President Vladimir Putin, enraged by military setbacks in Ukraine, has reportedly launched a purge of some of Russia's most powerful officials.
On Thursday, reports in Ukrainian media claimed that Putin had fired Roman Gavrilov, the deputy chief of Rosgvardia, the Russian national guard.
Rosgvardia had been deployed into Ukraine alongside the regular military and suffered heavy losses as Ukraine resisted with unexpected ferocity.
Before Gavrilov's departure, there were reports that other senior military and intelligence officials had faced Putin's wrath over the invasion.
Andrei Soldatov, a Russian Moscow-based journalist and expert on Russian security services, tweeted last week that Putin had punished two senior FSB officials over intelligence failings in Ukraine.
Although the Kremlin hasn't confirmed any internal reprisals, Putin has spoken broadly of purging Russian society of traitors.
The failings have resulted in the Russian military making, at best, faltering progress in its invasion of Ukraine. »
