Ukraine defences hold as Russia hurls force at Kyiv - analystspublished at 03:00 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2022
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Military operation analysts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War have put out their latest assessment of Russia's campaign. After Saturday's fighting - Day 3 of the war.
They say:
- Russia has "failed to encircle and isolate Kyiv with mechanised and airborne attacks as it had clearly planned to do"
- The Russian advance is now focused on straightforward assaults on Ukraine's capital, with attacking drives from the city's north-east and a narrow flank of the Dnipro River, which lies next to Kyiv
- Russian forces have "temporarily abandoned" their attacks on Chernikiv and Kharkiv, noting forces are appearing to bypass those cities to drive on to Kyiv
- Russia's attacks on those north-east and eastern cities failed because they were "poorly designed and executed", and they faced "more determined and effective resistance than expected", the Institute said
- But Russia's successes in Ukraine's south pose the most danger and "threaten to unhinge Ukraine's successful defences to the north and north-east"