The convoy has reportedly been held up on its way to Kyiv, however, amid unconfirmed reports of food and fuel shortages.
When asked about the convoy’s progress and position at a press briefing on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Department Spokesman John Kirby said “we still assess that that convoy, but more broadly speaking the northern push by the Russians down towards the south, towards Kyiv, remains stalled.”
“From our best estimates have not made any appreciable progress geographically speaking in the last 24 to 36 hours,” he added.
The U.S. defense official believed there were several reasons for the delay: “One, we believe the Russians are deliberately, actually, regrouping themselves and reassessing the progress that they have not made and how to make up for lost time. Two, we do believe that they have experienced logistics and sustainment challenges, challenges that we don’t believe they fully anticipated.”
Lastly, he said, Russian forces have experienced “resistance from the Ukrainians,” with indications — although the U.S. could not completely independently verify them — that “Ukrainians have in fact tried to slow down that convoy.”
Britain’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the United States’ assessment of the convoy on Thursday, issuing an intelligence update in which it said “the main body of the large Russian column … remains over 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the centre of the city, having been delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion.”
The ministry also believed that “the column has made little discernible progress in over three days.”
Jack Watling, a research fellow for land warfare and military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, said there were a number of logistical challenges that the convoy faces.
“When you have that many vehicles on a very small number of roads you need to move fuel and food and large quantities of it along that road so you’re continually having to move the vehicles aside and then at the other end you’re having to work who’s going to go where and what they’re going to do,” he said.
“So I think the Russians are trying to sort themselves out, as it were, and shake out at the other end and prepare for what they want to do to Kyiv,” he told the BBC’s “Today” program on Thursday.
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/03/is-russia-about-to-launch-a-big-attack-on-kyiv.html