Several Russian troops in Ukraine have surrendered without a fight, a US senior defense official told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday, as per CNN.
The statement comes as Russian forces escalated their attacks on crowded urban bombarding the central square in Ukraine’s second-biggest city and Kyiv’s main TV tower in what the country’s president called a blatant campaign of terror.
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The US official, unnamed, said that there has been a morale loss in the Russian camp.
“You’ve seen it on the ground, where units are surrendering, sometimes without a fight,” the official said, according to CNN. He added that there has been evidence of a certain risk averse behavior by the Russian military in the last six days. Russia had begun the Ukraine invasion on February 24.
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The official said that many among Russia’s military are young draftees who have never faced combat.
“And they’ve got, a lot of these soldiers are conscripts, never been in combat before, some of whom we believe weren’t even told they were going to be in combat. So we’re just seeing evidence of a bit of risk aversion,” the official further said.
He said that the Russians are struggling with fuel and sustainment issues and troops have given indications that they are running out of food. However, the troops’ slowing advance on Ukraine may be for ‘regrouping, rethinking, reevaluating’ purposes.
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“Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed after the bloodshed on the square in Kharkiv.
Ukrainian authorities said five people were killed in the attack on the TV tower, which is a couple of miles from central Kyiv and a short walk from numerous apartment buildings. A TV control room and power substation were hit, and at least some Ukrainian channels briefly stopped broadcasting, officials said.
