Ukraine has reached a level of defense that puts the Russian army in a dead end.
This was stated at a briefing by two unnamed Pentagon officials, who were quoted on Twitter by "Stars and Stripes" correspondent Caitlin Doornbos.
According to one of them, there are many reasons for this situation, including the low morale of the Russian occupiers, as well as huge losses at the front.
The other reason may be the Ukrainians have become very effective in finding and killing Russian command and control and destroying large levels of Russian material. … The access from Izyum, those defenses have been stalwart now for coming up on three weeks
They also emphasizes the very poor combat effectiveness of Russian soldiers in many cases. "They put people in tanks [without preparation.] I saw a video of a Russian tank driving in circles. It turned out that this was because the driver had not been trained and did not know how to drive a tank," a Pentagon spokesman said.
Another senior military official noted the successes of the Ukrainians in the Kherson direction.
“These are not big, gigantic successes, but they certainly give an advantage over the Russians … The Ukrainians hit them hard, and I think [Russia] is looking for ways to replenish here after their failures,†he said.
In the meantime, the Russian occupiers are trying to figure out how to build pontoon crossings, get across the river and, perhaps, return to Crimea.
The Pentagon also noted that in the sixth month of a full-scale war, Russia still does not have air superiority.
"This says a lot about the will of the Ukrainians, both in their ability to prevent the Russians from shooting at their planes, and in their ability to shoot down Russian planes," the briefing said.
The Pentagon official also noted that he was amazed by the Russians' attempts to mask their losses and the Kremlin's generally predatory rhetoric.
“This week, I was really amazed at how Russian rhetoric tried to mask [their] losses, and what we saw was really very expansionist rhetoric coming from Moscow. We heard Foreign Minister Lavrov rebut his government’s earlier statements that it is seeking regime change in Kyiv… We also saw former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev post a map on his telegram channel showing Ukraine being swallowed up by Russia and its neighbors," a senior Defense Ministry official said. USA.
He also spoke about a "frightening report" by the National Intelligence Council, which spoke of at least 18 so-called filtration camps where Ukrainians are held in inhuman conditions.
Speaking about weapons for Ukraine, the Pentagon noted that Kyiv still has several Phoenix Ghost tactical kamikaze drones. According to them, the US will supply another batch in August under the approved military aid package.
"The goal here is to make sure that when they need these systems, they have these systems, [and] that we can provide regular supplies in the future," the US Department of Defense emphasized.
