Although the artillery bombardment continues, the Russian invasion of Ukraine appears to be stalling for a bit. A Russian general admitted yesterday that the operation was not going according to plan. We have already seen some delays in the past few days.” Professor by Special Appointment for War Studies France Osinga in Radio NOS 1 news. †It looked like an operational gap. We thought Russia was strengthening its frontal forces. Then you expect the fighting to intensify and we don’t see that.”

This does not mean that not much happened. “There is still intense shooting in the major cities, again tonight. British intelligence says it is also possible that Russia may be on the verge of using chemical weapons. But it now appears that Russia is not making enough forces to completely encircle the area. The big cities. Instead From that, they might back off, and then focus on what they’ve been doing for the past few days: artillery shelling and long-range missile fire.”

“The force of 150,000 people taken by Russia is not enough to actually occupy Ukraine, especially given the effective resistance of Ukrainian forces. In this sense, Russia seems to have miscalculated,” Osinga says.

“The question is: To what extent does Putin currently believe that his goals have been achieved? He does not want a protracted war, the sanctions are being felt and they are taking heavy losses.” Osenga believes that Russia’s goals in the south appear to have been achieved. “But in the Donbas there is fierce resistance, and in Kyiv you can see that the encirclement is taking place, but this also does not seem to work. As long as the noose around Kyiv is not yet complete, I think that Russia will continue for a while until they benefit from diplomatic negotiations. ”