Intelligence reveals changes in Russian tactics expected after Surovikin replaced by Gerasimov

The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry expects that the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, Valery Gerasimov, who was recently appointed Commander of the Russian forces in Ukraine, will more actively employ airborne assault troops.

That’s according to Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Head of the agency, who spoke in an interview with Ukrinform, answering a question about the first consequences of Surovikin being replaced with Gerasimov.

"In such a short period of time, it is still difficult to say how much the tactics have changed, but we definitely know that there will be changes. We can see how they are now moving, where their airborne troops are regrouping. This is Gerasimov's feature. Why? Because at the outset of the full-scale aggression, we clearly knew that there were paratroopers in the second echelon, in fact, in the strategic reserve, in all directions, and in the offensive on Kyiv they generally performed the main task. We expect that even now there will be a more active use of airborne assault troops," he said.

Skibitskyi suggests that it was probably against this background that misunderstandings arose between Gerasimov and the commander of the airborne forces, Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky, during a meeting at the Russian General Staff: "First of all, due to the fact that under Gerasimov’s command, almost half of the Russian airborne assault troops were eliminated over the first six months of the Great War in Ukraine. And these are elite troops: the 76th, 106th, and 98th divisions."

He also noted that the 98th division was transferred from the Kherson direction to other, more important one, according to the enemy's estimates.

As reported, on January 11, Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, was appointed as new Commander of the combined grouping of Russian troops in Ukraine. Gerasimov's deputies are now head of the Air Force Sergey Surovikin (who previously headed the Russian grouping in Ukraine), chief of the ground forces Oleg Salyukov, as well as the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Aleksey Kim.

Also, on January 14, it was reported that the commander of the airborne assault troops of the Russian Federation, Teplinsky, was released from his dutiesa The reason behind the reshuffle was an altercation with Gerasimov, who the day before was appointed to supervise the military campaign in Ukraine.