KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s defence minister accused the new commander of Russia’s invasion forces on Thursday of carrying out a “doctrine of terrorists” by heavily bombarding civilians and critical infrastructure.
Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Reuters in an interview that the Russian army under General Sergei Surovikin appeared to have become more disciplined since his appointment in October.
Russia launched waves of strikes on nationwide infrastructure that began on Oct. 10 in what it described as retaliation for an attack on Russia’s bridge to the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which it blamed on Kyiv.
Asked if Moscow’s tactics had changed under Surovikin, Reznikov said “yes.”
“Yes, he changed it because he’s using terrorism tactics against civilians and infrastructure objects using cruise missiles, rocket missiles and drones, special Iranian drones,” he said.
“They don’t send to Ukraine one or two rockets as before; they use 40 in a day and then wait – and then again, and again,” he said.
Ukraine has urged its foreign partners to declare Russia a “terrorist state”.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Max Hunder; editing by Mike Collett-White and Cynthia Osterman)
