Russian offensive effort shrinking, incremental progress toward Black Sea: Pentagon
Russian offensive operations in Donbas are becoming more modest, shrinking both in size and scale, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
The Russians are making little progress so far in Donbas, with lots of back-and-fourth between both sides, according to the official.
"We see them hew very closely to their doctrine of artillery fire then a font of frontal attack by formations that are small, and in some cases, not fully resourced, fully manned, fully strong. And they get rebuffed by the Ukrainians," the official said.
Russian forces are also still suffering from poor communication between commanders and are having other coordination issues, according to the official.
To the northeast of Kharkiv, Ukrainian forces continue to push Russian troops back toward their border, according to the official.
Russian forces are making some progress pushing closer toward the Black Sea from between Kherson and Mykolayiv, according to the official. The official said it is not clear what the intent is for this line of advance, but the U.S. sees no signs of an imminent naval assault at this time.
The U.S. believes Russia is "certainly trying" to disrupt to flow of military aid moving through Ukraine, but there have been no indications that it has had any success, according to the official.
Three of the eleven Mi-17 helicopters, more than 200 of the 300 Switchblade drones and nearly 10 Phoenix Ghost drones that the U.S. has promised Ukraine have been delivered, according to the official. The Ukrainians have told the Pentagon that 79 of the 90 U.S. howitzers that were delivered are now being used in combat.
-ABC News' Matt Seyler
