The Pentagon's warning about the new Russian commander: “Russian leaders have demonstrated their contempt for the laws of war”

The Pentagon warned on Monday that a Russian military convoy is heading east of Ukraine, towards the town of Izium, in an attempt to send reinforcements to the eastern Donbas region.

“We believe that this is the first stage of an effort by the Russians to strengthen themselves in the Donbas, it is not clear how many vehicles are in this convoy and what exactly they carry,” US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said at a press conference.

Kirby remarked that it “seems” that this is a combination of soldiers and armored vehicles, “maybe some artillery”, without giving any further details.

This convoy would be similar to another military caravan that the US reported in the first weeks of the conflict in Ukraine - where Moscow began an invasion on February 24 - which was blocked on its way to Kiev due to logistical problems.

As for the newly appointed Russian commander, Alexander Dvornikov, who has a history of attacking civilians in Syria, Kirby said he could not speculate as to what Dvornikov's intentions were in Ukraine, but added, as the Guardian noted: “He and other high-ranking Russian leaders have in the past demonstrated their contempt for preventing harm to civilians, their total disregard in many ways for the laws of war, the laws of the armed conflicts and the brutality with which they conduct and process their operations. We can certainly say from what we have seen in the past, that we are probably turning another page in the same book of Russian brutality.”

Last week Washington confirmed the full withdrawal of Russian soldiers around Kiev and Chernigov in the north, in an effort to reorganize to focus its offensive on eastern Ukraine.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymi r Zelensky, today warned of an “even bigger” offensive in the east of the country, where pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk announced on Monday the intensification of attacks and the seizure of the port of the strategic city of Mariupol.

Asked about the situation in this locality, Kirby indicated that the US believes that Mariupol remains “disputed” between the parties, without providing any further information.

He confirmed that the US believes that Russia has withdrawn all its units from around Kiev and Chernihiv to Belarus and then east to Russia.

However, as reported by the Guardian, Kirby had no confirmation of Russian claims of attacking the newly acquired S-300 anti-aircraft system by Ukraine: “We have seen the Russians attack airfields in the last two weeks... on the last day or so.”

“We are not quite clear what exactly they are aiming at in those fields, but I would only say this about Ukrainian air defense: they still have much of their air defense capability available. They have been asking for more, so we are working with allies and partners to help bring long-range air defense systems to Ukraine,” he said.

(With information from EFE)

Keep reading: