President Vladimir Putin replaced the governors of the Bryansk and Belgorod regions, two regions bordering Ukraine that have been regularly hit by Kyiv’s retaliatory attacks, the Kremlin said Wednesday.
The two governors — Alexander Bogomaz and Vyacheslav Gladkov — led the regions throughout Moscow’s Ukraine war.
The Russian leader replaced them with an army general who has fought in Ukraine and an official who previously worked for Russia’s occupational authorities in east Ukraine.
Gladkov — who had led the Belgorod region, the worst hit by Ukrainian counterstrikes, since 2021 — had documented the attacks daily, with Russian media reporting on his popularity in the region.
Putin appointed Alexander Shuvayev, a Russian army general who has fought in Ukraine since 2022, as interim head of Belgorod.
According to Russian media, he also fought in Russia’s campaigns in the North Caucasus, Georgia and Syria.
Shuvayev was born in the Belgorod region.
He completed the Kremlin’s “Time of Heroes” program, which seeks to promote veterans of Moscow’s Ukraine campaign into high-profile positions.
Putin appointed Yegor Kovalchuk — who briefly led Russian occupation authorities in Lugansk — as interim leader of Bryansk.
Both Bryansk and Belgorod have been hit by cross-border attacks by Ukraine during Moscow’s offensive, even suffering incursions earlier in the four-year war.
