Russian general in charge of Ukraine operation speaks out.

Sergey Surovikin described the situation as “tense” and has not ruled out that he might have to make difficult decisions. Army General Sergey Surovikin on Tuesday spoke to media for the first time since assuming overall command of the ongoing Russian military operation in Ukraine.

Describing the situation as particularly “tense” around the city of Kherson in his statement to the broadcaster Rossiya-24, he added that the military may be forced to make “difficult decisions.”

“The NATO command of the armed forces of Ukraine has long been demanding offensive operations in the Kherson direction from the Kiev regime, regardless of any casualties – both in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and among the civilian population,” Surovikin stated.

Russian military is aware of Kiev’s plans to use “prohibited” means of waging war in the Kherson area, Surovikin added. Namely, Ukraine is preparing a massive strike on the Kakhovska hydroelectric plant, located on the Dnieper River, as well as launching massive rocket and artillery attacks on Kherson itself.

“These actions can lead to the destruction of the infrastructure of this large industrial center and massive casualties among the civilian population,” Surovikin said.

In the ongoing effort to dislodge the Russian military from its positions, Kiev is pouring its reserves en masse into the frontline, the general said. The vast majority of those reserves are “territorial defense units, who have not been properly trained,” Surovikin added. Such troops have low morale, thus they are propped up by “barrier squads” composed of hardline nationalists “who shoot anyone trying to leave the battlefield,” he claimed. https://www.rt.com/russia/564934-general-surovikin-ukraine-operation/