Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges said he foresaw 'lots more destruction and fighting' in and around Kyiv, but he predicted that Ukraine's capital 'will not fall.'
Hodges said he foresaw"lots more destruction and fighting" in and around Kyiv, but he predicted the capital"will not fall" and the"Russians will not be able to take it."
He noted that Russia's military had resorted to"an attrition strategy to bring about the same aim," and acknowledged that the steady barrage of rocket fire on Ukraine's cities had"helped make up for their poor planning, terrible logistics, inability to conduct effective joint operations at the operational level, and their poor estimation of Ukrainian fighting power."
A senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Monday that nearly 100% of the Russian combat power that had amassed at the Ukrainian border in the weeks leading up to the invasion has now been committed inside the country. The Russians have launched more than 625 missiles in the 11 days of fighting, the official said, and appear to be increasing their use of long-range strikes to supplement or make up for the lack of ground movement and lack of air superiority.
"I think we've seen a Russian invasion that is not going well. I think we're also seeing a remarkable resistance by Ukraine, both its armed forces and its people," Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defense staff in the U.K.,on Sunday."We do know that some of the lead elements of Russian forces have been decimated by the Ukrainian response."