It has been 26 days since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, and a senior official at the Pentagon briefed a group of journalists on the course of the war.
The official said that Russia has launched more than 1,100 missiles on Ukrainian territory so far.
Noting that the progress of Russia’s ground operation has largely stopped, the official said that Russian forces have been 15 kilometers north and 30 kilometers east of Kiev since last week and could not make any progress on these fronts.
However, the official drew attention to an increasing military activity in the Black Sea and used the following statements:
“The Russians have a little over a dozen warships, amphibious ships of different sizes, attack and mine-clearing ships, and some patrol boats in the northern Black Sea. We think that at least some of the shelling around Odessa was caused by the activities of these ships. It is not clear whether this is a preliminary sign of a landing in Odessa. At this point, we consider it wrong to conclude that Odessa is under the threat of an imminent landing attack. However, we saw an increase in Russian mobility in the northern Black Sea.”
Explaining that Russia could not gain momentum in the Ukraine war and that it was quite disturbing for the army, the official stated that the Russian army was only able to capture Berdyansk and Kherson in 26 days and could not reach its goals to a large extent.
Reminding that the US has provided 2 billion dollars of military aid to Ukraine since President Joe Biden took office, the official said that by the end of this week, the 350 million dollars of aid approved by the administration will be completed.
The senior official said, “As soon as the President gave his approval, we also wrote down the 800 million dollar aid and we are currently dealing with the procurement. Things are moving fast. We will start delivering this aid as soon as possible.” said.