Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of the general staff and newly appointed commander in Ukraine, has likely started his tour with a drive to improve deployed troops’ day-to-day discipline, according to the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence.

“Since he took command, officers have been attempting to clamp down on non-regulation uniform, travel in civilian vehicles, the use of mobile phones, and non-standard haircuts,” the ministry noted in an intelligence update on Twitter Monday.

It noted that the measures have been met with skepticism, and “some of the greatest derision has been reserved for attempts to improve the standard of troops’ shaving.”

“Officials in the Donetsk People’s Republic, described the prioritisation a ‘farce’ that would ‘hamper the process of destroying the enemy’,” the U.K. said. Meanwhile, Yevgteny Prigozhin, the owner of the private military company the Wagner Group, said that “war is the time of the active and courageous, and not of the clean-shaven.”

The U.K. noted that while Russian forces continue to endure operational deadlock and heavy casualties on the battlefield, Gerasimov’s prioritization of largely minor regulations “is likely to confirm the fears of his many sceptics in Russia.”

“Along with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, he is increasingly seen as out of touch and focused on presentation over substance.”

— Holly Ellyatt

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday that he expected a decision soon on the delivery of German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Pistorius told Germany’s ARD broadcaster that Germany would not make a hasty decision because the government had many factors to consider, including consequences at home for the security of the German population, Reuters reported.

Separately, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin would not block Poland from sending its own Leopard 2s to Ukraine.

There is intense pressure on Berlin to allow other countries with Leopard 2s to give them to Ukraine, but it has so far refused to authorize the onward exporting of the tanks, or to offer its own. Last Friday, Ukraine’s allies met in Germany to discuss the issue but no decision was reached.

Kyiv has pleaded with its allies to send heavy battle tanks for months, saying they could be decisive in the outcome of the war. The U.K. is Ukraine’s only ally to have pledged to send a number of its own Challenger 2 tanks. France said it has not ruled out sending its own Leclerc tanks to Ukraine.

— Holly Ellyatt

The speaker of Russia’s parliament on Sunday warned that countries supplying Ukraine with more powerful weapons risked their own destruction. It followed new pledges of armored vehicles, air defense systems, and other equipment from Ukraine’s allies, but not the battle tanks Kyiv has requested.

“Supplies of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime would lead to a global catastrophe,” State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said. “If Washington and NATO supply weapons that would be used for striking peaceful cities and making attempts to seize our territory as they threaten to do, it would trigger a retaliation with more powerful weapons.”

Ukraine’s supporters pledged billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine on Friday, though the new commitments were overshadowed by defense leaders failing at an international meeting in Ramstein, Germany, to agree on Ukraine’s urgent request for German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks.

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— The Associated Press