Free Republic

Russia has appointed a new commander to oversee the war in Ukraine as it shifts its strategy following an initial setback, the United States said. The Kremlin has tapped Army General Aleksandr Dvornikov, who commands Russia’s forces in the southern military district, to lead the war in Ukraine, U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview with CNN on April 10.

Russia's Vladimir Putin may yet be humiliated in his scramble to declare a victory in Ukraine by the symbolically important 9 May - even as he prepares to double or even treble his number of forces in the eastern Donbas region. Following his troops' failure to capture Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other parts of the country's north after more than six weeks' of fighting, the Russian president has withdrawn some of his forces. Mr Putin is now beginning to redeploy some of those troops towards the Donbas, parts of which are already controlled by Russian-backed separatist groups. He is said...