Russia invasion ‘slows significantly’ as ‘demoralised’ troops attack civilians

As the invasion of Ukraine completes two weeks, officials have said that the progress of Russian troops has “slowed significantly” in recent days with the country mounting attacks on civilians.

On Tuesday night, cities in eastern and central Ukraine were bombed by Russian aircrafts.

Ukrainian officials said that shelling also continued in the suburbs of capital Kyiv.

“We can’t even gather up the bodies because the shelling from heavy weapons doesn’t stop day or night,” said Mayor Anatol Fedoruk.

“Dogs are pulling apart the bodies on the city streets. It’s a nightmare.”

Regional leader Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said that in Sumy and Okhtyrka, to the east of Kyiv near the Russian border, residential buildings and a power plant were bombed.

He said there were people who were dead and wounded but gave no figures.

Attacks also continued on oil depots in Zhytomyr and the neighboring town of Cherniakhiv, to the west of Kyiv.

Mr Fedrouk also said that in Bucha, a Kyiv suburb, heavy artillery fire was reported.

On Wednesday, an air raid alert was issued in Kyiv and residents were asked to take shelter as quickly as possible as Russian troops continued their attacks.

However, with no major city including capital Kyiv captured yet, Ukraine officials said that Russian troops haven’t made significant progress.

Russia likely has had between 2,000 and 4,000 troops killed thus far, Lt General Scott Berrier, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, told the Associated Press.

He added that his agency has “low confidence” in its estimate.

Ukraine’s armed forces claimed that overnight up to 30 Russian helicopters that had been moved overnight to Chornobaivka airport near Kherson had been destroyed.

They said they had also retaken the city of Chuhuiv, near Kharkiv.

Officials in Ukraine said Russian troops had taken to attacking civilians in recent days.

On Tuesday, three civilians died near Kyiv after stepping on a landmine, reported Daily Mail.

Air raids on residential buildings also reportedly killed 10 civilians including children in Sumy on Monday, said Mr Zhyvytskyy.

On Tuesday a six-year-old girl died from dehydration in Mariupol where residents have been without power, sanitation and basic necessities for almost a week.

Ukraine commanders have also claimed that Russians also set up sniper positions by clearing civilians homes. They alleged that some civilians had been fired upon as they attempted to flee.

Ukrainian artillery is now being brought to bare on Russian forces as they set up the next phase of their attack, commanders said.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said that Russian troops are having “morale problems.”

“They are having supply problems. They are having fuel problems. They’re having food problems. They are meeting a very stiff and determined Ukrainian resistance. And we still maintain that they are several days behind what they probably thought they were going to be in terms of their progress,” he said.

‘I think Putin is angry and frustrated right now. He’s likely to double down and try to grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties,’ CIA Director William Burns said at a US congressional hearing.

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