Siege of Southern Mariupol… Concerns about “trying to create a second Leningrad”
Analysts say that the long Russian vehicle procession that threatened the Ukrainian capital Kiev (Kyiv) stopped its advance because of supply disruptions, not operational formations.
According to British ITV broadcasting, a US Department of Defense official said, “Considering many cases, the procession literally ran out of fuel.
Based on the analysis of civilian satellite images, US media reported that a 64km-long procession of Russian military vehicles approached Kiiu city center as far as 27km.
According to an analysis by the Ministry of National Defense on that day, the Russian advance toward Kiiu has been stopped for three days.
The procession, which consisted of armored vehicles, tanks, cannons and support vehicles, raised concerns that it could be mobilized for the siege of Kiiu and indiscriminate artillery fire.
“Russian forces have made very little progress toward Kiiu in the last 24 hours,” a Pentagon official said.
It is not strategically good to have such long lines of military vehicles on the battlefield. This is because there is a high risk of being directly exposed to air raids.
Britain also said that the procession of Russian troops to Kiiu had been stopped for the same reason.
“There has been little discernible progress over the past three days,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
Kiiu Mayor Vitali Klicichko said there were no casualties overnight and Ukrainian forces are in control of Kiiu.
Mayor Klitschko said the nighttime blast intercepted Russian missiles and that some of the heating facilities were damaged but would be repaired.
Western military and intelligence authorities said the Russian army, which is attacking major cities, has yet to produce any results except for Kherson, a strategic point in the south.
Kherson is the first time Russian troops have occupied a major city since the invasion.
According to CNN broadcast in the United States, the British Ministry of Defense said that Russian forces have not yet taken over Kharkiv (Kharkov) in the northeast, the second city where fierce fighting between the two sides takes place, Chernihyu north of the capital Kiiu, and Mariupol in the south.
The southern port city of Mariupol has been under siege by Russian forces, Ukrainian Interior Ministry aide Anton Herashchenko said on the 3rd.
“The occupiers (Russian forces) are trying to turn Mariupol into a besieged Leningrad,” said Herashchenko.
The Mariupol City Council also said that the Russian military blocked traffic in and out of the city, such as supplying supplies from the outside or evacuating the city.
The Battle of Leningrad is considered one of the worst siege battles in history. Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, Russia, was besieged by German forces for nearly 900 days, during which more than a million people died from starvation, disease and shelling.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video of his speech on the 3rd that he assessed that his troops are holding up well against the Russians.
He said that his defense lines are not being pushed against the Russians, and that they are receiving armaments from abroad every day.
President Zelensky said that the Russian army has recently changed its strategy and is firing artillery fire on civilians in the city.
Military experts believe that the Russian military attempted to quickly obtain the regime’s capitulation after simultaneously attacking and neutralizing major Ukrainian military and infrastructure facilities.
The Russian military initially refrained from indiscriminate attacks on civilians, but recently, civilian casualties have been increasing in major cities.
