The Air Defence Troops of the Russian Ground Forces have been subordinated to the Russian Aerospace Force under command of Sergey Surovikin.

This was reported by TASS, citing its own sources.

It is noted that two sources of the publication confirmed this information, but the decision of the military and political command of the Russian Federation was not explained. The Air Defence Troops of the Ground Forces must protect troops directly on the battlefield, and the task of air defense forces as part of the Russian Aerospace Force is the so-called site cover.

Since January 11, 2023, Sergei Surovikin has served as commander of the Russian Aerospace Force, being also a deputy commander of the invasion forces of the so-called “Joint Group of Russian Troops in Ukraine”.

Some Russian media note that such a decision was made due to the strikes by Ukrainian forces on the Russian army depots in Mariupol.

Advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol Petro Andriushchenko reported a number of explosions in Mariupol, which occurred last week.

Subsequently, the spokeswoman of OK “South” Natalya Gumenyuk stated that the forces of the invaders in Mariupol were no longer “unattainable” for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“Remoteness is a very relative concept. What is considered remote as unattainable is not always so. The direction of Mariupol for us is no longer completely unattainable,” she said.

According to Petro Andreushchenko, Ukrainian forces managed to hit two large depots with ammunition, two large warehouses with fuel, military equipment and a barracks where at least 50 Russian soldiers had been stationed.

At the same time, he emphasized that it was impossible to collect reliable information about the strike’s aftermath.