A report by news agency Reuters cited a senior US defence official as stating that Russia's combat power in Ukraine has declined below 90 per cent of its pre-invasion levels for the first time since the attacks began, suggesting heavy losses of weaponry and growing casualties. According to the agency, the United States has estimated Russia assembled more than 1,50,000 troops around Ukraine before the February 24 invasion, along with enough aircraft, artillery, tanks and other firepower for its full-scale attack.
While the accuracy of the numbers can be argued all day long, the fact remains that the Ukrainian war is now a battle of attrition. Bogged down Russian forces are now launching long-range missiles at cities and military bases, as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks and seek to sever their supply lines. The strategic port on the Sea of Azov has been under bombardment for over three weeks and has seen some of the worst horrors of the war. City officials said at least 2,300 people have died, with some buried in mass graves.
Unexpectedly strong Ukrainian resistance has dashed Russian President Vladimir Putin's hopes for a fast victory after he ordered the Feb. 24 invasion of his neighbor. In recent days, Russian forces have entered Mariupol, cutting it off from the sea and devastating a massive steel plant. But the city's fall could prove a costly victory. The block-by-block fighting in Mariupol itself is costing the Russian military time, initiative, and combat power, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a briefing.
In a blunt assessment of the war, the think tank concluded that Russia failed in its initial campaign to take the capital of Kyiv, and other major cities quickly and its stalled invasion is creating the conditions for a very violent and bloody stalemate. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukrainian resistance means Putin's forces on the ground are essentially stalled. "It has had the effect of him moving his forces into a woodchipper," Austin told US news agency CBS on Sunday.
-Inputs from agencies
