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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
David Bond

Putin’s change of commander in Ukraine is ‘sign of desperation’, says ex-British Army chief

Vladimir Putin listens to Valery Gerasimov during a meeting in Moscow on December 21

(Picture: SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Vladimir Putin’s appointment of army chief Valery Gerasimov as the new commander of his invasion of Ukraine is a “sign of desperation”, a former British Army chief said on Thursday.

The Russian President ordered a reshuffle of his top military command on Wednesday, demoting General Sergei Surovikin, who was appointed only in October to lead the invasion and oversaw heavy attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

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