美联社

在这张拍摄于2016年3月17日的照片中，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京(左)与..

华盛顿——俄罗斯开发了一种新的乌克兰在首场战役代价高昂的失败和乌克兰平民的大屠杀之后，战争指挥官将集中控制下一阶段的战斗。美国官员认为没有一个人能改变莫斯科的前景。

俄罗斯向60岁的亚历山大·德沃尔尼科夫(Alexander Dvornikov)将军求助，他是俄罗斯最有经验的军官之一，据美国官员说，他是一名有着在叙利亚和其他战区对平民施暴记录的将军。到目前为止，俄罗斯在地面上没有中央战争指挥官。

这位将军的任命得到了一位美国高级官员的证实，这位官员没有被授权透露姓名。

但白宫国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文(Jake Sullivan)表示，“任何将军的任命都无法抹去俄罗斯已经在乌克兰面临战略失败的事实。”

沙利文说，“这位将军将只是又一个对乌克兰平民犯下罪行和暴行的人。”。“正如我之前所说，美国决心尽我们所能支持乌克兰人民反抗他，反抗他所指挥的军队。”

白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基也表达了同样的想法。她说，“我们看到的报道称，军方领导层发生了变化，一名对我们在叙利亚看到的暴行负有责任的将军掌权，这表明我们在乌克兰实地看到的情况将会继续，这是我们所期待的。”。

建立新的战场领导机构的决定出台之际，俄罗斯正在加紧推进一项大规模、更有针对性的行动，以扩大俄罗斯在乌克兰东部和南部(包括顿巴斯)的控制，此前，俄罗斯在北部试图征服首都基辅的公开努力失败。

德沃尔尼科夫在领导俄罗斯驻叙利亚部队时声名鹊起，俄罗斯在叙利亚发动了一场军事行动，在一场毁灭性的内战中支持总统巴沙尔·阿萨德的政权。

德沃尔尼科夫是一名职业军官，从1982年开始担任排长以来，他一直稳步上升。他曾在车臣的第二次战争中战斗过，并在2015年被任命为俄罗斯驻叙利亚部队的负责人之前担任过几个高级职位。

在德沃尔尼科夫的指挥下，俄罗斯驻叙利亚部队以镇压异见人士而闻名，他们在持续的袭击中摧毁城市、发射炮弹并投掷通常是粗制滥造的桶装炸弹，这些袭击导致数百万叙利亚平民流离失所。联合国表示，这场长达十多年的战争已经造成35万多人死亡。

2016年，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京授予德沃尔尼科夫俄罗斯英雄勋章，这是该国的最高奖项之一。德沃尔尼科夫自2016年起担任南部军区司令。

叙利亚军队叛逃者Fares al-Bayoush中校周日表示，虽然叙利亚的局势与乌克兰不同，因为俄罗斯军队是在打击叛乱组织，而不是乌克兰的职业军队，但他预计会有类似的“焦土”战略。

Al-Bayoush表示，他认为任命Dvornikov担任乌克兰战争指挥官的目的是将战争变成同时在几个地方进行的“快速战斗”。

“我预计他会使用在叙利亚使用的焦土政策，”巴尤什说，他指的是俄罗斯支持的叙利亚袭击，在这些袭击中，城市和城镇被长期围困，同时遭受密集轰炸，造成许多人死亡，并对基础设施和居民区造成广泛破坏。"他对这项政策很有经验。"

“这名指挥官是一名战犯，”巴尤什从土耳其通过电话说道。

自2015年9月俄罗斯加入叙利亚战争以来，阿萨德的部队在濒临崩溃后已经控制了大部分国家。自那以来，俄罗斯空军进行了数千次空袭，帮助俄罗斯支持的叙利亚军队占领了一些地区，此前战斗人员被迫在放下武器换取大赦或被巴士带到叛军控制的地区之间做出选择。

上一次俄罗斯支持的叙利亚大规模攻势持续了几个月，直到2020年3月，俄罗斯和土耳其达成停火协议，支持敌对双方。

沙利文周日表示，俄罗斯将军在叙利亚有残暴对待平民的记录，在乌克兰“我们可以期待更多同样的事情”。但他强调，美国支持乌克兰及其总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基(Volodymyr Zelenskyy)的战略没有改变。

“我们的政策是明确的——我们将尽一切努力帮助乌克兰取得成功，”沙利文说。“这意味着我们需要继续向他们提供武器，这样他们才能在战场上取得进步。我们需要继续向他们提供军事支持和强有力的经济制裁，以改善他们在谈判桌上的地位和姿态。”

与此同时，国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀(Lloyd Austin)周日通过视频会议向目前正在返回自己国家的少量驻美乌克兰军队发表讲话。该小组自去年秋天以来一直在美国接受军事教育，并接受了美国上周派往乌克兰用于与俄罗斯作战的新型无人机的培训。

五角大楼发言人约翰·柯比(John Kirby)表示，奥斯汀感谢乌克兰士兵的勇气和服务，并承诺美国将继续提供支持和安全援助。Kirby说，这个小组接受了一些高级战术训练，包括弹簧刀武装kamakazi无人机，以及巡逻艇操作，通信和维护方面的指导。

