The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-27)

A18 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, MAY 27 , 2022

War in Ukraine

Severodonetsk, a strategic city in

the region, appears to have been

seized by Russian forces, said a

senior U.S. defense official, speak-

ing on the condition of anonymity

under ground rules established

by the Pentagon. Collectively, this

official said, the strategy amounts

to “an encirclement effort” meant

to cut off Ukrainian forces from

reinforcement and resupply of

Western weapons.

The war, entering its fourth

month, has been a costly endeav-

or for the Russians, the senior U.S.

official said. They’ve lost about

1,000 tanks, 350 artillery pieces,

three dozen fighter-bomber air-

craft and more than 50 helicop-

ters, according to Pentagon esti-

mates. More than 80 percent of

Russia’s go-to fighting units —

battalion tactical groups — have

been committed to the war effort,

the official said, stressing, howev-

er, that Russian forces have “a

significant amount of their capa-

bility” remaining.

Ukrainian military officials

have claimed their forces have

expunged nearly 30,000 Russian

troops from the battlefield. The

Pentagon has declined to provide

an estimate of either side’s casu-

alty figures.

Pitrelli reported from Rome. Shane

Harris, Jennifer Hassan and Mary

Ilyushina contributed to this report.

1948 and 1949, when Allied forces

flew food and other vital supplies

into Berlin to circumvent a Soviet

blockade of the roads and rail

lines. That option would route

Ukrainian grain supplies through

Poland, which established a bor-

der crossing regime to facilitate

such passage, and on to ports on

Germany’s northern coast for

shipping.

“Some efforts are taking place,”

Cavoli told senators, adding:

“Much more needs to be done.”

Pentagon spokesman John Kir-

by, speaking to reporters later

Thursday, said, “There are no

plans to use the United States

military, or military sources or

assets, to assist in the movement

of grain outside of Ukraine.” The

Biden administration, he added,

is “in discussion with our interna-

tional partners and allies about

how best to address this.”

Cavoli also acknowledged that

CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

TOP: A cargo ship is loaded with grain at the Port of Mariupol in

Ukraine on Jan. 13, about a month before Russia’s invasion.

ABOVE: Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli on Thursday warned

U.S. lawmakers about the security risks emanating from Russia’s

continued naval blockade of Ukraine.

BY KAROUN DEMIRJIAN,

ALEX HORTON

AND STEFANO PITRELLI

The American general slated to
become NATO’s next supreme al-
lied commander warned Thurs-
day that Russia’s blockade of
Ukrainian grain exports could en-
able terrorist networks in other
parts of the world and may re-
quire U.S. military intervention to
ensure global markets don’t be-
come destabilized.
Gen. Christopher Cavoli, com-
mander of all U.S. Army forces in
Europe and Africa, told members
of the Senate Armed Services
Committee that groups including
the Islamic State, al-Shabab and
Boko Haram stand to benefit
from food shortages resulting
from the war. Those groups, he
said, “feed on weak governance
and food insecurity and corrup-
tion and poverty.” Cavoli ap-
peared on Capitol Hill as part of
the confirmation process to lead
U.S. and NATO forces in Europe.
Ukraine is the world’s largest
exporter of sunflower oil, the
fourth largest exporter of corn
and the fifth largest exporter of
wheat. Western officials have ac-
cused Moscow of using food as a
form of blackmail, as Russia’s
navy effectively controls all traffic
in the northern third of the Black
Sea, according to U.S. intelligence
assessments.
There were mixed signals
Thursday over Russia’s willing-
ness to release any of the wheat
now at risk of rotting while it sits
on commercial vessels unable to
depart Ukraine’s seaports. The
Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry
Peskov, said no ships carrying
Ukrainian grain would be al-
lowed to leave until Western gov-
ernments lift their sanctions on
Russia.
Hours later, Italian Prime Min-
ister Mario Draghi told reporters
that, in a call, Russian President
Vladimir Putin had agreed in
principle to liberate several mil-
lion tons. A Kremlin readout of
the leaders’ conversation did not
go that far. British Foreign Secre-
tary Liz Truss condemned Mos-
cow for attempting to “hold the
world to ransom” and “essentially
weaponizing hunger.” In calling
on Putin to end the blockade, she
rejected the idea of lifting sanc-
tions and said “any appeasement”
would only make the Russian
leader “stronger in the longer
term.”
Draghi, the Italian premier,
said during a news conference
that he decided to call Putin be-
cause “millions and millions of
lives are at stake.” The Russian
leader, he said, blames Ukraine
for blocking its seaports by laying
floating mines to stave off attack.
The proposal involves a collabo-
ration between Russia and

the influx of Western arms flows

into Ukraine poses the risk of

weapons smuggling by or to illicit

groups who could in turn use

them to undermine U.S. interests

elsewhere.

“Establishing accountability

over where all of that equipment

[goes] is a vital task for us,” Cavoli

said, adding that doing so is “chal-

lenging right now” as the United

States has no military presence in

Ukraine.

“ As the conflict winds down or

concludes, that will be one of the

things that I have to get at,” he

added, telling senators: “I share

your concern on it.”

Cavoli, a Russian speaker with

extensive experience and exper-

tise in the region, would take over

at U.S. European Command as

Putin, having failed to topple the

government in Kyiv, has scaled

down his ambitions in Ukraine.

Putin’s forces have made only

slow, grinding progress in their

renewed campaign to seize terri-

tory in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas

region, Western intelligence as-

sessments show. The Pentagon on

Thursday said that Russian com-

manders are attempting to entrap

Ukrainian forces defending key

towns in Donbas even as the

Kremlin’s combat losses continue

to mount in the face of significant

resistance.

The northeastern part of

Ukraine, “on the one hand on

demining, and on the other on

guaranteeing” that no attacks are

launched while the operation is

being carried out, Draghi said,

adding that he intends to inquire

with Kyiv whether Ukrainian

President Volodymyr Zelensky

would support such an arrange-

ment.

In his Senate testimony, Cavoli

hinted that, at some point, the

U.S. military could get involved in

an effort to guarantee that ex-

ports from Ukraine can resume.

But he declined to say whether he

would recommend such an ap-

proach if he is confirmed to take

over at NATO, apart from prepar-

ing the options requested by civil-

ian leaders.

For now, he said, “it’s going to

be a combination of modes of

transportation that we’re going to

have to use” to get around Russian

efforts to stymie grain shipments

from leaving Ukraine. Romania

has already made the Black Sea

port of Constanta available to ex-

ports of Ukrainian grain, though

Cavoli noted that accounts for

only about 90,000 tons a day.

About 22 million tons remain

backed up in Ukraine, he said.

Germany’s rail line Deutsche

Bahn also has begun an operation

Cavoli referred to as the “Berlin

train lift” — intentionally remi-

niscent of the Berlin Airlift of

Western o∞cials accuse Russia of using food as blackmail

CHRISTOPHER OCCHICONE/BLOOMBERG NEWS

American general hints

that g rain blockade could

require U.S. intervention

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