Akhmedov later oversaw operations against a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, where counterattacks, including those led by North Korean units, suffered severe losses from Ukrainian drones. Nevertheless, he was awarded Russia’s Hero of Russia medal in July 2025 and briefly moved to a senior naval post before being sent back to eastern Ukraine in late 2025 to lead another struggling offensive, shortly before reports of his dismissal emerged.
(Telegram channel/ASTRA)
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