泽伦斯基星期六在接受美联社采访时承认，尽管他希望实现和平，但鉴于谈判迄今仅限于不包括普京在内的低级别会谈，他必须对迅速解决的前景持“现实”态度。

泽伦斯基再次呼吁在该国东部预期的战斗激增之前获得更多的武器。他对来自美国和其他西方国家的武器供应感到沮丧，他说，“当然这是不够的。”

沙利文在美国有线电视新闻网的“国情咨文”和全国广播公司的“会见媒体”节目中发表了讲话。普萨基在“福克斯新闻频道星期天”节目中说。"

US doubts new Russian war chief can end Moscow's floundering

WASHINGTON -- Russia has tapped a newUkrainewar commander to take centralized control of the next phase of battle after its costly failures in the opening campaign and carnage for Ukrainian civilians. U.S. officials don't see one man making a difference in Moscow's prospects.

Russia turned to Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, 60, one of Russia’s most experienced military officers and — according to U.S. officials — a general with a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other war theaters. Up to now, Russia had no central war commander on the ground.

The general's appointment was confirmed by a senior U.S. official who was not authorized to be identified and spoke on condition of anonymity.

But the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said “no appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine.”

“This general will just be another author of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians,” Sullivan said. “And the United States, as I said before, is determined to do all that we can to support Ukrainians as they resist him and they resist the forces that he commands.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki echoed that thought. “The reports we’re seeing of a change in military leadership and putting a general in charge who was responsible for the brutality and the atrocities we saw 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,” she said.

The decision to establish 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 Ukraine's east and south, including the Donbas, and follows a failed opening bid in the north to conquer Kyiv, the capital.

Dvornikov gained prominence while leading the Russian group of forces in Syria, where Moscow has waged a military campaign to shore up President Bashar Assad’s regime during a devastating civil war.

Dvornikov is a career military officer and has steadily risen through the ranks after starting as a platoon commander in 1982. He fought during the second war in Chechnya and took several top positions before being placed in charge of the Russian troops in Syria in 2015.

Under Dvornikov’s command, Russian forces in Syria were known for crushing dissent in part by destroying cities, lobbing artillery and dropping what were often crudely made barrel bombs in sustained attacks that have displaced millions of Syrian civilians. The United Nations says the more than decade-long war has killed more than 350,000 people.

In 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Dvornikov the Hero of Russia medal, one of the country’s highest awards. Dvornikov has served as the commander of the Southern Military District since 2016.

Lt. Col. Fares al-Bayoush, a Syrian army defector, said Sunday that while the situation in Syria is different than in Ukraine because the Russian military was fighting insurgent groups and not Ukraine's professional army, he expects a similar “scorched-earth” strategy.

Al-Bayoush said he believes the aim of naming Dvornikov as Ukraine war commander is to turn the war into “rapid battles” in several places at the same time.

“I expected him to use the scorched earth policy that was used in Syria," al-Bayoush said, referring to Russian-backed attacks in Syria in which cities and towns were put under long sieges while being subjected to intense bombardment that left many people dead and caused wide destruction to infrastructure and residential areas. “He has very good experience in this policy.”

“This commander is a war criminal,” al-Bayoush said by telephone from Turkey.

Since Russia joined the war in Syria in September 2015, Assad’s forces have taken control of most of the country after being on the verge of collapse. The Russian air force carried out thousands of airstrikes since, helping Russian-backed Syrian troops take areas after fighters were forced to choose between an amnesty in return for dropping their arms or being taken by buses into rebel-held areas.

The last major Russian-backed offensive in Syria lasted several months, until March 2020, when a truce was reached between Russia and Turkey, which supported rival sides.

Sullivan on Sunday said the Russian general has a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and “we can expect more of the same" in Ukraine. But he stressed that the U.S. strategy remains the same in supporting Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Our policy is unequivocal — that we will do whatever we can to help Ukraine succeed,” Sullivan said. “Which means that we need to keep giving them weapons so that they can make progress on the battlefield. And we need to keep giving them military support and strong economic sanctions to improve their position, their posture at the negotiating table."

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, meanwhile, spoke by video conference Sunday to a small number of Ukrainian troops in the U.S. who are now returning to their country. The group has been in the U.S. since last fall for military schooling and were given training on new drones the U.S. sent to Ukraine last week for the war with Russia.

Austin thanked the Ukrainian troop members for their courage and service and pledged continued U.S. support and security aid, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. Kirby said the small group was given some advanced tactical training, including on the Switchblade armed kamakazi drones, as well as instruction on patrol craft operations, communications and maintenance.

In an interview Saturday with The Associated Press, Zelenskyy acknowledged that despite his hopes for peace, he must be “realistic” about the prospects for a swift resolution given that negotiations have so far been limited to low-level talks that do not include Putin.

Zelenskyy renewed his plea for more weapons before an expected surge in fighting in the country’s east. He said, with frustration in regards to supplies of weapons from the U.S. and other Western nations, “of course it’s not enough.”

Sullivan spoke on CNN's “State of the Union” and NBC's “Meet the Press. Psaki spoke on ”Fox News Sunday."