Russia is struggling to make military progress in and around Kyiv, western officials said on Thursday afternoon, and there is a “question as to whether Moscow now intends to try to assault [Ukraine’s capital] or not”.
Until now, a massive push on Kyiv seemed inevitable, with one official stating last week that Russian troops were “continuing to tighten the noose” around the city. But Russian forces have made little progress since then, with the latest British intelligence suggesting Vladimir Putin’s forces were “faltering”.
A senior official told media outlets earlier that, in their opinion, for Moscow to go ahead with the attack on Kyiv, “with or without bombardment, would be very costly for Russia”.
Meanwhile, Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, has repeated his country’s insistences that it did not bomb a theatre in Mariupol on Wednesday, where thousands of residents were sheltering – including children. The death toll for the attack, if there is one, is still not known.
