Ukraine preparing for "massive attack in the east" as Russia regroups, ambassador says
Ukraine is preparing for a potential "massive attack in the east" as Russian troops regroup in the contested Donbas region, Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova told "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
Russian military decided to shift focus to the east after failing to take the capital of Kyiv amid fierce Ukrainian resistance. But Russia's record of committing "atrocities" and launching "horrible attacks" since its invasion of Crimea eight years ago suggests a brutal assault is to come, Markarova said.
"Yes, the enemy — the Russians — they are demotivated," she said. "They are war criminals, but there are so many of them and they still have so much equipment. And it looks like they're going to use all of it. So we are preparing for everything."
Ukraine is trying to evacuate as many civilians as possible from the eastern region while coordinating further assistance from the U.S. and other Western nations.
"I think there is an understanding that after the battle of Kyiv, we really have to win this battle of Donbas, and we have to win this war," Markarova said. "And we need all of the equipment — all of the firepower, all of the anti-air [equipment] — in order to be able to do so."
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier Sunday that the U.S. is considering the transfer of additional weapons to Ukraine as well as training its forces to use certain equipment. Sullivan and Markarova declined to provide details, with the ambassador saying she would rather "surprise Russians on the battlefields."
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, now in its seventh week, has become increasingly bloody, with CBS News finding evidence of atrocities on the outskirts of Kyiv following the withdrawal of Russian troops from that area. While visiting the town of Bucha early this month, CBS News correspondent Debora Patta and her team saw mass graves filled with nearly 300 bodies, civilians shot in the head with their hands bound, and other grisly scenes.
The U.S. Department of Justice said it's working with the Ukrainian government to investigate Russia's alleged war crimes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has accused Moscow of committing genocide, has urged the international community to prosecute all those behind the attacks. In a "60 Minutes" interview airing Sunday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has Russians in custody who have shared evidence of war crimes in Ukraine.
Russia has falsely claimed the massacre in Bucha was staged, and it denied responsibility for a missile attack that killed dozens of civilians at a train station last week.
Markarova said she hopes a potential international tribune would bring rank-and-file soldiers as well as Russia's military leaders and President Vladimir Putin to justice.
"I know that lawyers have to say 'alleged.' I can say 'war crimes' because we see them. We see them in real time," she said, adding that Ukrainian prosecutors have opened more than 4,000 individual criminal cases since the war began.
"So, yes, all of them will be prosecuted — military commanders, personnel, people who did it on the ground, and people who ordered it, and all the way to Putin," Markarova said.
"There should be no place on Earth where they could hide. Yes, we would like them to be tried in Ukraine, and we really hope that after we win and after Ukraine is liberated, that we will have a tribunal," she continued. "I think Ukraine and our people are entitled to a full-scale tribunal. But anywhere where they can be prosecuted is fine."