President Vladimir Putin appoints Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov to lead war in Ukraine as invasion nears one year

Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov was appointed by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to take over the post and continue the campaign.

Sergey Surovikin – who has been dubbed the “Armageddon General” – was only put in charge of the war effort in October after counter-attacks by Ukraine’s defiant soldiers turned the war in Kiev’s favor.

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General Surovikin has now been demoted to deputy despite overseeing brutal attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which have left millions in the country without electricity or running water.

The Defense Ministry said the replacement of General Surovikin with General Gerasimov will be aimed at organizing “closer contact between the different branches of the armed forces” and improving the quality and “efficiency of the management of Russian forces”.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense said the move was a “significant development” and meant Russia was facing an increasingly serious situation in the war.

The ministry also said it was a clear acknowledgment that the campaign was “retreating from Russia’s strategic goals.”

General Surovikin made his name in Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian civil war and was known for orchestrating massive attacks on the city of Aleppo.

He was favored among Russia’s highly nationalist and military blogging community, who had directed their anger at General Gerasimov for what they believed to be a poor execution of the war.

Some defense experts argued that General Surovikin was becoming too powerful in the eyes of the Russian Defense Ministry.

Military analyst Mark Galeotti said on Twitter that Russia is showing the West that it is in it “for the long haul.”

“And hoping we will lose the will and unity to continue supporting Kyiv,” he wrote.

The war in Ukraine is entering its twelfth month.

The status of the eastern town of Soledar is in doubt after the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed that his fighters had taken control of the town.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar issued a statement to the contrary, saying that fighting for the city continues.

“The enemy ignores the heavy losses of its personnel and continues to actively invade,” he said.

“The approaches to our positions are simply strewn with the corpses of dead enemy fighters. Our fighters are valiantly holding the defense.”