Russian Forces Grow ‘More Desperate’ as Offensive Stalls, ‘Double Down on Brutality’: UK Defense Chief

Neighbors and relatives help remove the rubble of a house destroyed with shelling in Markhalivka, Ukraine, on March 5, 2022. Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images

British and American military officials said that as Russia’s offensive in Ukraine has faced setbacks, Russian forces have ramped up the use of rocket attacks and other long-range fires, increasingly striking civilian infrastructure, leading to more civilian casualties.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told the BBC on Tuesday that Russian forces were becoming frustrated by the lack of progress in parts of Ukraine and were increasingly resorting to what he described as brutal tactics.

Wallace told the “BBC Breakfast” program that Russian forces were “getting more desperate” and “we are seeing the Russians just double down on brutality.”

Russian troops have made significant advances in southern Ukraine but stalled in some other areas. The British defense chief said Russian troops are behind schedule in their offensive, in particular in the north, near the capital Kyiv, where a miles-long convoy has made little progress after its initial thunder run in the early days of the invasion fizzled.

“Russia has still not been making its advances, it’s day 13. That northern column that we have often talked about is still pretty much stuck, I mean really stuck, so that’s not advancing,” he said.

As Russian ground forces have met what many analysts describe as unexpectedly strong resistance from Ukrainian troops, they have increasingly relied on long-range fires, including shelling and bombardment, which has hit civilian infrastructure, according to the Pentagon.

“We absolutely assess that the reliance on long-range fires—and I know that’s a very wonky term—but artillery missile strikes ... rocket attacks, are having an increased effect on civilian casualties, and the damage and destruction of civilian infrastructure, be it homes, churches, hospitals, schools, we see that increasing for sure,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told a Monday briefing.

Residential houses destroyed by shelling in Markhalivka, Ukraine, on March 5, 2022. Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images

Kirby added that it’s impossible to say whether Russian forces are deliberately targeting civilian areas or whether such strikes are “incidental versus intentional,” but he said the result in terms of human suffering is the same.

“The bottom line is, more civilians are being killed and wounded, more civilian infrastructure is being damaged or destroyed,” Kirby continued. “And Mr. Putin still has a choice here, not to escalate, not to be more aggressive in the use of these long-range fires and in his capabilities, but to find a diplomatic path forward and to end the invasion.”

Russia has denied targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure. And despite calls for deescalation, there are signs of a different trajectory of the conflict.

British intelligence said on Tuesday that they have noticed a “notable intensification of Russian accusations that Ukraine is developing nuclear or biological weapons,” suggesting the Kremlin may be building a case for escalation or, as the UK Ministry of Defense put it, a “retrospective justification for Russia’s invasion.”

Local residents cross a destroyed bridge as they evacuate from their town in Irpin, near Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 7, 2022. Jedrzej Nowicki/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron said, after speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin several days ago, that he believes the “worst is yet to come” in the conflict.

Statements by Russian officials, too, suggest no immediate end in sight to the hostilities. Several days ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he believed some Western leaders were angling for a war against Russia and that Moscow would press on with its “special military operation” to “demilitarize and denazify” Ukraine until “the end.”

Lavrov on Tuesday said that the goal of Russia’s military actions are to “stop any war that could take place on Ukrainian territory or that could start from there,” suggesting that if the war doesn’t go the Kremlin’s way, it could spill over into NATO countries.

He also accused Washington of pulling Ukraine’s strings in the conflict, claiming Kyiv is “not independent at all,” while Russia’s ambassador to the UK complained that Britain had become a “hostile environment” and also warned of a potential spillover of the war to NATO countries.

“There is a risk of drawing NATO into conflict in the event of arms supplies to Ukraine through the Polish border,” he said.

Poland, a staunch ally to Ukraine in the conflict, has been a key supplier of weapons and ammunition to Ukrainian forces, with speculation whether this military aid might include the provision of fighter jets.

So far, the Polish government has been adamant that its planes would not fight in Ukraine nor would its airfields be used to launch sorties into Ukraine, but Polish officials have said discussions continue with NATO partners about some form of providing the jets to Ukrainian air force.

Polish Lt. Col. Krzysztof Przypiorka was asked in an interview on Monday with Polish media outlet Super Express whether supplying the fighter jets to Ukraine risked being perceived by the Russians as a provocation that could spark “world war three.”

“Not if we transmit the fighter jets in the same way we convey other weapons, like we do with anti-tank and anti-aircraft [systems],” Przypiorka replied, according to a translation of his remarks, suggesting Polish authorities were drawing a distinction between providing the planes in the form of sale or gift to Ukraine versus the jets engaging in the conflict while flying Polish colors.

“It’s not like Polish pilots would fly them, but Ukrainians, and they wouldn’t take off from Poland” but from Ukrainian airfields, he said.

In other signs that the conflict is likely to roil on for some time, U.S. intelligence officials said Monday that they believe Russia may be recruiting Syrian fighters with considerable experience in urban combat to fight for them in Ukraine, suggesting Russia expects to have to engage in grinding urban battles once its forces breach Ukrainian cities.

Fire is seen in Mariupol at a residential area after shelling amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, on March 3, 2022. Twitter @AyBurlachenko via Reuters

So far, Russian forces have managed to take just one key city, Kherson, but they have yet to control Kyiv, while heavy fighting continued on Monday outside another major city, Kharkiv, which is “really becoming victim to a lot of these long-range fires,” Kirby said.

The third round of peace talks ended with little progress on Monday, while Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Reuters that Russia was ready to “end war immediately” if Ukraine met several conditions.

Peskov also said Ukraine must recognize Crimea as Russian, recognize the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent, that its forces must lay down their arms, and Kyiv signs a neutrality agreement that would prohibit it from entering NATO.

“We really are finishing the demilitarization of Ukraine,” Peskov said. “We will finish it. But the main thing is that Ukraine ceases its military action. They should stop their military action and then no one will shoot.”

So far, around 2 million people have fled the fighting in Ukraine, according to the U.N.