US Changes Tactics, Says Russia Sends Thousands Of Troops To Eastern Ukraine

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. (Wikimedia Common/The White House)

JAKARTA - Russia may plan to deploy tens of thousands of troops to eastern Ukraine, as focus shifts to the east and south of the country, said US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

"At this point we believe Russia is revising its war objectives to focus on eastern and southern Ukraine rather than targeting large swathes of territory," Sullivan told reporters at the White House.

Sullivan continued, the goal is likely to encircle and overwhelm Ukrainian troops in the region.

"Russia can then use whatever tactical successes it achieves, to spread a narrative of progress and cover up previous military failures," Sullivan continued.

Sullivan further said the Biden Administration would announce new military assistance to Ukraine in the coming days. He said further sanctions on Russian energy were being discussed in talks with European allies.

At the same time, Sullivan also said the next phase may drag on with Russian troops outnumbering Ukrainians. Moscow will likely seek to control a much wider swath of eastern Ukraine than the separatists controlled before the invasion, he said.

In the south, Russia is likely to seek to contain the city of Kherson to control the flow of water into Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. He said the Kremlin was expected to launch further air and missile strikes across the country.

President Biden on Monday accused President Putin of war crimes and called for a trial, adding to a global outcry over the killing of civilians in Bucha, a city retaken by Ukrainian forces as Russian troops regrouped.

Meanwhile, Russia categorically denies killing civilians, including in Bucha.

"This information should be seriously questioned. From what we have seen, our experts have identified signs of video falsification and other forgeries," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya promised Russia would provide "empirical evidence" to the Security Council that its troops did not kill civilians.