MOSCOW: Russia has appointed a key commander of the gruelling siege of Mariupol, General Andrey Mordvichev, as head of the ground forces, the official newspaper of the Russian army reported Thursday.Defence Minister Andrey Belousov described the 49-year-old general as “an experienced combat officer who fully demonstrated his talent as a military commander during the special military operation,” using Moscow’s term for its Ukraine offensive, according to the Red Star newspaper.Russian forces rolled into Mariupol, a bustling Black Sea coast city with a pre-war population of 540,000, in the first months of its assault in 2022 and imposed a brutal siege for nearly three months that resulted in 8,000 deaths, according to Human Rights Watch.The city, which used to be an important hub for Ukraine’s grain trade, became Moscow’s biggest gain in its military campaign but two-thirds of its pre-war population has fled and the siege resulted in massive destruction.Ukraine’s SBU security services accused Mordvichev of having spearheaded the siege of Azovstal, a large steel plant held by members of the Azov brigade, which has ties to far-right nationalist groups.The plant was Kyiv’s final pocket of resistance in the city.Ukraine sees Mordvichev as a war criminal, accusing him of overseeing atrocities against Ukrainian civilians and soldiers.In February 2024, the general led the capture of Avdiivka, an industrial town in eastern Ukraine, following a bloody three-month assault. For this, he received a personal telegram of appreciation from Russian President Vladimir Putin.Mordvichev, born in Kazakhstan, has served in the Russian army since 1997 and has held various commanding positions since 2016.His predecessor, Oleg Salyukov, 70, was removed by Putin last week and immediately appointed deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, an important advisory body that meets regularly with Putin.