General Sergei Vladimirovich Surovikin, commander of Russian Aerospace Forces, has been placed in overall command of forces in Ukraine, replacing Colonel General Gennady Zhidko who was appointed to the post in June. Before Zhiko’s appointment, the various groupings of forces answered disjointly to Defense Minister Shoigu. Zhiko’s appointment did away with the separate commanders all reporting to the national command authority, in an attempt to consolidate decision-making and shift blame directly from Putin to the Ministry of Defense for the failures outside of Kyiv.
From Russian State-Owned Media: “By decision of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, General of the Army Sergei Surovikin was appointed commander of the joint group of troops (forces) in the area of the special military operation. This was announced on October 8 by the official representative of the Ministry of Defense (MO) of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov.
Surovikin has been heading the Aerospace Forces since October 31, 2017. He also commands the Russian group “South” in the NVO zone.
On October 7, Hero of Russia Rustam Muradov was appointed to the post of commander of the Eastern Military District (VVO). As noted by the head of the Republic of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, he considers this decision to be the right one, since his fellow countryman has a military education and combat experience, which Muradov received in hot spots – Syria and Chechnya. Previously, Alexander Chaiko held the post of commander of the Air Defense Forces. There was no official notification of his dismissal or transfer to another job from the military department.”
After the fall of Lyman, Donetsk, President Putin has been forced to make several decisions regarding the leadership and tactics of Russian Forces who have been in Ukraine since February 24th.
