Washington, D.C. – Effective and creative Ukrainian resistance, combined with poor Russian logistics and sustainment has hindered Russian invasion progress, said a senior defense official who held an on-background press briefing today.
There hasn’t been a lot of significant change on the ground in Ukraine since yesterday, the official said.
In terms of committed Russian combat power inside Ukraine, yesterday it was around 80%. Today it’s about 82%, which is still not an insignificant percentage of combat power, the official said.
Those cities are under assault, but with no appreciable movement by the Russians to take them. They are clearly meeting with resistance,” the official said.
In the south, the Russian invaders made progress, threatening Kerson and approaching Mariupol from the south, and they are also deploying forces from Donetsk in the east toward that area. The official said those cities are still contested.
“The airspace over Ukraine remains contested. The Russians had not achieved air superiority over the whole country. The Ukrainian air and missile defense capabilities remain intact and viable,” the official said.
Russia has now launched roughly 450 short-range and medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles, since the start of the war, the official said.
“We think that there are lots of reasons why [the Russians are] not making the progress that they’ve wanted to make,” the official said. Besides, citing logistical and sustainment problems and resistance from the Ukrainians “we also believe that [the Russians] have had morale problems … so, there’s likely a bunch of factors here that are probably at play.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues to effectively control his armed forces. The United States and NATO continue to supply Ukraine with munitions and other supplies, the official added.
