Russian troop numbers dipped for the primary time under 90 per cent of the 150,000 it had amassed on the border of Ukraine earlier than the invasion, a senior US defence official mentioned on Tuesday.

Russian forces are combating communication, logistics and gas, the official mentioned, whereas some troops have been evacuated after affected by frost chew as a result of they lacked correct chilly climate gear.

The Russian and Ukrainian army are engaged in fierce preventing, notably close to Mariupol, a strategically positioned port metropolis that Russia is now shelling from the Sea of Azov, based on the official.

Nevertheless, Ukrainian forces are pushing to retake territory in some locations, notably within the south close to Kherson, the Pentagon mentioned on Tuesday.

“We now have seen indications that the Ukrainians are going a bit extra on the offence now,” mentioned John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary.

In keeping with a report dated March 22 from the Institute for the Research of Struggle, Russia’s forces are most likely transferring to a “section of protracted bombardment” of Ukrainian cities owing to the failure of their preliminary marketing campaign to encompass and seize Kyiv and different main cities.

The ISW additionally mentioned in its report the top of Ukraine’s armed forces specified on Tuesday for the primary time that Russian forces “are struggling casualties on account of a poor medical provide system and lack of drugs”. Moreover, the army chief additionally claimed some unspecified Russian items “have stockpiles of meals and ammunition for not more than three days”, based on ISW.

US assessments couldn’t be independently verified.