The former commander of the Russian group of forces in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin, has made "difficult but correct decisions", including the withdrawal from Kherson at the end of 2022, after assessing the direction of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. This was stated in an interview by Ukrainian Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, commander of the 3rd Army Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, quoted by the BBC.
Biletsky, promoted to brigadier general by President Volodymyr Zelensky in early October, gave an assessment of several Russian military commanders, paying attention to Surovikin. According to him, the Russian general "was not devoid of talent" and was able to foresee key actions of the Ukrainian army.
"Surovikin withdrew Russian troops from Kherson. If he had continued to dig in there, he would certainly have lost a large part of his airborne forces," said Biletsky, noting that it was the paratroopers who held the defense on the right bank of the Dnieper. According to him, Surovikin calculated exactly where the Ukrainian counteroffensive would be carried out and prepared defensive lines, including later in the Zaporizhia region in 2023.
Biletsky added that for the Russian commander, the retreat was "morally easier", since he was withdrawing from occupied territories, while Ukraine was forced to retreat from its own land. He also suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is afraid of effective people" and therefore contributed to Surovikin falling out of favor and being removed from command positions.
Surovikin began the war as commander of the Southern Group of Russian troops, and in October 2022 took command of all Russian forces in Ukraine. In early 2023, he was replaced by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. After the rebellion of the founder of the PMC "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin in June 2023, Surovikin was dismissed and subsequently sent as a military advisor to Algeria, where he is currently located.