Jake Sullivan, a national security adviser in Washington, D.C., said the appointment of Alexander Dvornikov as commander of the Russian forces’ theater in Ukraine could not cover up the strategic failure of Vladimir Putin’s war so far. “Ukraine will never submit to Russia. “It does not matter which general President Putin tries to appoint,” he told CNN. Dvornikov’s appointment follows the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Dvornikov, 60, became known as the commander-in-chief of Russian troops in Syria in 2015-16, when there was a fierce bombardment of rebel-held areas, including civilians, in Aleppo. Sullivan said Dvornikov’s promotion would lead to more atrocities. “This general has a biography that includes atrocities against civilians in other theaters – in Syria – and we can expect more from him,” he said in Ukraine. “This general will just be another writer of crimes and barbarism against Ukrainian civilians, and the United States is determined to do all it can to support the Ukrainians as they resist him and the forces he commands.” Dvornikov’s rise, unveiled by US officials on Sunday, marks a Moscow attempt to impose military rule on a campaign that has failed miserably. In the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance backed by US, UK and European armaments, Russia appears to be regrouping for a potentially long battle for Donbass in the east of the country. “Ukraine has won the battle for Kyiv,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told NBC News. “Now comes another battle – the battle for Donbass.” Ukraine: map of military movements Asked if the Ukrainian army was capable of responding to an even fiercer attack by the Russians under Dvornikov, Kuleba said history would show who would prevail. “Whatever Russia plans to do, we have our strategy based on the belief that we will win this war and liberate our territories.” In what appeared to be further evidence of Russia’s intention to attack Donbass, satellite images showed a 7-mile Russian convoy moving south in the Kharkiv region. It included armored vehicles, artillery trucks and support equipment. After failing to occupy Kyiv, the Kremlin was renamed in its invasion. It now says its goal is to restore the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Moscow wants to seize additional Ukrainian-controlled territories and cut off Kiev’s defensive army. In a statement on Sunday, Ukraine’s general staff said the “enemy” was trying to break into the town of Izyum, south of Kharkov. He claimed that Ukrainian forces had destroyed another “large column of enemy equipment and manpower” headed for Izyum during an overnight operation. They had also cleared the village of Vilkhivka, just east of Kharkiv. Ukrainian soldiers have discovered the bodies of Russian soldiers they left behind in a pit, said Oleg Synegubov, head of the regional military administration. “This is an example of how these scammers act even with their own,” he said. The northern column is trying to connect with the Russian forces advancing from Mariupol to the south. A number of Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov battalion are still in control of some central areas, more than a month after the Russian siege in which thousands of civilians were killed. The regiment posted a video that appeared to show a Russian armored vehicle next to a beach exploding. The occupants had been sent “to hell,” he said. The Ukrainian armed forces claim that 19,300 Russian soldiers have been killed by the invasion and 1,911 armored vehicles have been destroyed. The Kremlin says the number is lower, but Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peshkov acknowledged that there had been terrible losses. Russian missiles completely destroyed the airport and nearby buildings in the city of Dnipro. In occupied Hersonissos, troops dispersed another large peaceful rally in the city’s central square. There was a much smaller pro-Russian rally in Novaya Kakhovka, in the southern Kherson region. Ukrainian officials have described the meeting as “fake” and part of a Russian-led effort to establish a so-called Kherson People’s Republic. Yuri Sobolewski, the first deputy head of the Kherson regional council, described the rally as a “clown rally”. “When thousands participate of their own free will for a pro-Ukrainian rally, it is a call from the heart,” Sobolevskyi said. “When a few dozen people carrying the flag of a murderous nation try to make any kind of image of a rally, these are purely theatrical actions,” he said, adding that those present were not Ukrainian citizens. As evidence of Russian atrocities continues to emerge, including the torture of civilians, the White House is under pressure to declare war an act of genocide. So far the Biden government has been cautious about adopting the term. Sullivan said Russia’s history of “systematic targeting of civilians, the horrific killing of innocent people… constitutes absolutely war crimes.” But he stopped embracing the international legal meaning of genocide. He told ABC News that a special unit within the State Department was equipped to carry out the assessment. “This is a determination we are working on systematically,” he said. According to the UN definition, first codified in 1948, genocide constitutes murder and otherwise the destruction of “in whole or in part” a “national, ethnic, racial or religious group”.
