A leading Russian general purged by Vladimir Putin has been found dead.
Colonel General Gennady Zhidko, 58, died after a ‘lengthy illness’ on August 16, 2023, according to Russian online news outlet Readovka.
Zhidko briefly led the invasion of Ukraine as commander of the Southern Grouping of Forces before giving way to General Sergei ‘Armageddon’ Surovikin in October.
The 58-year-old also served as the Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria in 2016, and in 2018 was appointed Commander of the Eastern Military District.
The high-ranking official – who was awarded the highest honorary title, the Hero of Russia, for his service in 2017 – later became deputy minister of defence in 2021.
Gennady Zhidko, Hero of Russia and 2022 Commander of Eastern Military District died at 58
Vladimir Putin congratulates Major General Gennady Zhidko after awarding him the title of the Hero of the Russian Federation at the State Kremlin Palace December 28, 2017
Zhidko was ousted from his role in Ukraine in October 2022 – as commander of Putin’s ‘special military operation’ – after the failure to grab the city of Kharkiv.
He had been seen as in charge since April after taking over from ousted General Alexander Dvornikov, aka the ‘Butcher of Syria’.
The role led to Western sanctions against Zhidko.
Surovikin, who replaced him, was later demoted from the role by chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov.
Surovikin remained his deputy but is believed to have been detained in June amid suspicion he knew of plans to stage a coup against Putin’s regime by Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Little had been seen of Zhidko in recent months.
His death was confirmed by the loyalist governor of Khabarovsk region Mikhail Degtyarev, who expressed his condolences, but there was no official announcement.
The reports did not say where Zhidko died.
The commander was seen as having one of the best military brains in Russia.
News of the Zhidko’s death comes as Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea port infrastructure and facilities Kyiv uses to export grain. Pictured: Damaged warehouses in a port on the Danube river, in southern Odesa region on Wednesday
The possibility of a Russian attack on cargo ships in the Black Sea increased after Moscow said it fired warning shots from a warship at a cargo vessel heading towards Izmail, Turkey last week. Pictured: The cargo ship that was targeted by Russian forces on Tuesday last week
News of the Zhidko’s death comes as Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea port infrastructure and facilities Kyiv uses to export grain through the Danube river.
The governor of the Odesa region said Wednesday that Russian attack drones had damaged grain facilities at a river port near the Romanian border.
The air force meanwhile said it had downed 13 Russian drones over Odesa and the neighbouring Mykolaiv region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strikes, adding that ‘every Russian attack on them is a blow to world food prices, it is a blow to social and political stability in Africa and Asia’.
The possibility of a Russian attack on cargo ships in the Black Sea increased after Moscow said it fired warning shots from a warship at a cargo vessel heading towards Izmail, Turkey last week.
Russia issued its maritime threat after scuppering a key deal last month brokered by the UN and Turkey, which guaranteed safe passage for grain shipments from three Ukrainian ports.
Kyiv said on Wednesday that a civilian cargo vessel had exited its southern port of Odesa on Wednesday despite warnings from Russia that its navy could target ships using Ukraine’s Black Sea export hubs.
The announcement, which raises the spectre of a standoff with Russian warships, came hours after Ukraine said it had liberated the village of Urozhaine as part of a grinding push against Moscow’s forces along the southern front.
‘Our defenders are entrenched at the outskirts. The offensive continues,’ Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said on social media.
The Donetsk region – which has faced the brunt of fighting in recent months – is one of four Ukrainian regions the Kremlin claimed to have annexed last year. Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers preparing to board a pickup truck in the direction of Torske frontline on Tuesday
Ukrainian soldiers fire the SPG recoilless gun at a forest in the direction of Torske frontline, as the Russia-Ukraine war continues in Donetsk on Tuesday
A Ukrainian soldier prepares GSP shells in the direction of Torske frontline on Tuesday
Malyar’s announcement comes a day after Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said Ukraine’s military resources were ‘almost exhausted’, despite receiving Western arms deliveries.
Moscow did not confirm the takeover, saying only that its forces were continuing to engage Ukraine’s forces around the village.
The Donetsk region – which has faced the brunt of fighting in recent months – is one of four Ukrainian regions the Kremlin claimed to have annexed last year.
Russian attacks in the last 24 hours killed four people and wounded seven, its governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said Wednesday.
Further west of Urozhaine, Ukrainian forces have also been fighting to push back Russian forces from the north and south of the war-battered town of Bakhmut.
Russian troops captured it in May after a months-long battle but immediately Ukrainian forces began clawing back ground around its flanks.
Russian forces have been pushing back in the northern Kharkiv region, spurring local authorities to urge vulnerable residents to evacuate.
Russia’s FSB security service said it had ‘eliminated’ four Ukrainian ‘saboteurs’ who tried to cross into Russia’s western Bryansk region from northern Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported.
The newest Russian airborne combat vehicle BMD-4M fires during a dynamic display of military equipment at the International Military-Technical Forum on Wednesday
Russia also said its air defence systems had downed several drones overnight near Moscow, in the latest of a string of aerial attacks that have targeted Russia’s urban centres.
At an exhibition in the Moscow region, Russia showcased Western military hardware seized from Ukraine.
Among the ‘trophies’, according to the Russian ministry of defence, was an American M113 armoured carrier, an Australian Bushmaster armoured car and a Swedish CV90-40 combat vehicle.
Also in Moscow, a Russian court sentenced a young man to ten years in jail for trying to set fire to a military registration office, independent rights group OVD-Info said Wednesday.…
