The commander of the Western Military District has changed for the fourth time since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
Colonel-General Kuzovlev was removed from the post of commander of the troops of the Western Military District. He stayed in office for one month.
In his place, Lieutenant General Nikiforov headed the Western Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Previously, Nikiforov held the post of Chief of Staff — First Deputy Commander of the Eastern Military District. According to intelligence, today he is in the command post of the troop group "West" in Boguchary, Voronezh region.
The formal reason for Kuzovlyovʼs dismissal was the failure to prepare for the offensive in the Lyman direction.
"But in fact, this is a manifestation of an internal political struggle in the top leadership of the Russian Federation — a person from the Shoigu-Gerasimov orbit is being replaced by a candidate from the Surovikin-Prigozhin group," the intelligence agency noted.
Nikiforov became the fourth commander of the Western Military District since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
- Nikiforov was preceded by: Colonel-General Oleksandr Zhuravlev — from November 2018 to July 2022, but in fact he was suspended from his duties from April 2022; Lieutenant General Andriy Sychevoi — from July to August 2022; Lieutenant General Roman Berdnikov — from August to September 2022; colonel-general Serhiy Kuzovlev — from November to December 2022.