JAKARTA - The commander-in-chief of Russian troops in Ukraine General Sergei Surovikin is under pressure, to prove his army withdrawal in Kherson is the right thing.
Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed 'Armageddon' by Russian media for his reputation, on November 9, recommended Moscow troops leave Kherson and the western bank of the Dnipro River, where they are threatened with danger.
The 56-year-old veteran general of war intensifies and Syria who was sworn in by President Vladimir Putin is of the opinion that the withdrawal, which was completed two days later, would allow Moscow to store equipment and deploy troops there, estimated by the United States by 30,000 troops, to strike elsewhere.
Some of those troops have been moved from south to east of Ukraine, where fierce fighting raged. The recipient of the Russian Hero's title is under pressure at the peak of winter, to show the stakes are correct.
"We're waiting for your brilliant result and praying for you, I pray for you every day,"wieldya Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT TV, one of the main public supporters of the war, told Surovikin in a weekend TV broadcast.
Simonyan urged Surovikin to ignore the "empty" from critics, referring to influential military bloggers unhappy with the withdrawal.
One of the bloggers, Vladlen Tatarsky, who has more than half a million followers on Telegram's messaging service, is angry at Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Kherson after the retreat, questioning why Moscow did not kill him.
"Why do we spill our blood? Why did Zelenskiy calmly come to Kherson?" Tatarsky asked in a video upload.
"Symbolically it would be great if Geran (drones) had landed on his head, but that didn't happen. Why? Whether we are in full war or not succeeding."
Meanwhile, Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin, whose daughter Darya was killed outside Moscow in August, has added to pressure on Surovidin, saying Kherson is the last part of the Ukrainian territory to be handed over to Russia.
"The top has been achieved," Dugin told the online news outlet nationalist Tsargrad.
Senior Russian government officials say they want Kherson back at a certain point, which seems difficult to reach in the near future.
Taking a new place in the east against the high-motivated Ukraine military and replacing the West is not an easy task, especially in winter.
Kyiv himself has promised to continue to retake the territory, with Russian officials warning they suspect they may be trying to open a third front in the west with troops deployed back from Kherson.
Surovikin was also asked by some to step up Moscow's bombing campaign against Ukraine's energy infrastructure, a tactic suggested by the Kremlin was designed to bring Ukraine to the negotiating table.
Vladimir Solovyov, one of Russia's most famous ultra-nationalist political talk show hosts, said last week: "I appeal to Russian Hero General Surovikin:USing the Army General, I ask you to complete the total destruction of energy infrastructure from the Ukrainian Nazi Junta."
It is known that Surovikin's appointment on October 8 was the first time Russia has publicly appointed its overall army commander in Ukraine.
Kherson's withdrawal was faster and smoother than many Western military analysts thought, with a senior US military official telling Reuters the withdrawal was "relatively regular" compared to Russia's previous withdrawal.
However, Ukraine's defense minister and Western diplomats said General Surovikin had brought greater discipline and was more brutal by increasing his infrastructure attacks.
"Surovicins have made a huge difference in the way they work," said Anthony Brenton, former British ambassador to Russia. "There is more sense of coherence and a plausible goal of what Russia is doing now militaryly."
Among Russian circles, his appointment was seen as setting up a potentially falling person while protecting Putin and, at a lower level, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, from direct criticism.
"Obviously Putin's appointment and praise were given to him, at least partly because of the need to create a figure with a mandate for an 'embarrassing' act Putin doesn't want to do in his own name," said Alexander Baunov, a former Russian diplomat who is now a senior researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank.
Surovikin fits, Baunov said, because of his image as a Siberian who is willing to use brutal tactics, to get attractive results for the Russian nationalists, he has the authority in their eyes to oversee his resignation without opening up too many dangerous internal divisions.
"The general has used his half mandate. Now he is expected to use the other half," Baunov said.
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