Russia’s military has deployed more troops in eastern and southern Ukraine, the Pentagon said Monday.
“We see the Russians continuing the flow of (…) capabilities that will help them in the battle for Donbass,” US Department of Defense spokesman John Kerby told accredited editors.
He clarified that he refers to “artillery”, “aircraft and helicopters” and means of “command and control”. “We believe that they have increased the number of their battalions in eastern and southern Ukraine,” he added.
Mr Kerby said he was not going to give details of the positions of Russian forces, but added that “regardless of this”, Washington was seeing an increase in airstrikes and artillery shelling in the southeastern part of Donbas and in the south, “especially around from and in Mariupol “.
“In recent days (…) the Russians have been doing what we call the formation of the field,” the Pentagon spokesman said. “They are trying to create the conditions for more aggressive, more open and bigger land maneuvers in Donbass.”
He also referred to the “chronic difficulties” that Washington sees in logistics, communications, coordination of operational maneuvers and cooperation between air and land resources. “It remains to be seen whether they ‘solved’ these problems and are now ready to carry out more efficiently (their business plans) in Donbass.”
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