White House expects more brutality in Ukraine as Russian military reorganizes – POLITICO

“The reports we are seeing of a change in military leadership, and putting a general in charge who was responsible for the brutality and atrocities in Syria, shows that there’s going to be a continuation of what we’ve already seen on the ground in Ukraine and that’s what we are expecting,” Psaki said.

The horrid imagery coming out of Ukraine flooded the media last week, from scenes of massacre in Bucha to the mayor of . The reports from Bucha prompted President Joe Biden to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal.”

The reorganization of Russia’s military comes after forces recently withdrew from Kyiv and surrounding regions, where troops failed to capture the capital. Dvornikov’s elevation could be seen as a warning sign, as the war in Syria was notoriously brutal, particularly in the city of Aleppo. The general is known as the “butcher of Syria,” retired Gen. David Petraeus said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

“The Russians were known in Syria basically for — quote — ‘depopulating’ areas. That’s what they did to Aleppo. That’s what they did to other areas,” Petraeus said. “The hallmark of the Russian forces so far has been indiscipline, not discipline. It has been violation of the Geneva Convention and the law of land warfare and so forth. We have seen repeated evidence of that.”

Psaki said the U.S. is reviewing daily requests from the Ukrainians as they determine how else Washington should assist the war effort.

The West has given Ukraine billions of dollars worth of weapons, and more equipment poured in over the weekend to prepare the country for the next phase of the war. Britain announced plans to send missiles that target aircraft, tanks and ships; and Slovakia gave the Ukrainian military a long-range S-300 air defense system, a moved backed by Biden.

“If we can’t meet what they need, we are working with our allies and partners, as we did with the S-300 and the back-filling of that with the Patriot battery this week. We are going to continue to do that so we can equip them on the battlefield and continue the success we’ve seen today,” Psaki said.