Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, has been appointed commander of the joint group of troops participating in the special operation in Ukraine.

As reported in the press service of the Ministry of Defense on the evening of January 11, the head of the department, Sergei Shoigu, made new appointments to the leadership of the NWO.

Gerasimov's deputies will be Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces (VKS), General of the Army Sergei Surovikin, Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, General of the Army Oleg Salyukov, and Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, Colonel General Alexei Kim.

“Raising the level of management of a special military operation is associated with the expansion of the scale of tasks solved in the course of its implementation, the need to organize closer interaction between the branches and branches of the armed forces, as well as improving the quality of all types of support and the effectiveness of command and control of groupings of troops (forces),” the statement says. in the message.

Recall that Gerasimov has been the head of the General Staff and First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation since November 2012.

Prior to that, in different years he was the commander of the troops of the Leningrad, Moscow and Central military districts, headed the main directorate of combat training and service of the troops of the RF Armed Forces.

The situation in different directions of the NWO

Earlier, the Ministry of Defense spoke about the course of the special operation in Ukraine.

According to the agency, in the Kupyansk direction, the Russian military launched a number of artillery and air strikes on accumulations of manpower of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

As a result, over 30 servicemen and two vehicles were destroyed.

In the Krasnolimansky direction, a number of strikes were also carried out on the positions of Ukrainian troops using artillery, assault and army aviation.

Four sabotage groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were liquidated.

During the day, the total losses of the enemy in this direction amounted to 90 people killed and wounded, two armored combat vehicles and three vehicles.

In the South Donetsk direction, up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen, an infantry fighting vehicle and two vehicles were destroyed, and in the Donetsk direction, the Russian military liberated the settlement of Podgorodnoye (DPR).

In addition, units of the Airborne Forces of the Russian Federation blocked Soledar from the north and south, meanwhile the Aerospace Forces attacked enemy strongholds, and assault squads fought in the city.

According to RT, the total losses of Ukrainian troops in the battles for Soledar since the beginning of autumn can be up to 25 thousand people.

According to information received from Ukrainian servicemen who surrendered, during the assault on Soledar, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard lost about 16-17 battalions killed.

Armed Forces equipment damaged per day

A number of objects and pieces of equipment were destroyed by Russian air strikes, missile troops and artillery.

Among the objects hit during the day are the command and observation post of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Artyomovsk region, the US-made M777 artillery system, two Ukrainian self-propelled guns 2S7 Pion, MLRS Uragan, self-propelled guns 2S1 Gvozdika, two D-30 howitzers and one D- 20, US AN/TPQ-50 and AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery radars.

In addition, Russian Aerospace Forces fighter aircraft shot down a Su-27 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force.

Air defense systems destroyed two Ukrainian drones and a HARM anti-radar missile in the air in a day, intercepted five rockets from HIMARS and Vilkha multiple launch rocket systems.