Gen. Sergei Surovikin, appointed overall commander of Russia’s Joint Group of Forces in Ukraine, will likely have to contend with an increasingly factional Russian Ministry of Defence that is poorly resourced to achieve the political objectives it has been set, the UK Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update on October 11, 2022.
No single commander
Russia’s Defence Ministry announced Surovikin’s appointment on October 8. He previously commanded the Russian Aerospace Forces and, more recently, the Southern Group of Forces in Ukraine.
British intelligence said that for most of the war Russia had probably lacked a single authorised field commander. Gen. Alexander Dvornikov probably held that role from April to August, but it was unclear whether he could effectively control the often fragmented and competing forces.
An effort to fix the campaign
Surovikin’s appointment “probably reflects the efforts of the Russian national security community” to improve how the operation is run, the update said.
Strikes on cities
On October 10, two days after Surovikin’s appointment and the explosion on the Crimean Bridge, Russia launched its largest wave of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities in months, hitting energy infrastructure and civilian areas, including central Kyiv. Surovikin, who commanded Russian forces in Syria, has a reputation for brutality.
Sources
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