Air and naval offensive: Pentagon: Russian forces ‘desperate’

air and sea attack
Pentagon: Russian forces ‘desperate’

03/21/2022, 21:06

According to the US Department of Defense, Russian forces are still stuck outside the gates of Kyiv. The US says the armed forces are “disappointed and confused” by the Ukrainian resistance. This is now for the wild roads to be cut off.

According to the Pentagon, Russia is currently intensifying its military offensive from the air and sea because the progress of its forces is being hampered by the “skill” of the Ukrainian army. A senior US defense official in Washington said the Kremlin is “trying very hard” to increase its combative momentum. Russian forces were “disappointed and confused” by the Ukrainian resistance which, despite its superiority in numbers of soldiers and militants, withstood the attacks.

According to the US official, the armed forces led by Russian President Vladimir Putin have recently intensified their operations – in the past 24 hours alone they have carried out more than 300 air strikes. Kyiv has also responded by increasing air operations.

Only a few of the missions involved short-range combat, the US official said, with Moscow primarily firing air-to-surface missiles from Russian or Belarusian airspace at Ukrainian targets. “They do not risk entering Ukrainian airspace over long or long distances because the Ukrainians defend their airspace very skillfully,” he added.

In the northern Black Sea, the official said, Russia was showing “increased naval activity” by deploying several warships. However, this is not a clear sign of an imminent attack on the port of the city of Odessa.

“What we are seeing here is an almost desperate attempt by the Russians to turn the situation in their favour,” the official said. He noted that Russian forces were still stuck 15 kilometers northwest of Kyiv and 30 kilometers east of Kyiv on the 26th day of the attack.