Air and sea offensive
Pentagon: Russian troops are ‘desperate’
03/21/2022, 21:06
According to the US Department of Defense, Russian troops are still stuck outside the gates of Kiev. The US says the armed forces are “frustrated and confused” by Ukraine’s resistance. This is now to be broken off the land routes.
According to the Pentagon, Russia is currently stepping up its military offensive from the air and sea because the advance of its own troops is being held up by the “skill” of the Ukrainian army. The Kremlin is “desperately trying” to increase its combat momentum, a senior US defense official in Washington said. The Russian troops are “frustrated and confused” by a Ukrainian resistance that, despite being outnumbered in soldiers and armed, withstood the attacks.
According to the US official, the armed forces under the command of Russian President Vladimir Putin have recently stepped up their operations – in the past 24 hours alone they have carried out more than 300 airstrikes. Kyiv also responded with increased air operations.
Few of the missions are close-ranged combat, with Moscow primarily firing air-to-surface missiles from Russian or Belarusian airspace at Ukrainian targets, the US official said. “They don’t venture very far or long into Ukrainian airspace because the Ukrainians defend their airspace with great skill.”
In the northern Black Sea, Russia is showing “increased naval activity” with the deployment of several warships, the official said. However, this is not a clear sign of an impending attack on the port city of Odessa.
“What we are seeing here is an almost desperate attempt by the Russians to turn the situation in their favor,” the official said. He pointed out that Russian forces were still stuck 15 kilometers northwest and 30 kilometers east of Kyiv on the 26th day of the offensive.