WASHINGTON (AP) – Russia, after its costly failures in the opening campaign and the slaughter of Ukrainian civilians, has enlisted a new Ukrainian wartime commander to assume central control of the next phase of the struggle. US officials don’t see a single man changing Moscow’s prospects.
Russia turned to General Alexander Dvornikov, 60, one of Russia’s most experienced military officers and – according to US officials – a general with a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other theaters of war. So far, Russia has not had a central wartime commander on the ground.
The general’s appointment was confirmed by a senior US official who was not authorized to be identified and who spoke on condition of anonymity.
But White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said, “No appointment of a general can erase the fact that Russia has already experienced a strategic failure in Ukraine.”
“This general will be just another perpetrator of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians,” Sullivan said. “And the United States, as I said, is determined to do whatever we can to support the Ukrainians when they oppose him and the forces he commands.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki echoed that thought. “The reports we have of a change in military leadership and the appointment of a general responsible for the brutality and atrocities in Syria show that there will be a continuation of what we have already seen on the ground in Ukraine and we expect that,” she said.
The decision to establish a new leadership on the battlefield comes as Russia prepares for what is expected to be a large and more focused push to extend Russian control in eastern and southern Ukraine, including Donbass, and follows a failed inaugural bid in the north to to capture Kyiv, the capital.
Dvornikov rose to prominence for leading Russia’s group of forces in Syria, where Moscow has waged a military campaign to shore up President Bashar Assad’s regime during a devastating civil war.
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Dvornikov is a career officer and has steadily risen through the ranks since he began as a platoon commander in 1982. He fought in Chechnya during the second war and held several top positions before taking charge of Russian forces in Syria in 2015.
Under the command of Dvornikov, Russian forces in Syria have been known for partially crushing dissent, razing cities, dropping artillery and often dropping crude barrel bombs in sustained attacks that have displaced millions of Syrian civilians. The United Nations says the more than 10-year war has killed more than 350,000 people.
In 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Dvornikov the Hero of Russia medal, one of the country’s highest honors. Dvornikov has been the commander of the Southern Military District since 2016.
Lieutenant Colonel Fares al-Bayoush, a defector from the Syrian army, said on Sunday that while the situation in Syria is different from Ukraine because the Russian military is fighting insurgent groups and not Ukraine’s professional army, he “burned a similar one.” earth” expect. Strategy.
Al-Bayoush said he believed the goal of appointing Dvornikov as Ukraine’s wartime commander was to turn the war into “rapid battles” in multiple places at once.
“I expected him to apply the scorched-earth policy used in Syria,” al-Bayoush said, referring to the Russian-backed attacks in Syria, which have seen cities besieged for a long time while facing intense bombing raids left many dead and caused extensive destruction to infrastructure and residential areas. “He has had very good experiences with this policy.”
“This commander is a war criminal,” al-Bayoush said over the phone from Turkey.
Since Russia entered the war in Syria in September 2015, Assad’s forces have seized control of most of the country after teetering on the brink of collapse. The Russian Air Force has since conducted thousands of airstrikes, helping Russian-backed Syrian troops take territory after fighters were forced to choose between an amnesty in exchange for dropping their weapons or being transported by bus to rebel-held locations areas to choose.
The last major Russian-backed offensive in Syria lasted several months until March 2020, when a ceasefire was signed between Russia and Turkey supporting the rival sides.
Sullivan said Sunday the Russian general had a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and “we can expect more of the same in Ukraine.” However, he stressed that US strategy in supporting Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains the same.
“Our policy is clear – we will do everything we can to help Ukraine succeed,” Sullivan said. “This means we must continue to give them weapons so that they can progress on the battlefield. And we must continue to provide them with military support and strong economic sanctions to improve their position, their stance at the negotiating table.”
Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke via video conference on Sunday to a small number of Ukrainian troops in the US who are now returning to their country. The group has been in the US for military training since last fall and was trained on new drones that the US sent to Ukraine last week for the war with Russia.
According to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, Austin thanked Ukrainian troops for their courage and service and pledged continued US support and security assistance. Kirby said the small group received advanced tactical training, including Switchblade’s armed Kamakazi drones, as well as instructions on operations, communications and patrol boat maintenance.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Zelenskyy conceded that despite his hopes for peace, he had to be “realistic” about the prospects of a quick solution, as negotiations had so far been limited to low-level talks that Putin has not participated in be involved.
Zelenskyi renewed his plea for more guns ahead of an expected surge in fighting in the east of the country. Frustrated by arms shipments from the US and other Western countries, he said, “Of course that’s not enough.”
Sullivan spoke on CNN’s State of the Union and NBC’s Meet the Press. Psaki spoke on Fox News Sunday.
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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.