The Russian army announced on Saturday the appointment of a new commander for its “special military operation” in Ukraine, after a series of hard setbacks on the ground and the growing signs of discontent among members of the Russian elite.
“The general of the army Sergei Surovikin was appointed commander of the combined grouping of troops in the special military operation zone “in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Minister announced on Telegram.
Surovikin, 55, is a veteran of the civil war in Tajikistan in the 1990s, the second Chechen war (2000s) and the Russian intervention in Syria, launched in 2015.
So far he has led the “Southern” grouping of forces in Ukraine, according to a report by the Russian ministry dated July.
His predecessor’s name was never officially revealed, but according to Russian media he was General Alexander Dnornikov, another veteran of the Second Chechen War and commander of Russian forces in Syria from 2015 to 2016.
The decision came after a series of defeats in Ukraine. The announcement, in fact, came on the same day that an explosion partially destroyed the Crimean bridge, essential for supplying the peninsula annexed by Moscow and Russian forces in Ukraine.
Source: Clarin
