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Ukrainian colonel says Russian troops are ‘hungry, without fuel, demoralized’ as 40-mile-long convoy near Kyiv is stalled for days
Sinéad Baker – March 3, 2022
- Russian troops are struggling without food and fuel, a Ukrainian colonel told The Wall Street Journal.
- It comes as the US and UK say the 40-mile-long Russian military convoy bearing down on Kyiv is stalled.
- UK intelligence said it was “delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion.”
The 40-mile-long Russian military convoy bearing down on Ukraine’s capital city appears to have been stalled for days, and a Ukrainian colonel said Russian troops were running low on supplies and morale.
The Ukrainian colonel told The Wall Street Journal: “The Russians thought they could break through and be in Kyiv in a couple of days. They didn’t realize that we have learned how to wage war in the past eight years.”
“Now they sit there, hungry, without fuel, demoralized, and we just come in every little while and pop them off. And every day, we are pushing them back.”
The remarks come as the US and UK said the military convoy, which was spotted in Sunday satellite images apparently approaching Kyiv, had made little progress.
The UK Ministry of Defence said on Thursday the convoy was about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Kyiv’s center and struggling with issues including resistance from Ukrainians. Since last week’s invasion, ordinary Ukrainians have been taking up arms to fend off Russian forces.
“The main body of the large Russian column advancing on Kyiv remains over 30km from the centre of the city having been delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion. The column has made little discernible progress in over three days,” it said.
A senior US defense official also told reporters on Wednesday: “We believe that the convoy is stalled.”
NPR reported that the convoy includes tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and supplies.
A senior US defense official told reporters on Tuesday that some of the Russian forces in Ukraine were “literally out of gas” and are “having problems feeding their troops,” Insider’s Abbie Shull reported.
It is not clear if the official was talking about the convoy near Kyiv, or other Russian operations in Ukraine.
The official said that Russians “face greater resistance than they thought, that they have experienced fuel and logistics challenges.”
But the official warned that Russia may have decided to pause its operations as “they are possibly regrouping, rethinking, reevaluating.”