Ukrainian Forces Make Some Gains in South, North: Pentagon

Ukrainian forces in the north saw some gains in territory recaptured, including areas near Kharkiv, a senior Pentagon official told reporters on Friday, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Early this week, Ukraine bombarded Russia's Saki Air Base, located in an area of Crimea that was seized and annexed by Russia in 2014. The bombardment "significantly impacted Russian airpower and personnel," the Pentagon official said.

Although the Russians have a significantly larger force than Ukraine, the things going against the Russians are the "continued impacts" on their morale, their ability to sustain themselves — all of which have been impacted by the Ukrainians' ability to get after command and control, ammunition, sustainment and logistics locations," the official said.

According to the Pentagon's assessment, on a scale of zero to 10, the effectiveness of Ukraine's armed forces would be a 12 "just based on how impressive they've been to us in so many different ways. …They have found ways to do things that we might not have thought were possible."

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in eastern Ukraine is currently under Russian control. According to the IAEA, there is no immediate threat to nuclear safety, but things could change. Russia continues to fire indiscriminately on Ukrainian territory, resulting in massive civilian casualties, the official said. "That's largely due to the indiscriminate bombing that the conduct," he added.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.