WASHINGTON (AP) – Russia has appointed a new Ukrainian wartime commander after its conspicuous post-invasion setbacks, a U.S. official said Sunday.
Russia has reached out 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. The senior official who identified the new commander was not authorized to be identified and 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 author of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians,” Sullivan told CNN’s State of the Union. “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.”
The decision to establish a new leadership on the battlefield comes as Russia prepares for what is likely to be a large and more focused push to expand Russian control in the Donbas, following a failed opening attempt to seize the capital Kyiv.
Dvornikov rose to prominence for leading Russia’s group of forces in Syria, where Moscow has waged a military campaign since 2015 to shore up President Bashar Assad’s regime during a devastating civil war.
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.
In 2016, Putin presented Dvornikov with the Hero of Russia medal, one of the country’s highest honors. Dvornikov has been the commander of the Southern Military District since 2016.
Describing the general as having a proven track record of brutalizing civilians in Syria, Sullivan said, “We can expect more of that in this theater.” But he stressed that US strategy remains the same in providing Ukraine with the military and logistical support it needs needed.