A Russian commander who headed up the invasion of Ukraine and was later ousted by Vladimir Putin has been found dead.
On August 16, according to the Russian online news outlet Readovka, Colonel General Gennady Zhidko passed away at the age of 58 after a “lengthy illness.”
Before General Sergei “Armageddon” Surovikin took over in October, the general oversaw the Southern Grouping of Forces and temporarily oversaw the invasion.
In October 2022, he was relieved of command of Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine after failing to take control of Kharkiv.
His passing occurs as Russia intensifies its attacks on the infrastructures used by Ukraine to transport grain through the Danube River and Black Sea ports.
Zhidko’s appointment was deemed “a drastic step” at the time according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), as he was a political officer rather than a unit commander in charge of overseeing troops. He previously served as the chief of the Russian Armed Forces’ Main Military-Political Directorate, which is in charge of indoctrinating the Russian military with its ideologies and maintaining morale. He simultaneously held the position of Deputy Minister of Defense for Russia.
Tass claims that Zhidko previously held the position of Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria, for which he was awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation award, which is the country’s highest honor.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.