War in Ukraine: The Russian offensive turns to a war of attrition, the situation on the ground on the 28th day – The Independent

A senior British defense official said on Wednesday that Russia is now waging an “attrition” war in Ukraine that will increase destruction and civilian casualties.

“Russian operations have changed,” said Jim Hockenhull, head of defense intelligence, during a press briefing, stressing that the Kremlin was “now pursuing a strategy of attrition” after having failed to achieve its “initial objectives “, according to the Belga agency. “This will involve the irresponsible and indiscriminate use of firepower” and “will result in more civilian casualties, the destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure and intensify the humanitarian crisis”, he warned. One thing is certain: “Moscow has intensified its strikes on several strategic points while kyiv, for its part, claims to have regained territory against its enemy”, reports RFI. Large-scale Ukrainian counter-attack it seems in the western suburbs of kyiv coming both from kyiv towards Boutcha-Irpin (fortification zone in progress) and Mila and from the West towards kyiv on axes M -07 and M-06. Two localities have reportedly been reconquered.— Michel Goya (@Michel_Goya) March 23, 2022 According to the US government, Russian bombardments have intensified in recent days, both from the air and from the Sea of ​​Azov. London says for its part that Russian troops are encircling Ukrainian troops in the east of the country. They would advance from Kharkiv and Mariupol. The latter is still besieged and completely surrounded, with 100,000 civilians trapped inside. On the side of kyiv, the forces of Moscow are 30 km from the city from the eastern axis, 15 km from the northwest where the Ukrainian forces have announced that they have launched a counter-offensive by encircling their enemy. They would have succeeded in cutting off all supply routes. “But it has been blocked in recent weeks northwest and east of the Ukrainian capital, and has had to retreat in recent days on several of these fronts,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Wednesday. The number of soldiers killed for a month could not be verified, 7,000 dead on the Russian side, according to the Pentagon. Also according to RFI, a report by the Russian Ministry of Defense, published by a newspaper close to the government, but immediately withdrawn, indicated nearly 10,000 dead and more than 16,000 injured on the Russian side.