March 7, 2022: Russia escalates brutality, Congress steps up response
\u201cRussia answers resistance with firepower,\u201d notes the BBC\u2019s Jeremy Bowen, who is in Kyiv now and covered the conflicts in Chechnya and Syria. \u201cRather than send in men to fight from house to house and room to room, their military doctrine calls for a bombardment by heavy weapons and from the air to destroy their enemies.\u201d\xa0\nHe added, \u201cThe depressing conclusion I\u2019ve drawn from other wars in which I have seen Russians in action is that it could get much worse.\u201d\nOn Sunday evening, a senior Pentagon official sent Playbook an update on the Russian military campaign.\xa0\nThe headline:\n\xa0While the Russians try to encircle and choke off major cities in the north and east, such as Kyiv, Kharkhiv and Chernihiv, they \u201care being met with strong Ukrainian resistance.\u201d\nSubscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter\nRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Senior Producer of POLITICO Audio.