Vladimir Putin is starting to face a backlash over Russia’s war in Ukraine after the Kharkiv defeat

Edward Arnold, a European security research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told i: “In the face of Ukrainian advances, Lieutenant General Roman Berdnikov has been fired just 16 days after taking command, which suggests the relationship between the political and military leadership is starting to break down. “In addition, both Igor Girkin, an influential commander in the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen republic, have openly called for answers from Moscow on the direction of Russia’s ‘special military operation’. “The fact that commentators are discussing this both outside and within Russia is significant in itself.”