Pentagon: Kyiv is still in danger

Kyiv is still in danger, as airstrikes continue, despite the fact that some Russian forces continue to disengage from positions north and east of the Ukrainian capital, a senior U.S. defense official said on Thursday, TURAN’s Washington correspondent reports.

“We're still observing artillery fire and airstrikes in and around Kyiv," the official said.

The Kremlin earlier this week announced its forces were going to de-escalate the attacks on Kyiv and concentrate on the eastern Ukrainian provinces, but defense officials in Washington continue to see attacks on Kyiv.

"They're still fighting to the north of Kyiv. As these forces begin to reposition, the Ukrainians are moving against them," the official said.

Fighting also continues in southern and eastern Ukraine, while Russian invaders have made little progress, including in the city of Mariupol.

"The Ukrainians are fighting very, very tough inside Mariupol," the official said.

Overall, the airspace over Ukraine remains contested with the Russians launching around 300 sorties on Wednesday.

As of yesterday, the Russians have launched more than 1,400 missiles.

The official also spoke about Russian morale, which he described as “continues to suffer.”

"We have continued to see unit cohesion issues, command and control problems with faulty leadership."

Officials have said they have heard anecdotes about poor morale and poor performance on the battlefield.:

”We can't say with certainty that it's uniformly across all the forces that they have in Ukraine."

Still, these anecdotes reinforce some of the core problems experienced by the Russian military, including the lack of any kind of professional noncommissioned officer corps, per Pentagon officials.

The Russian military depends largely on conscripts, and there is evidence that Putin's regime has not been honest with its troops, the official added.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.