The US Department of Defense said, on Monday, that it sees “signs of an increase in the activity of the Russian Navy in the northern Black Sea,” and it knows that “Russia wants to increase the number of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine, but we have not seen a movement of these groups yet.”
Regarding the ongoing battles, the Ukrainians “have achieved great success in repelling Russia and preventing it from gaining air supremacy,” but he said that “Russian planes launch missiles at Ukrainian targets from Russian and Belarusian airspace,” according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby and a senior official in the Ministry of Defense. He asked not to reveal his name.
Kirby also revealed that US electronic systems “are exposed to cyber attacks every day,” adding, “We are working to strengthen our cyber security.”
Kirby’s comments come hours following a statement by US President Joe Biden, in which he called on the private sector to take defensive measures once morest cyber attacks.
Ukrainian resistance
A senior official in the ministry said that the Pentagon “has not noticed Russian moves to bring additional supplies to Ukraine, but Russia is considering bringing in reinforcements from inside and outside Russia.”
The official revealed that “some countries have provided anti-ship missiles that the Ukrainian army can operate,” but he said, “We cannot provide them with similar American missiles that they cannot use.”
“Ukrainian forces have shown fierce and creative resistance and have skillfully and effectively used the weapons provided to them by the United States and other countries,” he said.
“We are proud of the military assistance we provide to Ukraine, specifically the training programs, over the past eight years,” he said, adding, “Our assessment is that the morale of the Russian forces in Ukraine is declining.”
“The Russian forces have not been able to control the Ukrainian airspace so far due to the effectiveness of the Ukrainian air defenses,” the official stressed.
“Russia still retains a little less than 90 percent of its combat capabilities that it mobilized before the invasion,” the official said, adding that “Russian forces incur large human and material losses daily, but they still retain most of their stockpile of ballistic missiles.”
Mariubol
“Our assessments are that Mariupol is still besieged from all sides, particularly from the north and southwest,” the senior official said, adding that “the city is important for the Russians because it opens a corridor for them between Donbass and Crimea, and because of its center on the Sea of Azov.”
US President Joe Biden discussed “Russia’s brutal tactics in Ukraine, including attacking civilians,” with the leaders of France, Britain, Italy and Germany, according to White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
“The most effective way to help Ukraine is to provide it with military, economic and humanitarian assistance,” Psaki said, adding that “the avoidance of a third world war is not to engage directly militarily on the ground in Ukraine.”
“China has more influence on Russia than any country in the world and can play a role in pushing Russia to stop the war, and unfortunately we have not seen this position from China so far,” Psaki said, adding, “We see few indications regarding Russia’s seriousness in pursuing the diplomatic process.” “.
Psaki revealed that Washington is working with its partners to “secure Ukraine’s air and missile defense systems.”
