NORTH UKRAINE — A 64 kilometer-long Russian military convoy heading toward Kyiv that has virtually stalled for over a week now sits about 15 miles out from the city, according to The Washington Post.
Mechanical breakdown, congestion and morale issues, plus food and fuel supplies running low, are cited by the BBC as contributing factors to the extremely slow progress.
Additionally, one former commander of the U.K. Joint Forces Command, told the BBC command and control issues such as faulty radio networks are likely to be causing bigger problems. The Associated Press, meanwhile, reports that Ukrainian resistance may also account for some of the slowdown, with one senior U.S. defense official saying Ukrainian troops have been targeting the convoy with ground fire, including shoulder-fired Javelin anti-tank missiles, and essentially creating roadblocks when vehicles at the front of the convoy are struck.
Alternatively, though, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby has suggested that the vehicles, which he says are largely meant for “resupply” purposes, could be deliberately paused as the Russians regroup themselves.
Cited by The Washington Post last week, the director of the Security and Defense Studies Program at Turkish think tank EDAM[c], added detail to that suggestion, explaining the convoy’s delay could be partially the result of Russia’s attempt to move away from a failed plan to ‘decapitate’ the Ukrainian government quickly.
The Russian forces are instead now trying to transition to “Soviet-type heavy fire power and armor-focused operations,” he said.
Going further, the former head of the British Army, General Lord Dannatt, told the BBC “This enormous column ... will encircle and lay siege to the capital,” Kyiv, where the New Yorker reported last week that thousands of those residents still in the city are seeking shelter every night in its metro system.
