Vladimir Putin sacks his bungling top general - who let Ukraine roll into Russian soil on his watch

Despite the 61-year-old boasting an array of medals, including the country's most revered "Hero of Russia" honour, Mr Lapin's leadership during the invasion of Ukraine has been labelled as "incompetent" by analysts.

The prestigious Institute for the Study of War blasted: "Lapin has proven to be an incompetent commander throughout the war against Ukraine, but the Kremlin is likely punishing Lapin now as part of its ongoing campaign to scapegoat and punish high-ranking officials for their failure to repel Ukraine's incursion into Kursk in August 2024."

Even Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic and a key Putin ally, previously said: “If I had my way, I would have demoted Lapin to private, deprived him of his awards, and sent him to the front line to wash off his shame with the rifle in his hands.”

Mr Lapin commanded the Russian Central Military District in the first phase of the war in Ukraine, but faced backlash after Russian forces had to withdraw from the town of Lyman in Donetsk.

The general was also heavily criticised after Ukraine launched a surprise counter-offensive into Kursk, which was only repelled after North Korean soldiers were called in.

In the most recent failure to sweep the Sumy region, Russian forces lost three battalions and between 700 to 1,000 troops, Ukrainian sources have claimed.

It is believed that Ukrainian troops managed to liberate the village of Kindrativka from Mr Putin's control in the process.

Mr Lapin's other roles during the conflict included being the Chief of the General Staff of Russian Ground Forces and commanding the Leningrad Military District.

However, the 61-year-old has already landed a new job within Mr Putin's regime just weeks after his dismissal from his post.

The general has been appointed as the head of recruitment for Russia's 44th largest region, Tatarstan.

As part of his new role, Mr Lapin will be responsible for dealing with the families of soldiers who have fallen in the war.

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The 61-year-old has since been replaced by Colonel General Yevgeny Nikiforov, 55.

Mr Nikiforov previously served as Commander of Troops of the Armed Forces of Russia in Syria and as the First Deputy Commander of the Eastern Military District.

According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the 55-year-old is believed to have ordered a missile strike on Chernihiv in 2023, which killed seven and wounded more than 200.

Denise Brown, the UN's humanitarian coordinator of Ukraine, said in the aftermath of the attack: "I condemn this repeated pattern of Russian strikes on populated areas of Ukraine... Attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law".

According to the British Ministry of Defence, over 1,000,000 Russian personnel have been either killed or injured since Mr Putin's forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, however, has estimated that 250,000 Russian troops have died in the conflict so far.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said Mr Putin had "let him down" as his Russian counterpart had failed to take steps towards signing a peace deal to bring an end to the conflict.

Mr Trump added: “He’s killing many people, and he’s losing more people than he’s killing.

"The Russian soldiers are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiers.”

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