“Ultimately, civilians are likely to suffer the most, particularly as Ukraine looks set only to continue its effective and heroic fight for its territory,” Lister said in an e-mail. Surovikin attends a virtual briefing about the situation in Syria at the Russian Defense Ministry headquarters in Moscow in September 2017. “For Ukraine, I’d worry a lot about Surovikin’s absolutely unforgiving attitude to the enemy - seen as combatants and civilians alike - and his laser-like focus on achieving military progress no matter the cost or risk,” said Charles Lister, who is director of the Syria program at the U.S.-based Middle East Institute and followed Surovikin’s earlier command of Russian forces in Syria. Two days later, Russia unleashed the largest barrage of missiles and air strikes since the invasion in February, pushing the war into a potentially even deadlier new phase – with Surovikin in charge. On October 8, President Vladimir Putin appointed the much-decorated Surovikin, who is now 56, as the overall commander of Russia’s flagging war on Ukraine. Surovikin went on to a long career in Russia’s military, where he was repeatedly promoted and gained a reputation for unalloyed brutality in Chechnya and, more recently, in Syria. The man who commanded the unit was Captain Sergei Surovikin, 24, a mid-ranking officer who was briefly arrested for his orders but later cleared. The clash was a turning point in the coup, which collapsed the next day. The protesters had barricaded the road with buses and street-cleaning vehicles, and in the chaos that ensued, three of them were killed. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here. RFE/RL's Live Briefinggives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |