London: The military commander known as “General Armageddon” has stabilised Russia’s front lines in Ukraine since taking over in October and injected discipline into its army, analysts say.
The military experts say General Sergei Surovikin’s organisational abilities and ruthlessness make him a dangerous adversary for the Ukrainian army.
General Sergei Surovikin in a still released by the Russian Defence Ministry Press Service.Credit:AP
“He’s probably the most competent commander Russia has put in place so far,” said Dara Massicot, senior policy researcher at the Rand Corporation, a US security think tank.
Surovikin took command of the Russian forces in Ukraine just as they were hitting a disorganised and demoralised low.
The Kremlin’s army had been routed from Kharkiv in north-east Ukraine, its hold over Kherson in the south was being broken and Western long-range artillery was wrecking its supply lines.
Desperately needing to turn things around, Vladimir Putin promoted Surovikin, a 56-year-old veteran of campaigns in Syria and Chechnya, to overall commander of forces in Ukraine.
A woman in the city centre of Kherson on Saturday. Russian forces now pound Kherson city daily.Credit:AP
His first challenge was to persuade Putin to allow the Russian army to retreat from Kherson, Russia’s most significant conquest of the invasion.
“During that operation, I saw a few predictions that the withdrawal across the river would end in a Russian forces’ bloodbath. It did not,” Massicot said. Since pulling back, Russian soldiers have dug a network of trenches that exploit natural Dnipro River defences and will be difficult for Ukrainian forces to breach.
Surovikin is nicknamed “General Armageddon” because he targeted civilian areas in Syria in 2017 when he was commander of Russian forces backing Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad. Analysts say he has fallen back on this strategy once again.
Russian forces now pound Kherson city daily with artillery and fire hundreds of missiles and drones at civilian infrastructure targets across Ukraine.
The Kremlin’s aim is simple, analysts say: It wants to break civilian morale by forcing the Ukrainian people to cope with temperatures of -20C with no heat or electricity.
It is this ruthlessness and attention to detail that makes Surovikin a tough opponent, said Mick Ryan, a retired Australian general and military analyst.
But he also said that like other Russian military commanders, he might find managing the Kremlin and its expectations turns out to be a major problem.
“Surovikin was not appointed as the Russian commander to defend ground,” he said. “Regardless of whether it is realistic or not, Putin will expect more aggression and greater military success from his military supremo in Ukraine.”
The Telegraph, London
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