[WAPO] DNIPRO, Ukraine — Russia intensified strikes on cities across Ukraine on Tuesday, but the advance of foreign forces ground to a halt outside Kyiv as local troops and volunteers steeled themselves for a fierce battle for the capital.U.S. and British officials said a long column of tanks and combat vehicles was stalled roughly 20 miles north of Kyiv on the sixth day of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, deepening questions about whether Moscow’s assault will yield a protracted war of resistance with its much smaller, less powerful neighbor.
The convoy, stretching some 40 miles, has moved little over the past day as the Russian forces have grappled with fuel and food shortages, a U.S. defense official told reporters, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation.
In its most recent battlefield update, the British Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces continue to hold the cities of Kharkiv, Kherson and Mariupol, but all three "are now likely encircled by Russian forces," and air and artillery attacks on urban areas are intensifying.
The United Nations has recorded more than 130 civilian deaths since the beginning of the fighting last week, including 13 children, mostly because of shelling and rocket fire. The true human toll is likely far much higher, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
Officials say Moscow has now pushed into Ukraine more than 80 percent of the combat power it staged within Russian border areas and in neighboring Belarus in recent months, demonstrating Putin’s determination to cripple a Western-backed government he claims has undermined Russian security. Ukraine has refused to forswear its right to join the NATO military alliance, a proposition Putin has described as a red line.
The conflict has upended global ties with Russia, triggering successive rounds of international sanctions, including measures targeting Russia’s central bank and cutting the country off from the global financial system. European nations have also come together in defiance of Putin’s actions, with some countries abandoning their long-standing policies of neutrality or conflict-avoidance to expand military support to Ukraine.
I doubt the convoy is stalled. Probably just awaiting the final rocket barrage softening up before going in.