Russian Efforts Stymied by Blunders, Ukraine’s Adaptive and Nimble: U.S.

Russia’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine has met with stiff resistance from the opposition, and is riddled with blunders, a senior defense official said today at a Pentagon press briefing.

"Frankly, [the Ukrainians are] being very strategic about how they're defending and where they are putting their resources where they're most needed. They are doing it quickly. They are being adaptive and nimble," the official said, noting they are using hit-and-run tactics to great advantage.

The Defense Department has surmised that the Russian intelligence apparatus didn't fully factor in the degree to which Russian troops were going to be resisted, the official said.

Also, the DOD believes that the Russians haven't properly planned and executed their logistics and sustainment efforts, the official noted.

“Not since World War II have Russian forces executed such a large-scale ground operation using combined arms of air, land and sea, so it’s understandable, in a way, that their planning and execution has faltered. Combined arms integration is difficult to execute in any scenario by any country,” the official said.

Having said that, the official believed that the Russians are "going to work through those challenges, and we're beginning to see them do that."

Ukraine appears to have prepared well to defend itself from Russian attacks. In August 2021, it even approved a law to involve entire population in countering the (Russian) aggressor.

Situational Report Update

Advanced elements of Russian forces are about 15km from the center of Kyiv, which would put them near the suburbs of Ukraine's capital, the official said.

Russian forces are also on the outskirts of Kharkiv, but there's still a lot of fighting there and it's being well defended. The city of Mariupol is under increasing pressure, but is also being well defended, the official said.

Also, the city of Mykolayiv is being effectively defended despite heavy fighting there, the official added.