Ukrainian volunteers weave camouflage nets, helping to create a defensive position for Ukrainian soldiers in Lviv on February 26.
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Ukraine’s stubborn resistance and logistics difficulties have hampered Russian attacks more than Moscow’s planners expected, and there are no signs that invasion forces have captured any major Ukrainian cities, US and British officials say.
“Russian forces are not making the progress they have planned. They suffer from logistical problems and strong Ukrainian resistance, ”said the British Ministry of Defense. says in his verified Twitter account.
Volunteers from territorial defense units are preparing Molotov cocktails for the invasion of Russian troops in Kiev, Ukraine, on Saturday, February 26, 2022.
Marcus Yam | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
The Ukrainian military, with the help of volunteers, successfully repulsed an assault by Russian troops on Kyiv on Saturday morning local time. Fighting has been reported in and around several Ukrainian cities.
“It’s very dynamic and will change hour by hour.”
A U.S. Department of Defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity
“The momentum continues to slow down”
The same spokesman for the US Department of Defense, speaking on condition of anonymity on Saturday in Washington, said that the Pentagon has no signs that the Russian military has taken control of some Ukrainian cities.
The situation in Ukraine is changing, and individual military accounts are difficult or impossible to verify.
The official said that about half of the Russian troops that Moscow had gathered along the borders before the invasion were now in Ukraine. That’s more than the one-third estimate provided by the same officials on Friday.
Smoke rises from a Russian tank destroyed by the Ukrainian military on the side of the road in the Luhansk region on February 26, 2022.
Anatoly Stepanov AFP | Getty Images
It is estimated that Russia has gathered 190,000 troops in the vicinity of Ukraine. A U.S. Defense Department spokesman declined to elaborate on the rest of Russia’s armed forces’ position, but said that “Russia’s momentum continues to slow, largely due to fierce resistance from Ukraine.”
In the Ukrainian army about 145 000-150 000 servicemen, according to January report of the research service of the US Congress.
The heaviest fighting in Ukraine is now going on around the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a U.S. official said, adding that the Russians are also facing fierce resistance against the offensive north toward Kiev.
“It is very dynamic and will change hour by hour,” the official warned, adding that the assessment is “a magnet in time.”
Weapons are coming to Ukraine
Military aid to Ukraine A spokesman for the US Department of Defense, who spoke to CNBC on Saturday, said that the next tranche of US aid to Ukraine, announced by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken earlier on Saturday, will include Javelin missiles.
Javelin, made by defense giants Lockheed Martin and Raytheonit is a portable rocket that is launched from the shoulder, designed to blow up tanks.
A fragment of a destroyed Russian tank on the side of the road on the outskirts of Kharkov on February 26, 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Sergey Bobok | AFP | Getty Images
Separately, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz surprised observers by saying that his country would supply Ukraine with 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles, marking a sharp turn in Germany’s arms export policy.
Like the Javelins, Stinger missiles can carry one person. They are designed to shoot down helicopters and planes.