The Russian army has retreated more than 30 km east of Kyiv for 24 hours and has begun to establish defensive positions on several fronts in Ukraine, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday.
• Read also: The United States has established that the Russian army committed “war crimes” in Ukraine
• Read also: Ukraine: Russian bombardment on a residential area of Kyiv
• Read also: Ukraine retakes cities from Russia
“The Ukrainians managed to repel the Russians 55 km east and northeast of Kyiv,” the senior official, who requested anonymity, told the press, while the Pentagon still estimated on Tuesday that the Russian forces were 15 to 20 km from the center of the capital.
“We are starting to see them entrenching themselves and establishing defensive positions,” he added. “It’s not that they’re not moving forward, it’s that they’re not trying to move forward. They take defensive positions.”
Russian forces also remain stuck 10 km from the center of Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv, according to Pentagon estimates. In that area, “they’re giving ground, they’re moving in the opposite direction, but not by much,” he noted.
In Kharkiv (east), where the fighting remains intense, the Russian forces are still 15 to 20 km from the city center and they face “very firm” resistance from the Ukrainians.
According to the 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 deploying a lot more energy in the Lugansk/Donetsk region, and especially around Lugansk,” he said.
“We believe they are trying to tie up Ukrainian forces,” which have been deployed since 2014 along the front line with separatist areas, “so that they cannot be used elsewhere,” he said. Explain.
To the south, the Pentagon notes that the Russian Navy is using the port of Berdyansk, on the Sea of Azov, to refuel. Berdyansk is one of the few cities that Russian forces managed to take control on the 28th day of their offensive.
Finally, the Pentagon sees no change around Odessa. If several missiles were fired in the direction of Odessa from Russian ships earlier this week, it did not happen once more on Tuesday or Wednesday, said the American official.
