A senior US official believes Russian forces are not advancing as quickly as expected, at most “a few kilometers a day” and “unevenly” due to strong Ukrainian resistance.
The Russian offensive in Donbass, which is progressing “slowly and unevenly” due to resistance from the Ukrainian military, has lagged behind, a senior Pentagon official said on Friday.
“We believe they have fallen behind what they wanted to achieve in Donbass,” the senior official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
“They were at least a few days late,” he said. “They are far from making the connection” of the troops entering through the Kharkiv region in the east of the country north of the Donbass and those coming from the south of the country one of the targets of the Russian army take a Pincer movement of Ukrainian forces stationed on the front line around the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
“They don’t move very fast,” he said. “A few kilometers a day is the maximum they can do because they are being pushed back by the Ukrainian army.”
“Don’t make the same mistakes as in Kyiv”
Although fighting has begun, “we believe it continues to create the conditions for a sustained, larger, and longer offensive,” the senior Defense Department official added.
He explained that Russian forces “do not want to make the same mistakes as in Kyiv,” where armored columns were pinned down by Ukrainian forces with shoulder-launched rocket launchers and logistical support held from afar.
“The artillery fire and airstrikes they are launching at Ukrainian forces are not having the desired effect as Ukrainians continue to resist,” he noted. “As a result, we believe her progress has been slow and uneven over the past 24 hours.”