Moscow appoints new commander of forces in southern Ukraine
Col. Gen. Oleg Makarevich, who commanded Russia’s Dnepr army group, has been replaced by Airborne Forces (VDV) commander Col. Gen. Mikhail Teplinsky, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Oct. 30, citing unnamed military sources.
He is likely now to oversee Moscow's forces fighting in Ukraine's Kherson and Zaporizhzhya oblasts.
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Pro-Kremlin military blogger Rybar said that Makarevich was probably replaced after Ukraine managed to secure at least a limited foothold on the left bank of the Dnipro Rover in Kherson Oblast.
“The results on the ground did not correspond to the information provided by the [previous] Dnepr group’s command,” Vladimir Rogov, a Kremlin-appointed “official” in partially occupied Kherson Oblast wrote on Telegram. He said the reshuffle followed [Russian dictator Vladimir] Putin’s recent visit to the army command’s headquarters in Rostvov-on-Don, which oversees Moscow's campaign in Ukraine.
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In a recent interview with Ukrainian TV broadcaster 1+1, Ukrainian Defense Intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov described Teplinsky as one of the "smart" Russian generals who had been removed from decision-making after the June Wagner mutiny.
“They are [our] enemies, but they are professional people,” Budanov said about Teplinsky and other senior Russian commanders.
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“Their removal is not good for Russia. It is good for us. There are only a few people in the Kremlin who are in favor of the war.”
Teplinsky's first career achievements in the Russian army came during the 1990s Chechen wars. A year before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the general returned to the Eastern Military District, where in February 2013 he was appointed commander of the 36th Combined Arms Army with the rank of lieutenant general.
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