White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Russia’s appointment of the new military leadership “shows that there will be a continuation of what we have already seen on the ground in Ukraine.”
“And this is what we are waiting for,” Psaki told Dana Perino in an interview with Fox News Sunday.
CNN reported Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed a new general to lead the war in Ukraine as his military changes plans after failing to occupy Kyiv, according to US and European officials.
Officials told CNN that Army General Alexander Dvornikov, the commander of Russia’s Southern Military District, had been appointed theater director of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, following a series of battlefield failures and an apparent lack of coordination. Russian forces operating in Ukraine.
Psaki blamed Dvornikov for the “atrocities we saw in Syria” and said that for Ukraine, the United States continues to work with officials to make sure they have the weapons and assistance they need to succeed on the battlefield.
“Just this week, our national security adviser, our secretary and our chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had a two-hour call with their counterparts to look at exactly what the Ukrainians wanted, what they wanted, if we could not meet what they need. “We are working with our allies and partners as we did with the S-300s,” Psaki said, noting that Slovakia had been transferred to Ukraine this week and that the United States intended to deploy a US Patriot missile system in Slovakia in return.
Psaki also said the government had found the Kremlin to admit that their forces had suffered heavy losses, “interesting” for a country that is slow to admit defeat.
“It was important,” he said, calling it a reflection of “the courage of Ukrainian leaders.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated which country sent the S-300 missile defense system to Ukraine.
