https://www.newsweek.com/russian-army-commander-gennady-zhidko-dies-moscow-ukraine-war-1820298
Colonel General Gennady Zhidko, a top Russian Army commander who was dismissed as Moscow suffered setbacks in the Ukraine war, has died at the age of 57, a regional governor announced on Wednesday.
The former commander of Russia's Eastern Military District and the former Russian deputy minister of defense died in Moscow "after a long illness," Mikhail Degtyarev, the governor of Khabarovsk Krai said in a post on Telegram.
Zhidko served as Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria in 2016, and in 2018 was appointed Commander of the Eastern Military District. He was made deputy minister of defense in 2021.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) with Colonel General Gennady Zhidko on December 18, 2017, at the Kremlin. Zhidko was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.Kremlin
In October 2022, he was removed from his post as commander of the Southern Grouping of Forces and replaced by General Sergei Surovikin, after just months on the job. His dismissal came as Russia suffered heavy losses in the war.
Newsweek reached out to Russia's Defense Ministry via email for comment.
