Russian troop numbers dipped for the primary time beneath 90 per cent of the 150,000 it had amassed on the border of Ukraine earlier than the invasion, a senior US defence official stated on Tuesday.
Russian forces are scuffling with communication, logistics and gasoline, the official stated, whereas some troops have been evacuated after affected by frost chunk as a result of they lacked correct chilly climate gear.
The Russian and Ukrainian navy are engaged in fierce preventing, significantly close to Mariupol, a strategically positioned port metropolis that Russia is now shelling from the Sea of Azov, in accordance with the official.
Nonetheless, Ukrainian forces are pushing to retake territory in some locations, significantly within the south close to Kherson, the Pentagon stated on Tuesday.
“We have now seen indications that the Ukrainians are going a bit extra on the offence now,” stated John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary.
In response to a report dated March 22 from the Institute for the Examine of Struggle, Russia’s forces are most likely shifting to a “section of protracted bombardment” of Ukrainian cities owing to the failure of their preliminary marketing campaign to encompass and seize Kyiv and different main cities.
The ISW additionally stated in its report the pinnacle of Ukraine’s armed forces specified on Tuesday for the primary time that Russian forces “are struggling casualties as a result of a poor medical provide system and lack of drugs”. Moreover, the navy chief additionally claimed some unspecified Russian models “have stockpiles of meals and ammunition for not more than three days”, in accordance with ISW.
US assessments couldn’t be independently verified.
