Russia may revise its war aims, divert forces to eastern Ukraine: US

Russian forces may divert their paths and move to Eastern parts of Ukraine now, United States President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor warned in a briefing. The announcement comes nearly a week after Kremlin vowed to scale back its operations in Ukraine’s Kyiv.

“At this juncture, we believe Russia is revising its war aims”, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said. The White House official added that Russia will move focus to “eastern and parts of southern Ukraine rather than target most of the territory.”

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Sullivan elaborated that Russia’s initial strategy was to “surround and overwhelm” those who were resisting Moscow’s invasion, which began on February 24, 2022, according to reports from Reuters.

Moscow would likely seek to control a far broader swath of eastern Ukraine than separatists controlled prior to the invasion, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in the White House briefing.

Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine that connects to Russia-occupied Crimea, will likely be a strategic area that Kremlin would hold on to. Missle strikes and air raids are also likely to increase in the Eastern European country, Sullivan said.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden on Monday called for Vladimir Putin to be tried for war crimes and said he’ll seek more sanctions against Russia after what he described as “outrageous” atrocities around Kyiv.

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One of the president’s top advisers said the Russians had exacted a horrible toll before making a “pell-mell” retreat from around Ukraine’s capital to regroup for dangerous forays elsewhere, according to reports from the Associated Press.

Biden made the war crimes allegations to reporters after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Bucha, where Ukrainian officials say the bodies of civilians have been found in macabre scenes of brutality. Zelensky labeled the Russian actions “genocide” and called for the West to apply tougher sanctions against Russia.