The move is linked to the increased scale and more complex coordination between troops, the defense ministry says
Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov © Sputnik / Sergey Fadeichev
The head of the Russian General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, has been appointed to lead Moscow’s joint forces group in Ukraine, the defense ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The former commander of the military operation, Army General Sergey Surovikin, has been made his deputy.
The need to “raise the operation command level” was linked to an “increased scale of the combat missions,” and the need for closer coordination between various services and branches of the armed forces, the ministry said.
The move will also improve logistics support and command effectiveness for the Russian forces in Ukraine, it added.
It comes just around three months after the defense ministry appointed Surovikin, the Russian Air Force commander, to lead the effort.
Gerasimov is known as one of Russia’s top military commanders and a renowned strategist, who has earned the respect of Kiev’s top commander, Valery Zaluzhny. Back in September, Zaluzhny told Time that he had “learned from Gerasimov.”
“I read everything he ever wrote… He is the smartest of men, and my expectations of him were enormous,” the Ukrainian general admitted at that time.
Gerasimov has visited troops fighting in Ukraine on several occasions to improve coordination between the forces, but did not take over direct operational command until now. In December, Kiev admitted trying to kill Gerasimov during one of his unannounced visits back in April 2022, despite the US objections.
Previously, the New York Times reported that Ukrainian forces had shelled the positions where Gerasimov was thought to have been, but the general was unaffected by the strikes. Moscow never officially confirmed that the general even visited troops at that time.
