Pentagon Says Ukrainians Heroically Defending Lysychansk

Four additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems will soon be on their way to Ukraine, a senior U.S. official told reporters Monday night, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"We are continuing to work our security assistance and moving heaven and earth to get that assistance forward to the Ukrainians as fast as we can," the officials said.

"And I think what you're seeing on the battlefield is that the Ukrainians are making good use of not just our systems, but systems that they're obtaining from our partners and allies around the world."

President Joe Biden is slated to announce at the NATO summit in Spain the extension of U.S. troops in Poland.

The move comes as the G7 leaders condemned on Monday a Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian shopping mall that resulted in the death of innocent civilians, saying that Putin and those responsible "will be held to account.”

“We stand united with Ukraine in mourning the innocent victims of this brutal attack. Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime,” the leaders wrote in a joint statement.

Over the weekend, the Pentagon observed approximately 60 missile strikes across Ukraine, according to a senior official.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to share details of U.S. intelligence assessments, said that a significant number of the strikes hit Kyiv, Lviv, Chernihiv and Odesa.

“We’re not quite sure about the Russian objectives of the strikes. They certainly could be a protest against the G-7, or the arrival of HIMARS in the country,” the official told reporters on a conference call.

Although the Russians have made incremental gains in the Donbas, it does not appear that they have encircled the city of Lysychansk, according to the Pentagon's assessment.

The Ukrainians are putting up stiff resistance in and around Lysychansk, the official said, noting that the area where the fighting is taking place is a very small area.

Just a short distance from Lysychansk is the city of Syevyerodonetsk, which Russian forces now occupy.

"From a military perspective, what I would say is the small number of Ukrainians that held the Russians at Syevyerodonetsk for as long as they did is really something I think we'll probably all study in the future," the official said.

"And when chose to leave Syevyerodonetsk, they chose to do of their own accord and to give that up in order to move to better prepared locations for the continuing of that defense," the official added.

For the little ground the Russians have managed to gain, they're losing a large number of their forces, the official said.

"The Ukrainians are making them pay for a very small piece of ground. "Several hundred Ukrainians continue to hold off the Russian army in that part of the world in a pretty significant fight. It speaks to the tenacity of the Ukrainian soldier and their leadership," the official added.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.