A senior U.S. defense official says Russian forces are shifting their ground offensive to the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
A senior U.S. defense official says after weeks of failing to capture Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, and suffering heavy losses, Russian forces are shifting their ground offensive to the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, one of its strongholds.
Pentagon officials say they see signs that Russia is bringing in more troops from a Russian-occupied region of nearby Georgia. And, they say, the Russian military is no longer advancing toward Kyiv. "Well, it's hard to know," Kirby said."It could be a negotiating tactic; maybe he wants to secure more ground where he already has been fighting now for eight years, uh so that he can gain leverage at the negotiating table. We're not sure.
"The longer this goes on, the more likely you get long-term issues, which we know long-term issues are mental health issues, they're development issues," he said.
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