(CNN) – US Secretary of Defense Jake Sullivan said on Saturday that his country expects General Alexander Dvornikov, who was appointed by Russia to oversee the invasion of Ukraine and to carry out more “brutal attacks” on civilians.

“This particular general has a resume that covers the brutality against civilians in other war zones, such as Syria, and the same can be expected in this war zone in Ukraine,” Sullivan told CNN State of the Union correspondent Jack Tapper.

“This general will be another writer on crimes and atrocities against Ukrainian citizens,” he added.

CNN previously reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had appointed General Alexander Dvornikov, commander of Russia’s southern military district, as commander-in-chief of operations in Ukraine.

Dvornikov, 60, is Russia’s first commander in chief of military operations in Syria.

Russia provided air power to support Assad’s ground forces and transformed the Syrian civil war at great expense.

Russian warplanes backed the Assad regime and its allies as they besieged opposition-held Aleppo, bombing densely populated areas and inflicting heavy casualties on civilians.

Sullivan, however, downplayed the importance of Russia’s overall chances of success in Ukraine, saying Russia had already suffered a “strategic failure.”

“No public appointment can destroy the fact that Russia is already facing a strategic defeat in Ukraine,” Sullivan added.

“They believed that the capital, Kiev, could be occupied and other large cities captured with little resistance, and they would be welcomed with open arms,” ​​he continued.

“What we have learned in the first few weeks of this war is that Ukraine will never surrender to Russia, and it will not matter if Putin appoints any general,” he added.