Russian General Previously Overseeing Invasion of Ukraine Found Dead After Reportedly Lengthy Illness

Russian Colonel General Gennady Valeryevich Zhidko, aged 57, a previous commander of the Southern Front of the Russian invasion forces into Ukraine and deputy minister of defense, died on Wednesday in Moscow after a reportedly long illness, according to a Russian governor, Mikhail Degtyarev of Khabarovsk Krai. Zhidko had reportedly been put in charge of Russian ground forces in May 2022, replacing General Aleksandr Dvornikov, a fellow general who had commanded Russia's invasion forces in Syria and who himself was only appointed in April 2022 for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Notably, Zhidko had been removed from his post in the Southern Grouping in October 2022 and was replaced by General Sergei Surovikin, who was later himself replaced by General Valery Gerasimov in January 2023.