“The Ukrainians succeeded in pushing the Russians to retreat 55 km east and north-east of Kyiv,” the official told reporters, asking not to be named, adding that this represented “a change in the situation on the ground around the capital.”
Until Tuesday, the Pentagon had said that Russian forces were stationed 15-20 kilometers from the city center.
“We started to see them holed up and establishing defensive positions,” the US Defense Department official added.
He continued, “The issue is not that the Russians are not advancing, but rather that they are not trying to advance. They are taking defensive positions.”
According to Pentagon estimates, the Russian forces are located 10 kilometers from the center of Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv.
The US military source explained that the Russian forces in this region “give up territory and move in the opposite direction, but not much.”
In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where fighting is still raging, Russian forces are still 15-20 kilometers from the city center, facing “very heavy” resistance from the Ukrainians.
According to the US Defense Department official, the Russian military now “appears to give priority to the pro-Moscow regions of Lugansk and Donetsk” in eastern Ukraine.
“They save much more energy in Lugansk and Donetsk, especially around Lugansk,” he said.
“We believe that they are trying to install Ukrainian forces (deployed since 2014 along the front line with the separatist areas) in their place, so that they cannot be used elsewhere,” he added.
As for southern Ukraine, the official said that the Russian Navy uses the port of Berdyansk, located on the Sea of Azov, to supply supplies and fuel.
Berdyansk is one of the few cities that Russian forces managed to capture, on the twenty-eighth day of their attack on Ukraine.
On the other hand, the official said that the Pentagon did not notice any change on the ground in Odessa.
He added that unlike what happened at the beginning of the week, the Russian ships that bombed Odessa several times did not fire any missiles at them on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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