- Former delivery man Baldwin leads star names at PGA Championship
- Trump shooting: Secret Service admits complacency
- Can an ambitious Milei make Argentina an AI giant?
- Haiti, its suffering growing, in 'race against time': UN expert
- Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah elite unit commander wanted by the US
- Chinese forward Cui signs NBA contract with Brooklyn Nets
- US Fed dissenter calls for 'measured' pace of rate cuts
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload as Kompany demands cap on games
- Norway limits wild salmon fishing as stocks hit new lows
- Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Rotterdam fatal knife attacker suspected of 'terrorist motive'
- First early votes cast in knife-edge US presidential election
- Top-ranked Swiatek out of Beijing due to 'personal matters'
- Hard-right Reform UK looks to the future after vote success
- Embiid agrees to NBA contract extension with 76ers
- Joshua aims to complete road to redemption in Dubois bout
- World champion Bagnaia sets pace with lap record at Misano
- Biden says 'working' to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
- Gurbaz century takes Afghanistan to 311-4 in 2nd ODI
- Central banks face 'difficult balancing act': IMF chief
- McLaren's Norris sets Singapore pace as struggling Verstappen 15th
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload fears
- Paris Olympics sports equipment moves to new homes
- 'Happy' Kinghorn relishing life at Toulouse
- Norris sets Singapore pace as Verstappen only 15th
- 8 dead in Israeli strike, source says Hezbollah commander killed
- Germany to bid to host women's Euro 2029
- Portugal brings deadly forest fires under control
- Postecoglou defends Solanke after slow start to Spurs career
- US nuclear plant Three Mile Island to reopen to power Microsoft
- Arteta urges Arsenal to take next step in Man City showdown
- Stock markets fall after Fed-fuelled rally
- Top Hezbollah commander 'killed' in Israel strike
- Poland charges Russian over attack on Navalny ally: prosecutors
- Man City have rest 'advantage' in Arsenal showdown: Guardiola
- Maresca has 'no doubt' in Jackson as Chelsea's number nine
- EU chief announces 35 bn euro loan plan for Ukraine before winter
- From TikTok to Hollywood, the irresistible rise of Italy's Khaby Lame
- Verstappen punished for swearing in Singapore press conference
- Sri Lanka lead by 202 in first New Zealand Test
- Brook 'not too fussed' by England's batting in heavy Australia loss
- India's Ashwin 'happy' to embrace pressure
- A modern 'Trojan Horse': two days of mayhem in Lebanon
- Third of Burundi mpox cases in children under five: UN
- Man Utd appoint Foster + Partners to develop Old Trafford 'masterplan'
- Israel-Hezbollah exchanges intensify on Lebanon border
- French mayor sorry for 'no one died' remark over mass rape trial
- Mohamed Al-Fayed, outsider shunned by British high society
CMSC | 0.04% | 25.13 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.16% | 25.05 | $ | |
GSK | -1.86% | 40.86 | $ | |
SCS | -3.26% | 12.89 | $ | |
RIO | -2.37% | 63.67 | $ | |
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
NGG | 1.15% | 69.63 | $ | |
BTI | -0.39% | 37.425 | $ | |
AZN | -0.72% | 78.335 | $ | |
BCC | -1.93% | 141.95 | $ | |
BP | -0.14% | 32.715 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0% | 6.95 | $ | |
JRI | -0.53% | 13.329 | $ | |
BCE | -0.89% | 34.88 | $ | |
RELX | -0.32% | 47.975 | $ | |
VOD | -0.65% | 9.995 | $ |
US: Russian forces lose momentum to stiff Ukraine resistance
Russia's drive to seize control of Ukraine quickly has lost momentum amid resistance from Ukrainian fighters on the ground and in the air, a senior US defense official said Friday.
"Their momentum, particularly as it comes to Kyiv, has slowed over the last 24 hours," the official said.
Russian forces, which entered Ukraine early Thursday, have yet to seize any major cities, or gain control of airspace, the official said.
"They have not achieved the progress that we believe they anticipated they would," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"A good indicator of that is no population centers have been taken. None," the official said.
The Pentagon believes that Moscow wants to seize control of Kyiv and replace the Western-leaning government with allies of the Kremlin.
And many worry that the powerful Russian force, with massive backup still awaiting on Ukraine's border, could conquer Kyiv within days.
But so far, while Russian forces have focused on military targets, they have not been able to disrupt the Ukrainian military structure.
"As we see it right now that Ukrainian command and control is intact," the official said.
Nor have they been able to command air space. The Pentagon says that Ukrainian air defense systems are still working and the country's air force is still able to fly and threaten Russian aircraft.
"They're meeting more resistance than they expected," the official said.
"We continue to have indications that it's not going quite the way that they had anticipated."
Starting with a massive missile barrage, Russia launched its invasion along three axes: the first a push from Belarus directly north toward Kyiv; the second from Russia's Belgorod region toward the major city of Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine; and the third, from Crimea in the south towards Kherson.
While Russian forces have reached the outskirts of Kyiv, they have not been able to enter, and fighting remains heavy around Kharkiv, which also has not fallen.
In the south, Russians continue to push to Kherson but are also widening the front, landing amphibious forces to Crimea's east to threaten Mariupol.
Russians have also sought to take control of the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant on the Dnieper river north of Crimea, launching cyberattacks on the plant, the official said.
The Pentagon would not estimate how many Russian forces had entered Ukraine, after having amassed more than 150,000 along the country's borders before attacking.
The official said that they had moved "about a third of their combat power" into Ukraine, and the rest remain in place just outside.
P.Anderson--BTB