Russia's Defense Ministry announced that army chief Valery Gerasimov had been appointed as the new head of the Ukraine invasion force, replacing Sergei Surovikin after only three months.
Gerasimov is known for helping plan Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which started in February last year and served as President Vladimir Putin's military chief of general staff for over a decade. His predecessor, Surovikin, previously commanded Russian forces in Syria and has become one of Gerasimov's three deputies.
Russia Appoints New Head of Ukraine Invasion Force
Analysts argued that the replacement of Surovikin, a respected commander within the Russian military, with a Kremlin apparatchik shows that Putin is more focused on projecting stability rather than improving Moscow's chances of winning its war against Ukraine.
A senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation in Washington, Dara Massicot, said that Russians had taken someone who was competent and replaced him with someone who was incompetent but has been there for a long time and is loyal to Putin.
Surovikin's appointment in October last year ended months of disjointed military operations that analysts argued were contributing factors to Russia's disastrous performance on the battlefield. His appointment also came after Ukrainian forces recovered thousands of square miles of territory in a lightning counteroffensive in the northeast, as per the New York Times.
The Russian military primarily switched to a defensive stance under the leadership of Surovikin, allowing it to reduce military failures. The general was also able to conduct an orderly retreat from the southern city of Kherson, the only Ukrainian provincial capital captured by Russian forces nearly a year since the beginning of the invasion.
Some nationalist Russian military bloggers criticized Surovikin's replacement by Gerasimov, comparing it to a game of musical chairs among Moscow's ineffectual military old guard. The bloggers have become increasingly vocal in the last few weeks in calling for an overhaul of Russia's approach to the invasion.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said Ukraine could win the war against Russia in 2023 if it received more Western weapons. The official noted that if not, the battle would grind on "for decades," pointing out that the "bloodiest" fighting was taking place in eastern Ukraine in Bakhmut and Soledar.
Russia Reshuffles Top Officials
According to CBS News, last year, the United States supplied Ukraine with missile systems ranging from around 80 kilometers that were credited with turning the tide of the war in Kyiv's favor. However, Podolyak said that only missiles with a range of 100 kilometers would allow the Ukrainian army to accelerate the de-occupation of their territories significantly.
When the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, also known as HIMARS, showed up in Ukraine, it changed the face of the battle against Russia. The former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said that the capability gave Ukrainian forces the potential to change the momentum of the war entirely.
The recent reshuffling of Russia's top officials comes as Moscow authorities claim that they are making progress in eastern Ukraine after a series of military losses in the last few months, BBC reported.