Putin replaces Sergei Shoigu as defense minister, appoints him as secretary of Russia’s national security council

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed replacing Sergei Shoigu as defense minister on Sunday and named him secretary of Russia’s national security council.

The appointment comes after Putin proposed naming Andrei Belousov as the country’s defense minister in place of Shoigu, who has held the position for years. The reshuffle comes as Putin begins his fifth presidential term and as the war in Ukraine drags on for its third year.

In accordance with Russian law, the entire Russian Cabinet resigned on Tuesday following Putin’s glittering inauguration into the Kremlin.

Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma’s Defense Committee, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti: “Since the president made such a decision, and the president, I want to remind you, is the Supreme Commander in Chief. This means that today , exactly such a person is needed as defense minister.”

The announcement came as Thousands of civilians have fled Russia’s renewed ground offensive in northeastern Ukraine, which has targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortars, officials said Sunday.

Intense battles forced at least one Ukrainian unit to withdraw in the Kharkiv region, surrendering more land to Russian forces in less defended settlements in the contested so-called gray zone along the Russian border.

On Sunday afternoon, the city of Vovchansk, one of the largest in the Northeast with a pre-war population of 17,000, emerged as a focal point in the battle.

Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of Kharkiv regional police, said Russian forces were on the outskirts of the city and approaching from three directions.

“Infantry fighting is already taking place,” he said.

A Russian tank was spotted along a main road leading into the city, Tymoshko said, illustrating Moscow’s confidence in deploying heavy weaponry.

An Associated Press team stationed in a nearby village saw plumes of smoke rising from the town as Russian forces launched projectiles. Evacuation teams worked around the clock throughout the day to get residents, most of whom were older, out of harm’s way.

At least 4,000 civilians have fled the Kharkiv region since Friday, when Moscow forces launched the operation, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in a statement on social media. Heavy fighting took place on Sunday along the northeastern front line, where Russian forces attacked 27 settlements in the past 24 hours, he said.

Analysts say the Russian initiative aims to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front line.

Ukrainian soldiers said the Kremlin is using the usual Russian tactic of launching a disproportionate amount of fire and infantry attacks to exhaust its troops and firepower. By intensifying fighting in what was previously a static zone of the front line, Russian forces threaten to immobilize Ukrainian forces in the northeast, while carrying out intense fighting further south, where Moscow is also gaining ground.

This comes after Russia stepped up attacks in March targeting energy infrastructure and settlementswhich analysts predicted would be a concerted effort to shape the conditions for an offensive.

Meanwhile, a 10-story apartment building partially collapsed in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border, killing at least eight people and injuring 20 others. Russian authorities said the building collapsed after Ukrainian shelling. Ukraine has not commented on the incident.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said stopping Russia’s offensive in the northeast was a priority and that Kiev’s troops were continuing counteroffensive operations in seven villages around the Kharkiv region.

“Disrupting Russian offensive intentions is our No. 1 task now. The success of this task depends on every soldier, every sergeant, every officer,” Zelenskyy said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its forces had captured four border villages along Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, in addition to five villages that were reportedly captured on Saturday. These areas were probably poorly fortified because of the dynamic fighting and constant heavy bombing, facilitating the Russian advance.

Ukraine’s leadership has not confirmed Moscow’s gains. But Tymoshko said that Strilecha, Pylna and Borsivika were under Russian occupation and that it was under their direction that they brought in infantry to carry out attacks on other conflict villages of Hlyboke and Lukiantsi.

Russian tactics in Vovchansk mirror those used in the battles for Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, he said, in which heavy airstrikes were accompanied by multitudes of infantry attacks.

“Now the Russians are simply wiping (Vovchansk) off the face of the earth and advancing with the scorched earth method. That is, they first burn a specific area and then the infantry moves in, and they always advance in this way.” he said.

A Ukrainian unit said it was forced to retreat in some areas and that Russian forces captured at least one more village on Saturday night.

In a video on Saturday night, the Hostri Kartuzy unit, part of the Ukrainian national guard’s special forces detachment, said it was fighting for control of the village of Hlyboke.

“Today, during intense fighting, our defenders were forced to withdraw from some more of their positions, and today, another settlement came completely under Russian control. As of 20:00, fighting for the village of Hlyboke continues,” said the statement. fighters said in the clip.

The Institute for the Study of War said on Saturday it believed claims that Moscow captured Strilecha, Pylna, Pletenivka and Borsivika were accurate, and that geolocated images also appeared to show that Russian forces captured Morokhovets and Oliinykove. The Washington-based think tank described the recent Russian gains as “tactically significant.”

In the early days of the war, Russia made a failed attempt to quickly attack Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second largest city, but retreated after about a month. In autumn 2022, seven months later, the Ukrainian army expelled them from Kharkiv. The bold counterattack helped persuade Western countries that Ukraine could defeat Russia on the battlefield and deserved military support.