Putin sacks Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, left, and Sergei Shoigu - Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

Vladimir Putin has fired his defence minister as Russian troops seize villages in a surprise border raid that raised fears of an attack on the second city of Kharkiv.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that Sergei Shoigu had been moved from the post he has held since 2012 and would instead become the secretary of Russia’s security council.

“Putin decided that the Russia ministry of defence should be headed by a civilian, the department should be open to innovation and advanced ideas,” he said late on Sunday.

Mr Shoigu had been in charge of modernising the Russian army but the initial full-scale invasion of Ukraine was considered by many analysts to be a failure on his watch.

Last month Mr Shoigu’s deputy was arrested for corruption, making him increasingly vulnerable to being replaced.

Analysts had said that with his forces on the front foot in Ukraine, and facing little opposition at home, Putin was confident enough to move forward with the sacking of his defence minister, a move widely expected.

Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, said: “Sergei Shoigu has overseen over 355k casualties amongst his own soldiers and mass civilian suffering with an illegal campaign in Ukraine.

“Russia needs a defence minister who would undo that disastrous legacy and end the invasion - but all they’ll get is another of Putin’s puppets.”

Andrei Belousov to replace Shoigu

Mr Peskov said that Andrei Belousov, previously a deputy prime minister and an economist, would replace Mr Peskov.

Mr Shoigu’s switch to secretary of Russia’s security council also means a demotion for Nikolai Patrushev, considered a Kremlin hawk and hardcore Putin ally.

The cabinet reshuffle comes five days after Putin’s inauguration as Russian president and as his forces announced the capture of four more villages in a border zone near Kharkiv, bringing the total number of villages captured in Russia’s surprise three-day cross-border assault to nine.

Ukraine has rushed reinforcements to the Russian border.

The villages near the second city of Kharkiv were under “round the clock” fire, Ukrainian official warned as desperate residents were evacuated under heavy shelling.

Alexander Syrsky, commander of Ukraine’s military, said that the situation had “worsened significantly” in the border area.

“The situation is difficult but the Ukrainian Defense Forces are doing everything to hold defensive lines and positions and inflict defeat on the enemy,” he said.

Both sides said that they had rushed extra equipment, weapons and soldiers to the area, effectively marking the opening of a new front line in the war.

Andrei Belousov is set to be Russia's new defence minister - Pool Sputnik/Ekaterina Shtukina

One Ukrainian soldier confirmed that the Russian attack had come as a surprise.

“There was no first line of defence,” he told the BBC. “We saw it. The Russians just walked in.”

Fighting on the front line has focussed on the Donbas region, around Chasiv Yar and Avdiivka and towards Kupiansk, and analysts were split over Russia’s ambitions with its attack from its Belgorod region towards Kharkiv on Friday.

Some argued that the attack was a diversionary tactic to pull Ukrainian forces away from the main Russian effort in Donbas but others said that Kharkiv may be a target.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War said that the Russian forces did not appear to be large enough to capture the city, although they still posed a significant threat.

“The proximity of Kharkiv City to the border magnifies the significance of limited Russian tactical gains,” it said. “Russian forces do not have to advance much further to begin threatening Kharkiv City with routine shelling.”

Russian forces have enjoyed an advantage in soldier numbers and weapons over the past six months because of a delay in US military aid reaching Ukraine as well as Ukrainian army recruitment problems.

In Belgorod, a city in Russia 20 miles north of the border with Ukraine where fighting has focussed, an alleged Ukrainian missile hit a residential block on Sunday.

Russia’s emergency service said that at least 20 people had been injured in the alleged attack and seven people had been killed.

Ukraine-based analysts have said that the bomb may have been accidentally dropped on Belgorod by a Russian warplane aiming for towns in Ukraine.

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