Russian President Vladimir Putin has allegedly fired Colonel-General Mykhailo Teplinsky, who is considered one of the most capable commanders of the Russian forces invading Ukraine, British intelligence services have reported.

In its latest assessment of Putin’s war on February 24 last year, the British Ministry of Defense noted that Teplinski had probably been relieved of his post as operational commander in Ukraine.

Teplinsky was the officer responsible for overseeing the withdrawal of Russian troops from the west bank of the Dnieper in November, which, despite rumors on Russian Telegram channels about an outbreak of panic, ended successfully and without significant casualties.

In Russia, Teplinsky was assessed as a capable and skillful commander, and the British Ministry of Defense also noted that it is currently unclear whether he has retained his position as commander of the Russian Airborne Forces and Airborne Forces.

The British ministry said his release may be related to the tasks assigned to the Russian Airborne Forces, which are often used to defend positions traditionally assigned to motorized infantry units.

“Teplinskyi’s dismissal is likely to be another symptom of continuing divisions among the high command of the Russian operation, as General Valery Gerasimov tries to impose his personal authority over the campaign,” concluded the Ministry of Defense in London.

The Russian general commanded the “distorted” elite troops

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in the United States noted as early as mid-May of last year that Russian forces had exhausted reserves and began to mix soldiers with different training, qualifying it as a “shocking” distortion of the airborne forces. troops, one of the forces of the Russian elite.

“The distortion of elite amphibious units by mercenaries is shocking and would be the clearest indication that Russia has exhausted its available reserves of combat-ready troops,” ISW said on May 15, also saying that mercenaries from the Wagner group were included in the amphibious assault. troops to compensate for the losses incurred.

The Russian Airborne Forces were at the center of some of the biggest setbacks for the Moscow invasion force, including a failed attempt to capture Gostomel Airport near Kyiv in the early days of the war.

But military analysts attribute much of its later failure to the misuse of elite troops who were thrown into missions better suited to infantry forces supported by armored vehicles.

The combat operations in Ukraine have also shown that the few armored units of the Airborne Forces are extremely vulnerable on the modern battlefield, they can be easily disabled by Ukrainian forces with heavy losses among the invading forces.

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