Putin Puts New General in Charge of Ukraine War

The Ukrainian military says Russia has been beefing up its forces and trying to probe Ukrainian defenses, per the AP. The Ukrainian military command said Sunday that the Russian troops have continued attempts to break Ukrainian defenses near Izyum, southeast of Kharkiv. The military added that the Russians also continued their attempts to take control of Mariupol, the Sea of Azov port that has been besieged by Russian forces for nearly 1½ months. After Russia’s attempt to capture Kyiv and other big cities in northeastern Ukraine failed, Ukrainian and Western officials expect Moscow to launch a new offensive in eastern Ukraine. Developments:

• New general: Vladimir Putin has put a new general in charge of the Ukraine war. Gen. Aleksandr V. Dvornikov has previously been accused of ordering strikes on civilian areas of Syria, when the Russian military intervened to support Bashar al-Assad, reports the New York Times. The Kremlin honored Dvornikov for his role in overseeing the Syrian campaign, one criticized for its brutality by international groups.
• Zelensky: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is focused on the need to track down perpetrators of war crimes in a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Zelensky said that in Sunday’s call “we emphasized that all perpetrators of war crimes must be identified and punished.” Ukraine has accused Russia of atrocities against civilians in Bucha and other places near Kyiv, where hundreds of slaughtered civilians, many with their hands bound and signs of torture, were found after Russian troops retreated.
• Big number: The UN refugee agency said the number of people who have left Ukraine since the beginning of the war has reached 4.5 million. A regular update Sunday of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ online portal on numbers of refugees fleeing Ukraine since Feb. 24 brought the total to some 4.504 million.
• Evacuations: Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said more civilians are expected to leave Mariupol Sunday in their personal vehicles. Evacuations are also planned from Berdyansk, Tokmak, and Enerhodar in the south, and from Sieverierodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna, and Rubizhne in the east.

(More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)