The Russian Defense Ministry said Moscow had again replaced its top commander in Ukraine.
Moscow:
Russia has again changed its top commander in Ukraine, putting army major Valery Gerasimov in charge of its forces in the conflict, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
“Army General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, has been appointed commander of the combined group of troops (forces),” the ministry said.
Sergei Surovikin, the commander of Russian forces in Ukraine for the past three months, will become Gerasimov’s deputy.
According to the statement, Surovikin will work with two other generals, Oleg Salyukov and Alexey Kim.
“The increase in the level of leadership of the special operations is associated with the expansion of the scale of tasks and the need to organize closer interaction between the troops,” the ministry said.
Ryber, one of Russia’s main Telegram channels in support of the offensive, was skeptical about whether the switch could do more to shield Moscow’s troops from the lengthy operation.
“Moving the components around doesn’t change the total,” Ryber said on the messaging app Telegram, adding, “We want to believe in a miracle in the 11th month of the special operation.”
Surovikin, an army veteran with a reputation for brutality, was tasked with turning the tide in Ukraine in October as the Russian army suffered a series of battlefield defeats.
Two days after Surovikin’s nomination, the Russian military signaled a strategic shift by unleashing a wave of drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure targets – causing power blackouts and water withdrawals in several cities.
About a month after his appointment, the Russians retreated from the southern city of Kherson, the only regional capital.
Frontline has since stabilized globally.
Moscow’s army is leading a protracted and bloody battle in the east around Bakhmut and Soledar, where the situation was unclear on Wednesday.
Russian mercenary group Wagner claims to control the gateway city of Soledar, while the Kremlin cautions against prematurely declaring victory.
Rybar said that Surovikin’s results were “controversial” and that any immediate success – including a possible victory at Soledar – would now be credited to the “new-old commander” Gerasimov.
“Only time will tell” if Russia suffers new setbacks, he said, adding that the “unimaginable” General Gerasimov will also be demoted.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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