The new commander of Russia
The Canadian Press – April 10, 2022 / 9:15 am | History: 365589
Photo: The Canadian Press
In this photo, taken on March 17, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the left, poses with Colonel-General Alexander Dvornikov during an award ceremony in the Moscow Kremlin.
After its devastating failures after the invasion, Russia has appointed a new military commander for Ukraine, a US official said on Sunday.
Russia has turned to 60-year-old General Alexander Dvornikov, one of Russia’s most experienced military officers and, according to US officials, a general who has attempted brutality against civilians in Syria and other theaters of war. The senior official who identifies the new commander is not authorized to be identified and speaks on condition of anonymity.
But White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said “no appointment of a general can erase the fact that Russia is already facing a strategic failure in Ukraine.”
“This general will simply be another perpetrator of crime and brutality against Ukrainian civilians,” Sullivan told CNN’s State of the Union. “And the United States, as I said before, is determined to do everything possible to support the Ukrainians, because they are resisting him and resisting the forces he commands.
The decision to establish new leadership on the battlefield comes as Russia prepares for what is expected to be a major and more targeted push to expand Russian control in the Donbass and after a failed initial bid to conquer Kyiv, the capital.
Dvornikov gained notoriety while leading a Russian force in Syria, where Moscow has been waging a military campaign since 2015 to support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad during a devastating civil war.
Dvornikov has been a career military officer and has been steadily rising since joining a platoon commander in 1982. He fought in the second war in Chechnya and held several senior positions before being led by Russian troops in Syria. in 2015
In 2016, Putin awarded Dvornikov the Hero of Russia Medal, one of the highest awards in the country. Dvornikov has been commander of the Southern Military District since 2016.
Sullivan described the general as having experience of brutality against civilians in Syria and said “we can expect more from the same thing in this theater.” But he stressed that the US strategy remains the same to provide Ukraine with military and logistical support. needs.
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