Sergei Surovikin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has replaced the commander leading his forces in Ukraine just three months after he handed him the job. Gen.

24, more attention is turning to who holds the upper hand in the conflict. The ministry said he would now serve as one of Gerasimov's three deputies, along with Army Gen. Kyiv argues it cannot win without increased heavy artillery and tanks from its Western allies. Alexey Kim, as part of a new "joint group of forces." [embarrassing defeats on the battlefield](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-kherson-retreat-joy-citizens-rcna56891) and [ signs of disquiet](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/russia-ukraine-war-sees-putin-escalate-internal-reasons-rcna49235) at home as the war approaches the one-year mark. [Bradley fighting vehicles](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-expected-announce-ukraine-aid-sending-bradley-fighting-vehicles-rcna64468) to the frontline; other countries have made similar pledges. [Syria](https://www.nbcnews.com/video/syrian-crimes-against-humanity-successfully-prosecuted-in-germany-130818629839) and was accused of overseeing a brutal bombardment that destroyed much of the city of [Aleppo](https://www.nbcnews.com/aleppos-children). [Putin illegally claimed to have annexed](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-annex-ukraines-donetsk-luhansk-kherson-zaporizhzhia-rcna50133) in September, and it is notable for its vast disused mine tunnels. His deployment was “an indicator of the increasing seriousness of the situation Russia is facing, and a clear acknowledgement that the campaign is falling short of Russia’s strategic goals,” it said in a post on its Twitter feed. It added that the “increase in the level of leadership” was “related to the amplified range of tasks,” and the necessity of closer cooperation between branches of Russia's armed forces. [Vladimir Putin](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/vladimir-putin) has replaced the commander leading his forces in [Ukraine](https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia-ukraine-news) just three months after he handed him the job. [Sergei Surovikin](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-new-commander-sergey-surovikin-vladimir-putin-rcna51331), the country’s defense ministry said on Telegram Wednesday, a change that comes as Kyiv warns is planning a major new offensive after months of battlefield setbacks for Moscow.

General Valery Gerasimov, the current Chief of the Russian General Staff, has replaced General Sergey Surovikin as the overall commander of Russian forces ...

“The Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, has been appointed Commander of the Joint Group of Troops (Forces). This has been the fourth change in the overall troop commander in Ukraine by the Russian Ministry of Defense, highlighting the frustration that Putin’s “three-day war” to capture Kyiv has devolved into a geopolitical nightmare for the Russian President. Those battles were estimated to be the test of Surovikin’s leadership; perhaps President Putin was not pleased with how the Ukrainians were still holding on there and ordered the change in leadership.

Gen. Sergei Surovikin is being replaced after getting the job last October. He will now serve as a deputy to his successor, Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

[hospitals](https://truthout.org/articles/in-syria-rebuilding-bombed-hospitals-is-an-act-of-resistance/) and [schools](https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/06/syria/russia-school-attack-possible-war-crime) — was picked to lead the war in Ukraine last October. The general was "becoming very powerful," Lee wrote, and "likely" talking directly to Putin. Surovikin, by contrast, "has been widely praised by this community for his championing of a more realistic approach," it said. According to The New York Times, he was one of the three people — alongside President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu — who plotted Russia's February 2022 invasion. Sergei Surovikin as commander of its forces in Ukraine with Gen. - The war will now be lead by Gen.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced Wednesday that Valery Gerasimov, head of the general staff of the Russian Armed Forces, is taking over as the ...

[Ukraine moves to bolster defenses where "bloodiest" fighting taking place](https://www.axios.com/2023/01/09/ukraine-reinforce-eastern-front) Surovikin has been demoted to one of Gerasimov's deputies. [power struggle](https://www.axios.com/2022/12/22/us-north-korea-russia-wagner-mercenaries-ukraine)may be emerging between the Russian military and the Wagner Group over influence with the Kremlin. [Bakhmut](https://www.axios.com/2023/01/09/ukraine-reinforce-eastern-front). [said in an intelligence update](https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1613250172481314846)on Wednesday that Gerasimov assuming the position "is a significant development in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approach to managing the war." [General Sergei Surovikin](https://www.axios.com/2022/10/08/russia-new-commander-ukrainehttps://www.axios.com/2022/10/08/russia-new-commander-ukraine), who was appointed to the post just three months ago.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu appointed General Valeriy Gerasimov a commander of the country's Joint Group of Forces in Ukraine, ...

Russia's Defense Ministry said that Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, was named the new commander of the ...

Alexander Lapin, who was in charge of the troops that retreated from the Kharkiv region. When Manturov said he would try to make sure it’s done during the first quarter, Putin angrily snapped that it should be done within a month. His promotion along with Gerasimov’s new appointment appear to signal that Prigozhin and Kadyrov have little influence over the Kremlin’s decision-making despite their increasing public activity. 24 came weeks after its annexation by Moscow and dealt a painful blow to the Kremlin. His critics included Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire businessman with close ties to Putin. His demotion to the No.

