With Ukrainian forces putting up a serious fight, and Russian troops encircling the capital of Kyiv, U.S. defense sources say Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is meeting stronger resistance than expected. So far approximately 50,000 of the roughly 150,000 troops Russia had amassed along the Ukrainian border have reportedly crossed into the country.
Official Ukrainian sources claim success in repelling Russian advances in several places, causing heavy casualties among Russian forces. According to the Ukrainian defense ministry, as of early Friday, 2,800 Russian troops had been killed, 80 tanks destroyed and more than 500 armored vehicles disabled.
The Defense Ministry added “our forces have taken full control” of Mariupol as well as Shchastia, an inland town and region in the Luhansk region, saying that “at least six planes, two helicopters, and dozens of enemy armored vehicles have been destroyed.”
While not independently confirmed, a senior U.S. defense official did say that: “We do assess that there is greater resistance by the Ukrainians than the Russians expected.”
In a tweet Friday the Brit Defense Ministry added that after Russian tanks failed to capture Chernihiv, they shifted to an alternate route—but “the bulk of Russian forces remain more than 50 km from the centre of the city.”
Read below for an update from Defence Intelligence: pic.twitter.com/blwf1hv0bq
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) February 25, 2022
Meanwhile, according to Pentagon sources, Russia has launched an amphibious assault from the Sea of Azov with naval infantry troops landing in the rebel-controlled Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine (Donetsk People’s Republic-DPR).
ADN previously reported on the Russian amphibious fleet converging in the eastern Mediterranean here.
Defense One reports:
“An amphibious assault is underway to the west on the Sea of Azov, to the west of Mariupol, and the indications are right now that they are putting potentially thousands of naval infantry ashore there,” the official told reporters at the Pentagon.
On Wednesday, Pentagon officials had said that at least 10 Ropucha-class landing ships were assembled off Ukraine. Each can carry 10 battle tanks and about 340 troops. The landing began near the port city of Mariupol in the Donetsk region mid-Friday local time, the official said.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AmericanActionNews.com
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they need to haul putin to the haig for a war crimes trial for this!
His leadership is awful and gettinh worse, his family corruption is now coming to the surface, WE NEED NEW LEADERSSHIP IN THE WHITE HOUSE,MORE BIDEN PERRY CORRUPTION,TO ENABLE PUTIN TO FINANCIALLY WIN HIS WARS AND BECOME THE ENERGY KING. NATURAL GAS THE “CLEANEST FORM OF ALL ENERGY” NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE “GREEN NEW DEAL” ?WHY IT’S CALLED CORRUPTION. US informs Israel it no longer supports EastMed pipeline to Europe Washington informed Athens that they no longer support the EastMed project earlier this month. The US no longer supports the proposed “EastMed natural-gas pipeline” from Israel to Europe, the Biden administration has informed Israel, Greece and Cyprus in recent weeks. State Department officials conveyed the new position to the Foreign Ministry, a diplomatic source in Jerusalem confirmed Tuesday. The Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the matter. The reversal of position from that of the Trump administration was first reported in Greece earlier this month. Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and former energy secretary Dan Brouillette expressed US support for the pipeline when they were in office. But Washington informed Athens it was reversing course from the Trump administration in a “non-paper,” a diplomatic term for an unofficial, or off-the-record, communication this monthWho is making millions on these deals besides Putin? time for the investagations to start some one is putting billions in Putin pocket and they musy be getting part of that action.
LISTEN UP…GOD is with the UKRAINE PEOPLE. GOD is Against BULLIES and THOSE Who SHED INNOCENT BLOOD. The UKRAINIANS have a RIGHT to DEFEND THEMSELVES. GOD BLESS the PEOPLE of UKRAINE. MORE POWER to THEM. From SamuraiQueen. 😄😄😄😇😇😇
I thought NATO was supposed to prevent war, now just talking about joining can cause war with Russia. Putin is making the greatest last mistake of his life, which does not appear to have much more useful time left. He will be perceived rightfully so as the guy that invaded another neighbor for absolutely no good reason, and then threatened anyone else that might want to join NATO. Weak moves by Putin, but didn’t he figure out that this is a different era and you will not get anything done moving forward because of this one decision to take over Ukraine? Hope it was worth it to you Vlad, because this is the last meaningful decision you will be making on the world stage, other than your reactions to what comes next. This guy is supposed to be so smart and calculating yet he just got goaded into taking Ukraine by China who wanted to see the fallout if they should take Taiwan, and Putin fell for it! Of course Putin wanted to fall for it and believe he could pull it off, but now your people (who have access to the internet) are seeing all of this and can either solve the Putin problem themselves or wait to be worldwide pariahs too until Vlad is sent packing.
Beware of short men in power. Putin is not that tall.
Indeed, a brooding little Napoleon on a nasty power trip..