Russia-Ukraine war: Moscow's movement towards Kyiv 'stalled' for now, says US official

Russian forces’ movement towards Ukrainian capital Kyiv is currently “stalled”, said a senior US defence official on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters, the American official stated that Russia’s advance on Kyiv is “where it was yesterday”. Citing a variety of factors, including lack of food for Russian troops, the US defence official noted that Ukrainian resistance also could be a possible reason for the stalled movement. 

The official claimed that Russians are not only facing “fuel and sustainment” problems but are also showing signs that they are running out of food. Further, the senior official noted that Russia’s current lack of progress may not be only due to problems arising from resistance or their own logistics. He believes that the Russians are “possibly regrouping, rethinking, reevaluating” before carrying on again. Noting that the Russian defence ministry has already openly admitted that it would target civilian areas in Kyiv, the official said that the Russians will regroup, adjust and change their tactics. 

“Russia has committed more than 80 per cent of its pre-staged combat power in Ukraine. Russia has launched more than 400 missiles at Ukrainian targets so far,” the senior US defence official said. 

He also went on to note that the Russian military appears to be “risk-averse” when it comes to its own troops. According to the official, there has been in the last six days evidence of certain risk-averse behaviour by the Russian military. “You have seen it on the ground, where units are surrendering, sometimes without a fight. And they have got, a lot of these soldiers are conscripts, never been in combat before, some of whom we believe were not even told they were going to be in combat. So we're just seeing evidence of a bit of risk aversion,” the official said. 

Moreover, he also claimed that despite Russia’s vastly larger armed forces, Ukraine’s airspace remains contested, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s country currently mounting a viable defence. The official even noted that in the first days of the war, Russia’s military appears to be having more success in southern Ukraine. Notably, Russia continues to concentrate attacks on the large cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv. 

Ukraine-Russia war

Meanwhile, it is pertinent to mention that at present, there is a situation of severe devastation in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 announced the launch of a ‘special’ military operation in Ukraine, saying that the forces would ‘demilitarise’ the neighbouring nation without hurting civilians.  However, Ukraine’s armed forces, which is significantly smaller than Russia, has repeatedly posted about the damage to residential buildings and civilian casualties as the enemy troops continue to attack. 

According to the UN refugee agency, fighting in Ukraine has so far pushed more than 6,00,000 people across the country’s borders. Amid such escalating tensions, negotiations between delegations of Russia and Ukraine were also held in the Gomel Region of Belarus on February 28. Now, another round of talks is scheduled for March 2. 

(Image: AP/ANI)