The Russian military has retreated more than 30 km east of Kyiv for 24 hours and has begun setting up defensive positions on several fronts in Ukraine, a senior Pentagon official said on Wednesday.
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“The Ukrainians managed to repel the Russians 55 km east and north-east of Kyiv,” the senior official, who asked not to be identified, told the press, while the Pentagon still estimated on Tuesday that Russian forces were 15-20 km from the center of the capital. capital.
“We started to see them fortifying themselves and establishing defensive positions,” he added. “It is not that they are not moving forward, it is that they are not trying to move forward. They are taking defensive positions.”
Russian forces are still stuck 10 kilometers from the center of Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv, according to Pentagon estimates. In that region, he noted, “they’re giving up ground, moving in the opposite direction, but not by much.”
In Kharkiv (east), where the fighting is still intense, Russian troops are still 15-20 kilometers from the city center and are facing “very heavy” resistance from the Ukrainians.
According to a US Department of Defense official, the Russian military now appears to be prioritizing the pro-Russian separatist regions of Lugansk and Donetsk in the east. “They are spreading a lot of energy in the Lugansk / Donetsk region, especially around Lugansk,” he said.
“We believe that they are trying to connect the Ukrainian forces,” which have been deployed since 2014 along the front line with the separatist regions, “so that they cannot be used anywhere else,” he said. explain.
To the south, the Pentagon notes that the Russian Navy is using the port of Berdyansk, on the Sea of Azov, for refueling. Berdyansk is one of the few cities that Russian forces were able to capture on the 28th day of their offensive.
Finally, the Pentagon sees no change in Odessa. The US official said that if several missiles were launched towards Odessa from Russian ships earlier this week, it would not happen again on Tuesday or Wednesday.
