WASHINGTON, Feb 28 — Russia, frustrated by early battlefield setbacks in Ukraine, could be shifting its strategy to siege warfare just as President Vladimir Putin raises the risk of a catastrophic miscalculation by putting nuclear forces on heightened alert, a senior US defence official said on Sunday.
The United States assesses that Russia has fired more than 350 missiles at Ukrainian targets so far, some hitting civilian infrastructure, the senior US defence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Still, it had so far mainly focused on military targets. So far, the Russian offensive cannot claim any major victories. Russian has not taken any Ukrainian city, does not control Ukraine’s airspace, and its troops remained roughly 30 km from Kyiv’s city centre for a second day, the official said.
“The indications are enough in terms of how they’re positioning their forces around the city , how they’re beginning this barrage using rockets, that gives us concern,” the official said. “They simply don’t have a lot of experience moving on another nation state at this level of complexity and size,” the official said.
Just after Putin spoke, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the top US commander for Europe, General Tod Wolters, held a pre-scheduled meeting at 8.30am at which they discussed the Russian president’s decision.“It’s clearly, essentially, putting in play forces that, if there’s a miscalculation, could make things much, much more dangerous,” the official said.
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