Russia may have changed tactics in Ukraine

A senior US defense official said on March 23, the forces military Russia appears to be establishing defensive positions about 15-20 kilometers from the capital Kiev, while continuing to make very slow or almost no progress toward the city center.

Earlier, Russia deployed a military convoy extending 64 km near Kiev. However, this convoy was “buried” in place for several days, which is believed to be due to encountering Ukrainian resistance or logistical difficulties.

According to the US official, Russian forces no longer appear to be trying to enter Kiev, but are instead shifting their priority to the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine in an effort to prevent Ukrainian forces from moving west for defense. other cities.

Fighting is still raging in many directions around Kiev, while Ukrainian forces are believed to have regained control of the area east of the capital, pushing back the advance of Russian troops. The shelling continued to rock Kiev as rockets were fired at shopping malls and high-rise buildings in the Sviatoshynskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts.

The city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine was also bombed, destroying a bridge vital for evacuations and aid delivery.

In Mariupol, a strategic southern port city on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov, fighting is still raging. Mariupol officials say they need weapons including artillery and anti-tank missiles to deal with the Russian military campaign.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said about 100,000 of Mariupol’s 430,000 people were still trapped in the city. They face relentless fighting and live without electricity, food or clean water.

The Russian military on March 24 declared complete control of the city of Izyum in the Kharkov region. Izyum is located on the main road between Kharkov and the breakaway regions of Lugansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

An Izyum official said that Russian aircraft and artillery “destroyed” the city. Recorded videos and photos show that Izyum was devastated on a large scale, buildings burned.

Izyum has been cut off almost all communications since intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian military forces broke out last week.

On March 24, Ukraine’s armed forces also announced the destruction of a large Russian ship in the port of Berdyansk on the Azov coast in southeastern Ukraine. The port has recently been controlled by the Russian military and several Russian warships have docked.

President Volodymyr Zelensky continued to call for military aid in the context that Ukraine is said to be running out of weapons.

Addressing the G7 summit on March 24, President Zelensky called on member states to take stronger action, including a “complete embargo” on trade with Russia and providing security guarantees to Russia. Ukraine. He also thanked countries for imposing sanctions on Russia, but said the action was taken “quite late”.

The Ukrainian president also called on NATO leaders to provide warplanes to Ukraine – something the US and the West still oppose because of fears of a direct conflict with Russia. In his speech to the NATO summit on March 24, Zelensky called for the alliance to provide military aid, even as little as 1% of NATO’s planes and tanks, to Ukraine.