New satellite tv for pc imagery reveals a number of giant deployments of floor forces and rotary-wing plane in southern Belarus, roughly 20 miles from the Ukrainian border and fewer than 100 miles from Kyiv, the capital of the besieged nation.
The pictures, shared Friday by Maxar Applied sciences, present almost 150 floor assault and transport helicopters in whole.
One giant helicopter grouping was noticed close to the Belarussian city of Chojniki and incorporates greater than 90 helicopters parked on a highway with the deployment extending for greater than 5 miles, in accordance with Maxar’s photographs.
“Northeast of the city, a big deployment of floor forces with a number of hundred autos is seen in convoy place in a number of fields,” Maxar senior director Stephen A. Wooden mentioned in an e mail accompanying the pictures.
One other group of greater than 50 helicopters, alongside help troops and gear, was noticed roughly 40 miles away on the V.D. Bokov airfield close to Mazyr, Belarus, Wooden added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is trending into its third evening. His forces drew nearer to Kyiv Friday morning, and intense gunfire broke out on a bridge throughout the Dneiper River dividing the jap and western elements of town.
Different prongs of the Russian offensive have been hanging out in opposition to Ukraine’s far jap Donbas area and from the Russian-held Crimean peninsula.
Nonetheless, the Russian push on Kyiv has misplaced a few of its momentum, in accordance with the U.S. and U.Okay. governments, although the Kremlin has solely used a few third of the fight energy arrayed round Ukraine’s borders.
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“Primarily based on all of the issues that we’ve talked about, and what we’ve seen over the past 24 hours, we do assess that there’s higher resistance by the Ukrainians than the Russians anticipated,” a senior U.S. protection official instructed reporters Friday morning, talking on the situation of anonymity. “I’m not in a position to quantify that resistance for you. I’m simply telling you what we’re seeing.”
Britain’s protection ministry mentioned Friday morning that the majority of Russian forces advancing on Kyiv have been nonetheless greater than 30 miles from town middle, with sporadic clashes within the capital’s northern suburbs.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a number of video statements since Thursday night. Within the newest, he mentioned he was remaining in Kyiv and “defending our independence,” regardless of being a supposed mark for Russian forces.
“The enemy recognized me because the primary goal, and my household because the quantity two goal,” Zelensky mentioned in a single video deal with. “They need to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the pinnacle of state.”
Zelenskyy and his cupboard have urged the West to sanction the Russian financial system extra aggressively and to ship extra arms to Ukraine, together with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry.
The senior U.S. protection official mentioned Ukrainian air defenses have been degraded however are nonetheless working.
The Ukrainian authorities reported roughly 140 deaths on their facet, whereas claiming to have killed a whole bunch of Russian troops and destroying dozens of Russian plane and tanks.
The Kremlin has not disclosed casualty figures, and it has not but been potential to confirm the tolls on both facet.
Kyle Rempfer is an editor and reporter who has coated fight operations, legal circumstances, overseas navy help and coaching accidents.
Earlier than coming into journalism, Kyle served in U.S. Air Power Particular Techniques and deployed in 2014 to Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and Baghdad, Iraq. Observe on Twitter @Kyle_Rempfer
