Major General Ivan Popov had commanded Russia’s 58th Combined Arms Army.

A Russian army general has said he was removed from his job for telling the truth about the war in Ukraine and the conditions of his soldiers on the front lines.

According to audio released by a Russian lawmaker, this revelation came from Major General Ivan Popov, who commanded Russia’s troops in the southern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, leading the 58th Combined Armed Army.

This news has come to light at a time when it has been more than two weeks since the Russian army’s uprising was put down, the future of the mercenaries remains uncertain, and the course of the Ukraine war remains uncertain.

An armed soldier stands guard during a funeral ceremony to bury the remains of sixty service members of the Russian armed forces and three civilians.
Photo Credit: Reuters

According to NBC News, in an audio message apparently intended for his soldiers but posted to Telegram on Wednesday by Andrey Gurulev, a politician and a former deputy commander of Russia’s Southern Military Command, Popov appears to say he was removed from his post for speaking the truth.

“I called things by their proper names and focused on the most important thing-the tragedy of the modern war. This is the absence of counter-battery combat, reconnaissance, and the massive injuries of our brothers from enemy artillery,” Popov said, according to the audio clip.

Gurulev, a member of United Russia, the largest party in Russia, did not say how he obtained the recording.

According to the news agency Reuters, Major General Ivan Popov said Russian soldiers had been stabbed in the back by the failings of the top military brass.

He said in a voice message that “The Ukrainian army could not break through our ranks at the front but our senior chief hit us from the rear, viciously beheading the army at the most difficult and intense moment,”.

Popov, whose military call sign was “Spartacus” and who commanded Russian units in southern Ukraine, explicitly raised the deaths of Russian soldiers from Ukrainian artillery and said the army lacked proper counter artillery systems and reconnaissance of enemy artillery.

There was no immediate comment from the defence ministry and Reuters was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the voice message. Lawmaker Gurulyov is a hardline former army commander who regularly appears on state television.