Russia shook up its military leadership over the weekend and began recalling discharged veterans ahead of a major offensive in eastern Ukraine, as Washington grappled with how far to go in aiding Ukrainian troops while still avoiding a direct confrontation with Moscow.
Having effectively lost the battle for Kyiv amid a host of missteps, the Kremlin installed Gen. Aleksandr V. Dvornikov as the new head of its force in Ukraine.
The 60-year-old general previously commanded troops in Syria, earning the nickname “the butcher of Syria” because of the ruthless tactics he employed as part of Moscow’s effort to prop up dictator Bashar Assad’s regime.
Gen. Dvornikov’s appointment indicates growing frustration inside the Kremlin with Russia’s battlefield failures in Ukraine. But it also suggests that Russia is doubling down on a brutal, indiscriminate approach to war and is poised to kill many more Ukrainian civilians.
U.S. officials say the installation of Gen. Dvornikov highlights Russia’s poor showing in the military campaign so far while also sending a chilling message about where the conflict is headed.
“First, no appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced strategic failure in Ukraine,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “They thought they were going to be able to conquer the capital city and take other major cities with little resistance, that they’d in fact be welcomed with open arms.”
“This particular general has a resume that includes brutality against civilians in other theaters, in Syria, and we can expect more of the same in this theater,” Mr. Sullivan said. “This general will just be another author of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians and the United States … is determined to do all we can to support the Ukrainians as they resist him, as they resist the forces he commands.”
There are other clear indications that Russia is encountering serious problems in its campaign in Ukraine. With casualties mounting, Moscow has resorted to calling back troops who have been discharged from duty since 2012, the British Ministry of Defense said Sunday in its daily assessment of the war in Ukraine.
British officials also said Russia is trying to recruit fresh troops from Transnistria, an unrecognized breakaway territory in Moldova.
Against that backdrop, the Biden administration is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to dramatically ramp up shipments of offensive weapons to Ukraine, such as tanks and fighter jets.
Republicans say the U.S. should try to ensure an unmitigated defeat for Moscow, rather than simply improve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hand at the negotiating table.
“We want the Ukrainians to win, to win, to defeat the Russians, for the Russians to withdraw from the country. And that ought to be our goal,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told “Fox News Sunday,” going on to criticize the administration’s approach to the eventual end of the war.
“They still don’t understand the goal,” the Kentucky Republican said. “The goal is for Ukraine to win.”
Administration officials have made abundantly clear they want to see Russia’s invasion of Ukraine end in failure. But they also seem resigned to the fact that Mr. Zelenskyy may have to make concessions to Moscow in order to permanently end the conflict.
Such concessions could include promises that Ukraine won’t join NATO or the permanent ceding of control of the Crimean Peninsula to Moscow.
Mr. Sullivan made clear that U.S. efforts to bolster the Ukrainian military are aimed at giving the country more leverage over the Kremlin.
“Russia retreated” from Kyiv, Mr. Sullivan said. “And they did so because they faced brave and stiff Ukrainian resistance. But that resistance was armed with American weapons and Western weapons that the United States of America delivered. And we are proud of that. We will continue to do that. And we will continue to take every step we possibly can to help the Ukrainians succeed on the battlefield and to improve their position at the negotiating table.”
As he has done throughout the six-week conflict, Mr. Zelenskyy framed the Russian invasion in much broader terms. He appealed to the U.S. and its NATO allies to do more, arguing that the “entire European project is a target” of Moscow’s aggression.
“That is why it is not just the moral duty of all democracies, all the forces of Europe, to support Ukraine’s desire for peace,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in remarks early Sunday. ”This is, in fact, a strategy of defense for every civilized state.”
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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