‘Butcher of Aleppo’ sacked as Vladimir Putin shakes up Russian top command again

Gen Dvornikov had likely simply taken too long to capture Donbas, which has been Putin’s priority target since his failure to capture Kyiv in March, said Samuel Ramani, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. “Dvornikov was given a June 10 target date to conquer Severodonetsk and while he missed that deadline, he used his trademark Aleppo-style offensive tactics,” he said. Mr Ramani also described the sacking of Gen Serdyukov as commander of Russia’s airborne units as “a stunning demise”.