The Ukraine Crisis Could Get Worse: Kremlin Rejects Multiple Calls from the U.S. – Pentagon spokesman John Kirby revealed on Thursday that multiple efforts to establish direct communication with the Kremlin have failed, with calls from both Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley left unanswered.
Kirby said that Moscow’s refusal to engage directly with the United States has raised fears that the crisis in Ukraine could worsen, and that Russia may be willing to escalate in order to make up for a lack of territorial gains in Kyiv in recent weeks.
“We think that communication with the Russians is important particularly now -0 in fact, now more than ever, to communicate with our Russian counterparts and make sure that we can convey our continued concerns about the manner in which they are prosecuting this unprovoked war,” he said in an interview with Fox News.
‘We have tried on numerous occasions to connect Secretary Austin with his counterpart. Chairman Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has also tried to connect with his counterpart,” he continued, adding that they have made “multiple attempts” but that those calls were left unanswered.
“They have declined to take the calls,” he said.
Russia Shifts War Aims After Unsatisfactory Performance
Russia is reportedly on the back foot, running out of ammunition, food, and other supplies for its troops. The Russian military has also reportedly lost as many as 15,000 troops.
The situation has prompted Russia to re-evaluate its goals in Ukraine and could offer an indication of why the Kremlin refuses to answer Milley’s calls.
Col. Gen Sergei Rudskoi, the deputy chief of the Russian general staff, said recently that the primary objective of Russia’s first stage of the “special military operation” has been accomplished and that Russian troops will now move on to the second objective – the “main goal” – which is the “liberation of Donbas.”
After four weeks, Russia can realistically say that it has made some horrific so-called ‘achievements’ – namely the deaths of thousands of civilians and the almost complete destruction of the port city of Mariupol.
The change in focus could be the beginning of an exit strategy for the Russians – a potential de-escalation designed to save face, and that would avoid the need to use increasingly dangerous weapons to make gains in Kyiv and other major population centers in Ukraine.
Having lost control of the city of Kherson, the first major city to be taken by Russian troops, it looks as though the Russians may be willingly pulling back their troops to focus, effectively negating a need for direct communication with the United States.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.