A Ukrainian soldier directs a Russian tank that Ukrainians captured after fighting with Russian troops, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues
(Picture: REUTERS)Russia’s plans to launch a full-scale attack on Kyiv have become so bogged down that any attempt to take the Ukrainian capital would be a “very costly business”, western officials have warned.
Although a 40-mile column of Russian tanks and other military vehicles has been trying to encircle the city for days, progress has been slow as Vladimir Putin’s forces face fierce Ukrainian resistance.
The UK and its western allies had expected Russia to launch a lightning raid on Kyiv within days of last month’s invasion as it sought to remove President Volodymyr Zelensky and install a pro-Kremlin government.
But with Russia believed to have lost thousands of soldiers in the first three weeks of the conflict, western officials are now questioning whether Mr Putin will press ahead with plans to try and take the capital.
They believe that a Russian assault on a city as well prepared as Kyiv would be “ill judged” and could leave Russia counting the cost of casualties. Russian gains so far had been slow and incremental, they added.
The Pentagon estimated on March 8 that Russia may have lost between 2000 and 4000 troops since Mr Putin’s ‘special operation’ was launched against Ukraine on February 24. The officials said on Thursday that more recent estimates of Russian troop losses of 7000 were “not implausible”.
The officials said they had seen evidence of very low morale among Russia’s military and that Mr Putin was seeking to boost his troop numbers by calling up reservists out of “peripheral places”, not part of the Russian President’s original plan.
