Russia replaces the general responsible for the Ukraine war in the latest military reshuffle Russia

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Russia has named Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, as its commander-in-chief for the war in Ukraine, the latest in several major shake-ups for Moscow’s military leadership during the faltering invasion of its neighbour.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that Gerasimov’s appointment constituted “raising the status of command” of Ukraine’s military force and was carried out to “improve the quality … and effectiveness of the management of Russian forces.”

The Defense Ministry said Sergei Surovkin, a notorious general dubbed “General Armageddon” by Russian media, who was appointed commander-in-chief of the army in October, would remain as Gerasimov’s deputy.

Gerasimov, like Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, has faced sharp criticism from Russia’s hard-line military bloggers for multiple battlefield setbacks and Moscow’s failure to secure victory in a campaign the Kremlin expected would take only a short time.

The latest change in leadership comes amid ongoing tensions among those responsible for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

And on Tuesday evening, the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, slammed the country’s defense ministry, boasting that his combat experience was “in many ways vastly superior to those who have served the defense ministry for decades”.

Prigozhin, who had previously been critical of Gerasimov and Shoigu, made his remarks where he claimed his Wagner army had taken control of the small salt-mining town of Solidar.

However, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, scoffed at the allegations, saying in a video address that the fighting was still going on.

“The terrorist state and its promoters are trying to pretend ‘they have had some successes in Solidar,’ but the fight continues,” Zelensky said in his daily address.

He said the Donetsk front is holding out “and we are doing our best to strengthen the Ukrainian defense without any interruption, even for a day”.

The allegations about the state of the fighting in eastern Donbass came when Poland announced that it was planning to transfer 10 German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, in a move of great significance.

Speaking on a visit to Lviv on Wednesday, Polish President Andrzej Duda said: “A batch of Leopard tanks will be delivered as part of the alliance building. We want it to be an international alliance.”

The transfer would require permission from Germany, which Kyiv has been pressing separately to supply the Leopard 2s, which could indicate a softening of Germany’s position on the transfer of main battle tanks after recent contacts between Warsaw and Berlin.

But a German government spokesman said he was not aware of any requests from allies to send tanks to Ukraine.

The Russian capture of Solidar and the city’s salt mines would have symbolic, military and commercial value for Moscow. But the situation in and around Solidar appeared to be volatile and none of the allegations could be independently verified.

Prigozhin published a picture showing him with a group of his fighters and a tank, which he said was taken in one of the tunnels of a salt mine, southwest of Solidar.

He also said that only units of his paramilitary division — many of them convicts who had been offered amnesty if they fought for him — had taken part in the fight for the city.

Footage released by a Ukrainian soldier from Solidar from an unmanned aircraft unit — identified by call sign Maigar at 10 a.m. Wednesday — indicated heavy clashes continued, but Ukrainian forces were still holding their positions.

“This is the sound of Solidar,” he said, in the background against the constant din of artillery bombardment. “Local battles happen from time to time and artillery operates on both sides.”

Accounts of Ukrainian soldiers in this sector of the front indicated that Russia moved Wagner fighters from Bakhmut to focus solely on the Battle of Solidar.

“There are fierce battles going on to preserve Solidar,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said.

She added, “The enemy does not pay attention to the large losses of its personnel and continues to storm it actively. The approaches to our positions are littered with the bodies of dead enemy fighters.”

However, the Ukrainian military’s morning brief made only one mention of Solidar, naming it as one of several areas being bombed in the Donetsk region.

A Ukrainian soldier who was posting video updates from the Bakhmut region described the fighting in Solidar as fierce, with contested buildings changing hands several times and soldiers suffering from frostbite.

Russian forces have recently focused their efforts on capturing Solidar as part of their ambition to capture the nearby strategic city of Bakhmut and Ukraine’s larger eastern Donbass region, leading to fierce battles in sub-zero temperatures for the past five days.

Capturing Solidar would be Russia’s biggest gain since August, after a series of humiliating withdrawals in the second half of 2022. Russian forces have been fighting for months to take control of Bakhmut.

But any victory would come at a heavy cost, as forces on both sides suffered heavy losses in some of the most intense battles since Russia invaded Ukraine some 11 months ago.

The Kyiv government released photos in recent days that it claims show dozens of dead Russian soldiers in muddy fields.

The issue of supplying tanks to Ukraine has become the center of a frenzied round of recent diplomacy, with a number of countries pressuring the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to allow the supply of Leopard 2s.

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