Offering an assessment of the Russian forces, Austin told CNN’s Don Lemon in an exclusive interview in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia that the Russians “haven’t moved forward as fast as they would like.”
Austin told CNN that the Russians were “fighting the logistics” and that he saw no evidence of “good use of tactical intelligence” or “integration of air capability with ground maneuver”.
“There are a number of things that we expected to see but that we just didn’t see. And the Russians did have some problems. So many of their assumptions were not confirmed as they entered into this fight,” he said.
Since the invasion of Ukraine began nearly a month ago, Russian forces have shelled and destroyed large parts of cities, including Mariupol and Kharkiv, but Ukraine has been able to prevent a Russian takeover of large swathes of the country, including the capital Kyiv.
“I think (Russia) assumed that they would move quickly and capture the capital very quickly. They failed to do this,” the head of the Pentagon said.
In the face of Ukraine’s fierce resistance to its invasion, Russia is also coping with low troop morale and is struggling to resupply thousands of troops in the country, US and NATO officials told CNN this week.
Austin was also asked about China’s position on the war.
Russia has also asked China for military support and economic assistance, two US officials told CNN this week.
According to the US diplomatic cable to the allies, China expressed some willingness to offer assistance to Russia. Both Russia and Beijing deny any such requests.
On Friday, President Joe Biden tried to dissuade Chinese President Xi Jinping from helping Russia by warning his Chinese counterpart during a 110-minute video call about the “consequences and consequences” for Beijing if he provides material support to Moscow.
Austin told CNN it’s “difficult to say” what China will do and declined to speculate.
“I hope China doesn’t support this heinous act of Putin, I hope they recognize the need to respect sovereign territory,” he told CNN, adding: “It was clear to us that if they did that, we think it’s a bad choice.” “.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has provided financial and military assistance to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, including an additional $800 million in security assistance Biden announced this week, but has not helped create a no-fly zone over Ukraine because they seek to avoid direct involvement in the conflict.
Austin told CNN that Biden “made it very clear that our troops will not be involved in combat with Russia in Ukraine.”
The secretary of defense said that if the US introduced a no-fly zone, it would require control of the skies, the destruction of Russian aircraft and the destruction of aviation systems in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
“So that would mean we are at war with Russia. These are two nuclear countries, the conflict between which no one wants to see. This is bad for the region. This is bad for the whole world,” he said.
He said the US is focused on providing the kind of assistance to Ukraine that we know matters and is doing “everything in our power to protect every inch of NATO territory.”
At a press conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, Austin said on Saturday that Russia continues to make “incremental gains” in southern Ukraine and that Russia is using “brutal, savage methods” to attack civilians in Ukraine.
“Putin’s chosen war against Ukraine was tragic. The Russian invasion has taken a terrible toll on Ukrainians, including brave soldiers and far too many innocent civilians. Nevertheless, Russian aggression has inspired the Ukrainian people, NATO and the free world.” Austin stated this at a joint press conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kirill Petkov.
Austin traveled to Europe this week, stopping in Belgium for a ministerial meeting of NATO defense ministers, and then visited Slovakia and Bulgaria as part of a trip to support NATO allies.
This story has been supplemented with additional events and reactions.
CNN’s Radina Gigova contributed to this report.