Russian President Vladimir Putin replaced the commander of the Aerospace Forces (VKS) of the Russian Federation, which includes the air and missile defense forces (air defense, missile defense). Instead of Colonel-General Viktor Afzalov, who has been in charge of the Aerospace Forces since 2023, Colonel-General Alexander Chaiko has been appointed to this post. This was reported by RBC with reference to a source familiar with the personnel decision, and confirmed by a source close to the Ministry of Defense.
On March 16, 2026, the European Union imposed personal sanctions against the 54-year-old Hero of Russia Chaiko.
General Afzalov replaced Sergei Surovikin as commander of the Aerospace Forces in October 2023.
Alexander Chaiko was born in 1971 in the Moscow region. He graduated from the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School. According to the website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, he served in positions ranging from commander of a reconnaissance platoon to commander of the First tank Army of the Western Military District. In 2001 he graduated from the M.V. Frunze Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces. In 2012 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff.
He held the positions of Deputy commander of the combined arms army of the Central Military District, commander of the combined arms army of the Western Military District, Chief of Staff — First Deputy, Commander of the troops of the Eastern Military District. In 2019, he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff.
From September 2019 to June 2021, he was the commander of the Russian group in Syria. Then he headed the Eastern Military District, in this position he was replaced by General Rustam Muradov.
According to Izvestia, Chaiko was awarded the title Hero of Russia by Putin's closed decree in 2020.
Before the change of the commander of the Aerospace Forces, responsible, among other things, for air defense, there was a series of attacks by Ukrainian drones on the fuel and energy complex of the Russian Federation. In March, the largest Russian oil ports on the Baltic Sea were hit by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which affected oil exports. In April, oil facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation were attacked more than 20 times: at least 9 oil refineries were hit by raids, 5 of them stopped production.
Four times the port and the refinery in Tuapse, where tens of thousands of tons of oil and petroleum products burned as a result, "oil rains" poured over the city, and fuel oil was released into the sea. On April 30, the situation was repeated in Perm, where the tanks of Transneft and the Permnefteorgsintez refinery were hit.
As reported by EADaily, the head of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky, said that Ukrainian drones could fly to the parade on May 9 in Moscow.
"Russia has announced a parade on May 9, but there will be no military equipment on it. This will be the first time in many years, if true, when they cannot afford the presence of weapons at the parade. And Ukrainian drones can also fly on this parade. This shows that they are not as strong as they used to be," he announced.