The Pentagon believes that Russian forces have made only limited advancements in Ukraine as the third week of their invasion nears the end.
Russian forces have achieved “limited to no progress,” and their “leading elements” heading toward the capital, Kyiv, “have not appreciably advanced on the city,” a senior defense official said Tuesday. They are roughly 10 miles from Kyiv to the northwest, and others coming from the east are about 15 miles away. Residential areas in Kyiv are being “struck with increasing frequency” and remain “under bombardment by long-range fires.”
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They are having various levels of success in different parts of the country. Chernihiv, a city close to the Belarusian border, is “isolated,” but “Ukrainians are working to keep a line of communication open,” while Mariupol, a port sea in the south along the Sea of Azov, is also “isolated and still suffering heavy bombardment,” the official said.
The Pentagon has tallied more than 950 missile launches since the beginning of the conflict, while it believes both sides have roughly “90% of their combat power available to them.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has deployed essentially all of the troops he had amassed at the Ukrainian border, roughly 170,000, but the defense official noted the Pentagon hadn’t seen evidence to suggest Putin has deployed additional forces from the interior. Troops have been accused of using weapons that have been banned for their lethality, and they have been accused of targeting civilians. Both allegations have created questions of possible war crimes.
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The United Nations International Organization for Migration said the number of refugees eclipsed that 3-million marker on Tuesday, while the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported Monday that 636 civilians were killed and another 1,125 have been wounded.
