Kiev

Kiev’s defenders have repulsed every direct assault on Ukraine’s capital since a Russian army group arrived at the city’s northern outskirts on February 28. There are now indications that Russian units, unable to penetrate Kiev’s defenses, are conducting a flanking maneuver intended to complete the encirclement of the city west of the Dnieper.

Madrid’s El Pais daily newspaper reports that a brigade-size Russian armored unit has advanced across the Zhytomyr-Kiev highway, cutting a major supply route into Ukraine’s capital city. The Russian forward elements have reached Yasnohorodka, a small town 23 miles southwest of Kiev.

The Russian advance along the east bank of the Dnieper has been stopped cold by a resolute Ukrainian defense at Chernihiv, a city of 280,000 residents 70 miles north of Kiev. The fight at Chernihiv has degenerated into a nasty street-by-street battle that is inflicting heavy casualties on the attacking Russians.

Russian commanders responded to their setback at Chernihiv by dispatching a corps-sized armored force toward Kiev from the east.

Ukrainian sources claim this Russian advance was beaten back with “significant losses” at the Kiev suburb of Brovery and supplied video footage showing T-90 tanks being picked off one after the other by anti-tank guided missiles.

Odessa

Unable to capture the inland port city of Mykolaiv and its Varvarivs’skyy Bridge across the Southern Buh River, Russian units advancing on Odessa have been forced to make a 50-mile detour north. Fierce street battles are now under way within Vozneskensk, a town of 35,000 residents where the next available road bridge spans the Buh. If the Russians fail to capture the Vozneskensk bridge intact, their advance on Odessa will come to a halt, leaving Ukraine’s main port on the Black Sea open for resupply.

No MiGs for You

The Biden administration scuppered an EU proposal that Poland should transfer a squadron of MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine in return for an equal number of American F-16s supplied to the Polish air force. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that US opposition to the scheme derived from fears of escalating tensions with Russia.

The Ukrainians, of course, are desperate for any weapons they can lay their hands on, and the U.S. has supplied Ukraine with thousands of Javelin anti-tank missiles that have against Russian armor to great effect.

President Biden’s director of national intelligence testified to the Senate that supplying fighter aircraft would be more provocative than the anti-tank guided missiles that are killing Russian soldiers by the hundreds. Senator Cotton flatly challenged that assessment during an open hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee March 10.

Trouble in Paradise

As the Russian casualty count grows by the day and international economic sanctions bite ever deeper, dissent within Russia grows louder. More than 13,000 people have so far been arrested across the nation after participating in public protests against the Ukraine war.

Vladimir Putin’s credibility took another beating with the disclosure that conscripts were fighting in Ukraine, contrary to Russian law. Russian conscripts are inducted for 12 months of mandatory military service within the territory of the Russian Federation.

During a speech on International Womens’ Day, Mr. Putin denied that draftees were engaged in combat operations. “I emphasize that conscript soldiers are not participating in hostilities and will not participate in them,” he said, Reuters reported.

After the Ukrainian government began to publicize interviews with captured conscripts, though, the Russian Ministry of Defense stopped trying to deny the undeniable. It turns out that Russian draftees were being strong-armed into signing contracts as professional soldiers that would make them available for combat service in Ukraine.

This goes a long way toward explaining the poor morale and fighting spirit that have plagued Russian main force combat units. The anecdotes about abandoned vehicles and soldiers surrendering without a shot now make much more sense.