Welcome to the Russia-Ukraine War Briefing, your guide to the latest news and analysis about the conflict. Ukraine denied that the town of Soledar in the ...

[Sign up here.](https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/russia-ukraine-war-briefing) The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based research group, estimates that even if Russia captured Soledar, Ukraine could defend and resupply soldiers in Bakhmut. Some of these require a subscription. It would give Russian forces a springboard to press on toward Bakhmut, a ruined city that lies only 10 miles away and is now at the center of the war. [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). After his appointment in October, Surovikin launched waves of missile and drone attacks intended to cripple Ukraine’s energy grid, leaving civilians without power and heat as winter set in. The announcement was met with derision from some nationalist Russian military bloggers, who have compared the reshuffle to a game of musical chairs among Moscow’s ineffectual military old guard. If the claim were true, it would be the first significant Russian victory in months. “They have taken someone who is competent and replaced him with someone who is incompetent, but who has been there a long time and who has shown that he is loyal,” said Dara Massicot, senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation in Washington. Gerasimov has served as Russia’s chief of general staff for over a decade. Sergei Surovikin, who has largely failed to achieve any progress on the battlefield, [training on the Patriot missile system](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/10/world/russia-ukraine-news/ukrainian-troops-will-travel-to-oklahoma-to-learn-to-operate-the-patriot-missile-system?smid=url-share) [Get the latest updates here](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/11/world/russia-ukraine-news).

The official, Sergey Surovikin, was once described as "absolutely ruthless, with little regard for human life."

Moscow sees the city as a necessary stop on its path toward seizing the region of Donbas, with Russia currently "appearing to have the upper hand." Meanwhile, Moscow is seeking to enact shakeups to leadership as a way to boost the "effectiveness of managing military operations in Ukraine," per Reuters. [huge losses in manpower](https://www.newsweek.com/russia-suffers-huge-losses-battle-biggest-gain-ukraine-1773078)." "'General Armageddon' Sergei Surovikin has been removed as commander of Russian forces in Ukraine after less than 3 months," the magazine wrote. Back in October, Surovikin was described by a former Russian Defense Ministry official as essentially having some sociopathic tendencies. On Wednesday, Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov was appointed to take over the role by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Reuters reported.

The reshuffle comes as Russians claim to be making progress in eastern Ukraine after months of reverses.

[#satellite]imagery showing the magnitude of the ongoing fighting between Russian & Ukrainian forces. He also oversaw Russia's withdrawal from the southern city of Kherson - a major success for the Ukrainians. In a short statement on Telegram, he boasted that his mercenaries had killed around 500 pro-Ukraine troops. "The whole city is littered with the corpses of Ukrainian soldiers," he wrote. Russia's defence ministry said the decision to replace Gen Surovikin was aimed at organising "closer contact between different branches of the armed forces and improving the quality and effectiveness of the management of Russian forces". Gen Surovikin - now his deputy - has been dubbed "General Armageddon" for his brutal tactics in previous wars, including Russia's operations in Syria and the heavy bombardment of the city of Aleppo in particular.

Russia replaced Gen. Sergei Surovikin with Gen. Valery Gerasimov to take over war efforts. Zelensky dismissed the Wagner Group's claim of conquest in ...

The figures provide Russia’s own sobering measure of the economic costs of President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, which the Kremlin has sought to minimize. [Giant budget deficit and anti-gay legal case show fallout of Russia’s war:](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/10/russia-budget-deficit-war-costs/?itid=lk_inline_manual_16) Russia ended 2022 with a deficit of 3.3 trillion rubles, or $47.3 billion — one of the worst financial years in the country’s history, as Russia’s economy bore the brunt of the high costs of its war in Ukraine and the pain of Western economic sanctions, The Post’s Francesca Ebel reports. [abruptly replaced](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/11/soledar-bakhmut-russia-war-ukraine/?itid=lk_inline_manual_1) his commanding general in Ukraine, in an apparent nod to the battlefield setbacks that have hobbled Moscow’s wider military campaign in recent months.

General Valery Gerasimov replaces Sergei Surovikin – who previously led the Russian intervention in the Syrian war – while paramilitary forces from the ...

With Surovikin at the helm, criticism of the high command briefly softened, although hundreds of Russian troops continued to die as Ukrainian forces repelled them. Surovikin’s appointment in October as sole head of the Russian forces in Ukraine was greeted with applause by the ultranationalist wing of the Kremlin. In addition, he had previous experience in other conflicts: from the war in Chechnya, to the repression of protests by Soviet leadership in 1991. The Russian Aerospace Forces attack the [ enemy strongholds ](https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-12-01/historian-serhii-plokhy-the-fate-of-the-war-is-already-clear-ukraine-will-be-independent-and-russia-will-be-tremendously-weakened.html)and the assault squads fight in the city,” was his brief comment on said battle. Gerasimov will now serve as the head of the combined forces fighting in Ukraine. This past fall, Lapin was accused of overseeing a poor military performance in the east of Ukraine.