WASHINGTON – Russian military forces are increasingly “frustrated” by the lack of “progress” in their attack on Ukraine, with the heaviest fighting centered around the city of Kharkov, in northeastern Ukraine, Pentagon sources reported this Saturday.
“We know that they have not achieved the progress they wanted, particularly in the northern part of Ukraine. What they have seen is a determined resistance, and that has slowed them down,” said a senior Defense Department official, citing US media such as the Washington Post and CNN.
As a consequence, he indicated , Russian forces are “increasingly frustrated”.
The More violent combat, added the Pentagon official, is taking place around Kharkov, the second largest city in Ukraine with almost 1.5 million inhabitants and located in the northeast of the country.
However , remarked that the Russian military attack against Ukraine advances in three axes: from Belarus, in the north; from the Russian region of Belgorod, in the northeast; and from Crimea, in the south.
Regarding the advance towards Kiev, the US official indicated that there are already Russian reconnaissance forces in the Ukrainian capital, but pointed out that the bulk of the military is approximately 30 kilometers from the city.
Hours before, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the approval of an additional $350 million dollars in new military assistance to Ukraine to help Kiev deal with the invasion by the of Russia.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry ordered the Army this Saturday to launch an offensive in all directions after accusing Kiev of refusing to sit down at the negotiating table with the Kremlin .”
After the Ukrainian side rejected the talks process, today all units were given the order to launch an offensive in all directions in accordance with the plan of the operation” , dec spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashénkov, said at a press conference.
In Ukraine, the president, Volodímir Zelenski, confirmed that the fighting continues in many parts of the country -such as Sumy (northeast), Kharkov or Chernígov (north)- and urged all Ukrainians to return to Ukraine and defend their country.
According to the latest official report by the Ukrainian Minister of Health, Viktor Liashkó, at least 198 Ukrainians have died and there are more than 1,000 wounded by the war that Russia launched last Thursday against the country.
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