Russia sends the general famous for “meat assault” tactics to Sumy Oblast — Ukrainian forces say that’s good news

A Russian general whose own soldiers publicly accused him of organizing human wave attacks and falsifying battlefield reports has been appointed deputy commander of the Russian 11th Army Corps operating on the Sumy direction, Ukraine's 14th Army Corps reported on 17 March. The appointment of Maj. Gen. Zulfat Nigmatzyanov, who received his general's stars in February 2026 despite a November 2024 public scandal involving his subordinates, is what the 14th Corps calls a textbook example of Russian "negative selection" in military command.

Soldiers' video accusation led to promotion, not punishment

In November 2024, soldiers of the 67th Motor Rifle Division, which Nigmatzyanov commanded, filmed a desperate video appeal to Russia's defense minister. The troops directly accused their division's commanders of systematically lying about battlefield "successes," ordering frontal assaults without artillery support, and sending men into combat as cannon fodder for the sake of clean-looking reports — Ukraine's 14th Corps attributes these complaints directly to Nigmatzyanov as the division's commander. The video circulated widely in regional Tatarstani media and military channels before becoming publicly known, the 14th Corps says.

Rather than a court-martial, Russia transferred Nigmatzyanov to command the 71st Motor Rifle Division. Months later, in February 2026, he was promoted to major general. He has now been moved to corps level as deputy commander of the 11th Army Corps — a unit formally based in Kaliningrad Oblast under the Leningrad Military District, now actively deployed against Ukraine on the Sumy direction, the Ukrainian military says.

"Death sentence" for Russian soldiers, 14th Corps says

The Ukrainian 14th Army Corps framed the appointment as bad news specifically for Russian soldiers under Nigmatzyanov's command, not for Ukraine. 

"The appointment of Maj. Gen. Zulfat Nigmatzyanov, as deputy commander of the 11th Army Corps, is not a reinforcement of Russian forces — it is signing another death sentence for the Russian soldiers currently operating on the Sumy direction," the corps stated.

Nigmatzyanov's methods, the 14th Corps noted, do not involve preserving personnel or executing complex maneuvers. His specialty, they claim, is falsifying progress reports showing advances of "300-500 meters" while actual maps record only growing improvised cemeteries in Russian villages. 

Units currently operating under the 11th Corps include the 7th Motor Rifle Regiment and assault groups of the Sever grouping, which are actively attacking across multiple areas of Sumy Oblast, according to the 14th Corps.

Pattern of "negative selection"

The 14th Corps characterized Nigmatzyanov's career arc — from a public scandal involving his own subordinates directly to a general's rank and corps command — as evidence of a deliberate Kremlin pattern. 

"The more scandals and pointless losses associated with a commander's name, the higher the position he occupies," the corps wrote, describing the dynamic as one where real battlefield results are replaced by paper victories.

Russia has relied on human wave "meat assault" tactics throughout the war — sending waves of poorly supported infantry into prepared defenses at catastrophic cost — with the practice documented from Bakhmut to Avdiivka and still ongoing as of late 2025, when Russia began sending recruitment officials to the frontline as punishment for missing conscription quotas.