Pentagon: Russia sends troops from Georgia to Ukraine

U.S. intelligence has picked up indications that Moscow has started pulling from its forces in Georgia to send into Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Friday, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"We've seen our first indications that they are trying to send in some reinforcements from Georgia," the Pentagon official said. "We have seen the movements of some number of troops from Georgia."

Washington has seen “movement of some number of troops from Georgia,” — where Kremlin troops have been stationed since they invaded in 2008 — but the defense official could not provide a number or where those troops would be going when they arrived in Ukraine.

Per Pentagon's observation, in Ukraine, while the Russians are still launching airstrikes on the capital city of Kyiv, it appears the Russian military is less interested now in conducting ground operations there than they have been in the past and are instead now focused on an eastern area of the country known as the Donbas.

"Russian forces are no longer in full control of Kherson, the first Ukrainian city Kremlin troops captured as part of its invasion into the country."

"They are putting their priorities and their efforts in the east of Ukraine," the DOD official said. "That's where still there remains a lot of heavy fighting and we think they are trying to not only secure some sort of more substantial gains there as a potential negotiating tactic at the table, but also to cut off Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country."

The official also confirmed reports that Ukrainian forces had destroyed a Russian navy vessel on the Sea of Azov at the port city of Berdyansk.

"They did strike a Russian LST while it was pier-side in Berdyansk," the official said. "It appears from the imagery we've seen that they destroyed that ship."

The destroyed Russian ship, called the Saratov, was an Alligator-class amphibious landing ship that could carry up to 20 tanks. The term "LST" means "Landing Ship Tank." 

The official said the DOD is unaware of how many Russians were on the ship when it was hit, or how many casualties there had been. Additionally, the official wouldn’t say what weapons system the Ukrainians had used to destroy the vessel to protect their operational security.

The official also said the department believes the ship was in port at Berdyansk as part of a mission to resupply Russian combat operations near Mariupol.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.