Heavily criticised Russian commander takes three-week holiday, agency says

Russia has appointed Colonel-General Alexander Lapin as chief of staff of the country’s ground forces, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Tuesday, despite fierce criticism from leading hawks over his performance in Ukraine.
Lapin, previously commander of Russia’s central military district, was blasted last October by hawkish allies of President Vladimir Putin after Russian forces were driven out of the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, a key logistics hub.
His appointment follows other sweeping changes to Russia’s military leadership in the course of the 11-month war, in which Moscow’s forces have seized large areas of south and eastern Ukraine but suffered a series of painful defeats and retreats.