A large 40-mile-long convoy of Russian military vehicles appears to have stalled on its way to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine and a key objective as more and more Russian forces move into the country to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Some invading Russian forces are “literally out of gas” and are “having problems feeding their troops,” according to a senior US defense official who briefed reporters on Tuesday.
The US has observed that the Russian forces “face greater resistance than they thought, that they have experienced fuel and logistics challenges and we’ve been talking about that for a few days, it remains to be the case today,” the official said.
“In many cases,” the official continued, “what we’re seeing are columns that are literally out of gas, and as I said earlier, now they’re starting to run out of food for their troops.”
They explained that “the main advance on Kyiv basically remains where it was yesterday, so no appreciable movement from the Russians coming down from the north.”
Although the official highlighted Russia’s logistics problems, they noted that part of the reason for the stall could be that Russia has decided to pause its operations, “that they are possibly regrouping, rethinking, reevaluating.”
In another background briefing Wednesday, a senior US defense official said that the Russians “continue to be, to be bedeviled by these logistical and sustainment issues” and that “basically they remain stalled outside the city” of Kyiv, according toreporters onthe call.
“We believe that the convoy is stalled,” they said.
“It is a long convoy, so I can’t be perfectly predictive on every mile of that, whether they’re moving or not, but they are not moving at any rate that would lead one to believe that they’ve solved their problems.”
The official said that while the US has limited visibility on the convoy, the movement of these assets toward the Ukrainian capital was “clearly an effort” to reinvigorate Russia’s blunted assault on Kyiv, which Russia has failed to take despite expectations the city would fall in days.
The defense official who spoke to reporters on Tuesday said the US believes about 80% of the estimated 190,000 Russian troops that were amassed along Ukraine’s border are now in the country. And while Russia has stumbled in the early days of this fight, it is expected to adjust course.
“They will regroup, they will adjust, they will change their tactics,” the official said. The following day, an official said that “we believe the Russians will learn from these missteps and stumbles.”
