Russian general who ordered to storm Azovstal gets promoted

In Russia, Lieutenant General Andrei Mordvichev was officially appointed as new commander of the Central Military District, headquartered in Yekaterinburg.

This was reported by Kommersant, Ukrinform saw.

Mordvichev in 2017 led the South Sakhalin Garrison. In 2018, he was appointed First Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District. In 2021, he was first deputy commander of the 8th Combined Arms Air Defense Army.

Earlier reports claiming that Mordvichev was killed in Ukraine’s Chornobayivka airfield in March 2022 have been refuted.

The inquiry by the Security Service of Ukraine learned that it was General Mordvichev who gave the Russian forces the order to seize Mariupol and storm the Azovstal steelworks. He has been charged in absentia under three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

According to the investigation, since February 2022, he had led the effort to capture the territories of Donetsk region and personally participated in hostilities. Among the units subordinated to him is the "1st Army Corps of the People's Militia", as well as a number of separate motorized rifle brigades of "DPR" illegal armed formations, tank battalion and "Somalia" battalion, "Sparta" reconnaissance battalion, and Wagner Group units.

Mordvichev was directly involved in military planning, coordination, and command of these units in combat operations.

Among other things, he ordered the capture of the Mariupol district, where, on his instructions, Russian troops destroyed civilian and critical infrastructure and killed civilians.

While on the territory of the captured part of Mariupol, Mordvichev held a meeting with the leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, approving the plan for the final capture of the city, blockade and subsequent assault on Azovstal, involving the killing of Ukrainians who remained inside the plant.

Since 2017, the Central Military District was led by Colonel-General Oleksandr Lapin. In January 2023, Russian media reported that he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces. In his new position, he is engaged in the planning of combat training and rearmament of the ground forces.