Russia’s military is showing signs of being “risk averse” for its troops without showing the same concern for civilians in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion nearly a week ago, and while his forces have made some inroads, progress toward gaining control of Kyiv has been stunted by Ukrainian forces, who are putting up more of a defense than Russia expected, according to a senior defense official.
The consequences of these setbacks include running out of gas and food for troops, the official told reporters on Tuesday. As such, the Pentagon did not observe much movement in the Russian convoy heading for the Ukrainian capital from Monday to Tuesday, and the official characterized their efforts to take control of the city as “stalled.”
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There is a convoy of Russian military vehicles heading south toward Kyiv that stretches for roughly 40 miles, though the Pentagon doesn’t “believe that it is making a lot of progress,” the official said, a day after explaining that Russian troops were roughly 15 miles outside the capitol.
“Not only are they running out of gas, but they are running out of food,” the official explained. “We also believe that part of the stall could be, and I emphasize the word could, could be as a result of their own self determined pause and operations that they are possibly regrouping, rethinking, reevaluating.”
Roughly 80% of Russia’s troops that were amassed at the border, slightly less than 200,000 in total, have entered Ukraine, according to the official.
The senior defense official cited Russia’s choice to launch an amphibious assault near Mariupol because it allowed for their troops to stay in “an uncontested environment,” while also saying Russia is “not necessarily willing to take high risks with their own aircraft and their own pilots.”
Some Russian units are surrendering “sometimes without a fight,” while others are made up of conscripts who have “never been in combat” and “weren’t even told they were going to be in combat.” In some instances, Russian troops have punched holes in their vehicles’ gas tanks, presumably to avoid getting into combat situations, the official added.
Despite the apparent aversion to risk for themselves, they have not taken such caution for Ukrainian civilians.
“We’re just seeing evidence of a bit of a risk aversion that again, I want to caveat that by what we certainly aren’t seeing: them [being] risk-averse when it comes to civilian casualties and civilian infrastructure,” the official explained.
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In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, a rocket strike caused a large explosion in front of the city’s administrative building, creating a fireball that engulfed several cars driving through Freedom Square. Local emergency officials posted on Facebook that seven civilians were injured, including three children.
More than 130 civilians have been killed, 13 of whom were children, while another 400 have been injured as of Tuesday morning, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner. Roughly half a million Ukrainians have either left the country or are trying to do so, the Pentagon official said.
