WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – According to the Pentagon, the Russian military is trying to surround Ukrainian cities – including the capital Kyiv. “Kharkiv and Chernihiv, Mariupol – we see these efforts to encircle and surround,” a senior US defense official said Thursday. This is also observed around the capital Kyiv. The Russian soldiers are coming from several sides, the official said. “So what we’re seeing are these different advance lines towards Kyiv.” However, Kyiv is much larger than the other cities and is heavily defended.
The Russian forces have advanced further in the past 24 hours and have gained an estimated five kilometers, it said. But that is not so much in relation to it. “As I said, Kyiv is well defended and Ukrainians are putting a lot of energy (…) to protect their capital,” the official said. At this point in time, it is impossible to say how long it might be before the Russians could actually invade Kyiv. In places, the Russian soldiers are around 15 kilometers from the city center./nau/DP/he