[SHAFAQ] A senior U.S. official has said Russia has appointed a new commander to oversee its war on Ukraine.
The official speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
said Russia has turned to one of its most experienced military officers, Gen. Alexander Dvornikov. U.S. officials say the 60-year-old general "has a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other theatres of war."
The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN
...formerly the
Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for...
on Sunday that "this general will just be another author of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians." And he said "no appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine."
The new battlefield leadership comes as Russia gears up for what is expected to be a large and more focused push to expand Russian control in the Donbas after failing to conquer the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Sullivan reiterated support for the Ukrainian government, saying the United States is determined to do all it can to help Ukrainians resist this general and the forces he commands.
Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer will meet Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
in Moscow on Monday in an attempt to build dialogue with the Russian President as the war in Ukraine continues.
Nehammer announced the visit to journalists, and on Twitter, after returning from a trip to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian leaders and also visited the town of Bucha, site of alleged Russian military atrocities, on Saturday.
Plans for the Putin meeting were coordinated with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, among others, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The meeting is an unusual step for Nehammer, chancellor since December and a novice in diplomatic circles who'll look to build on militarily-neutral Austria's perceived role as a bridge between Europe's east and west.
Earlier talks between Putin and other European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have failed to yield any meaningful concessions from the Russian President.