brutality against ukrainian civilians. with me now is a professor of international affairs at the new school, the co-author of the book, in putin s footsteps, and the great granddaughter of former soviet premiere, nikita khrushchev. thank you so much for coming back on this show. a few weeks ago, u.s. intelligence officials said that president putin was being misinformed by what s going on in ukraine by his kremlin advisers. and now we see this newly appointed russian ground commander. what does that signal to you about putin s mind-set about the war. do you think he s fully aware of how badly his forces have been doing in ukraine? i think he was aware of how his forces were doing in ukraine, but i m wondering if the same assessment is that, yes, we are de-nazifying and preventing genocide, it s going slowly, they have been explaining that it s going slowly, because they try not to bomb every city in its way, so they re being concerned about civilians, as they say. so i wouldn t sa
on a train station has risen to 57. 114 others injured. also tonight, new reporting suggests a major strategy shift coming out of moscow. newly released satellite images show this large military convoy stretching about eight miles. it is actually making its way south. that is passed a small town that lies 50 miles east of kharkiv. the images are captured by a satellite suggesting that russia is refocussing, if not doubling its efforts in the donbas region. that s not moscow s only big move today. russian general has been named the new ground commander in ukraine. and that certainly raises questions as to what he might do. he is the general who was actually commanding russia s troops in the southern district of ukraine and he actually has a reputation for scorched earth tactics. he led russian troops in syria.
named the new ground commander in ukraine. raising the general commanding troops in the southern district of ukraine. he has a reputation for scorched earth tactics. in fact he led russian troops in syria. we all know what happened there. the russians brutally and indiscriminately bomb civilian neighborhoods and hospitals under his command. nearly 25,000 syrian civilians are estimated to have been killed by russian airstrikes in that conflict alone. the leadership change in ukraine could be putin s acknowledgment that he actually needs better command and control on the ground, but here s the thing, u.s. national security adviser jake sullivan said today that nothing would fundamentally change. that this general will just be another author of crime and brutality as you can ukrainian civilians. also here at home, u.s. intelligence officials believe that vladimir putin may actually use the biden ministration support from
acknowledgment that russia s previous military strategy in ukraine was not working and how do you expect russia s military strategy to change, if in fact he is now the new ground commander of operations in ukraine? yes. i think that the russian leadership understands something went wrong. we heard reports by russian tv stations that kyiv is going to be captured in three days. that ukrainian army is no match for russia. and we are now over 40 days. russia had to withdraw from the kyiv region, from the trainees region, from sumy. so obviously russia understands that they failed in their blitzkrieg operation and now they are preparing for a long, long operation in the donbas. and unfortunately, people like this who have experienced in syria. i have combat experience in terrain.
is completely different. people are trying to flee mariupol, other eastern cities because that s where russia is planning a new offensive. ukraine understands that. and there is going to be a rapid increase in internally displaced persons who are fleeing war in those regions. on the other side of this, there is some news that russia has reportedly appointed general aleksandr dvornikov in ukraine. he is known for scorched earth tactics in places like syria. and i m curious to get your thoughts on this. does this represent an acknowledgment that the strategy in ukraine wasn t working? and how do you expect russia s military strategy to change if, in fact, he is now the new ground commander of operations in ukraine? yes. i think the russian leadership