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Russian submarine launches missile into Ukraine for the first time, US says Russia is behind schedule

Pentagon officials evaluate the operation military Russia’s plan to control the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine is behind schedule.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on April 29 that for the first time, the Russian military launched missiles from a submarine to attack Ukrainian military targets.

Reuters quoted a statement as saying that a Russian diesel-electric submarine from the Black Sea launched several Kalibr cruise missiles towards Ukraine.

Russian submarine launched missiles into Ukraine for the first time, the US said Russia was behind schedule - Photo 1

Pro-Russian forces in Mariupol

Reuters

Announcing reporters on April 29, a Pentagon official said that strong resistance by Ukrainian forces and caution after the operation around Kyiv were causing the Russian operation in Donbass to be delayed.

According to AFP, the official said that the Russian forces are mainly setting the conditions for a larger and longer offensive. The Russian side mainly carried out airstrikes and artillery fire on Ukrainian positions first, then let the infantry advance.

However, these attacks were not as effective as desired, leaving Russia with little progress on the ground. “They are also a little apprehensive about going out of the supply line. They don’t want to repeat the mistake in Kyiv,” the US official said.

According to him, the Pentagon believes that Russian forces are several days behind schedule in Donbass.

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In the immediate future, the Russian military is said to be trying to establish a pincer stance on the battlefield to encircle Ukrainian forces on the front lines. Analysts say Russia’s short-term goal is to control the regions east of the imaginary link between Kharkiv and Donetsk.

According to the Pentagon, Russia has 92 battalion-level tactical groups (BTGs) in eastern and southern Ukraine and several others on the border.

The British Ministry of Defense said on April 29 that Donbass remained the center of Russia’s strategy to control the two regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. However, due to the strong resistance of Ukraine, Russia was said to gain only limited control and in return suffered heavy losses.

The US and some European countries are supplying Ukraine with heavy weapons, but logistics problems and training soldiers to use them make these weapons almost impossible to fight.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on April 29 in an interview with Al-Arabiya radio that Russia would consider arms shipments to Ukraine as an official target for attacks.

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