The assessment was made by the press secretary for the US Department of Defense, Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, on Thursday night, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
Russia replaces top commander in Ukraine
On Wednesday, Russia appointed Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov to lead the military campaign in Ukraine, according to the Reuters news agency.
Only last October, Russia had put Sergey Surovikin in that position, Reuters noted, adding that Surovikin will stay on as a deputy of Gerasimov.
'Systemic challenges'
Ryder told a news conference, as quoted by Ukrainska Pravda: "I am not going to speculate on how it may affect the situation on the front. I will only remark that it likely does reflect some systemic challenges that the Russian military has faced since the beginning of this invasion."
The Pentagon spokesman added that these challenges include "logistics problems, command and control problems, sustainment problems, morale and the ... failure to achieve the strategic objectives that they've set for themselves."
Ryder also commented: "I think the world would rather see Russia focus on withdrawing from Ukraine and saving innocent lives versus spending time on numerous management shuffles, and Russian soldiers and their families would probably like to see that as well," Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Military dissarray and Putin's 'growing impatience'
Meanwhile, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper cited military analysts as saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move to replace his top commander in Ukraine after a few months represented “a sign of military disarray and his growing impatience in a war Russia is not winning.”
Ukrainian troops to be armed with ‘everything they need’: Zelensky
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukrainian troops defending the eastern towns of Bakhmut and Soledar would be armed with everything they needed to stave off the Russian assault in some of the bloodiest fighting of the Russo-Ukrainian war, The Guardian also reported.
The government in Kyiv said earlier its troops were fighting to retain control of Soledar and Bakhmut, according to The Guardian.
Earlier this week, Russian mercenaries claimed they had captured the two industrial towns, news outlets have reported.
Taking Soledar would be 'Pyrrhic tactical victory' for Russia: ISW
Meanwhile, the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, reported on Thursday night that “Russian information operations have overexaggerated the importance of Soledar,” adding that its capture would be “at best a Russian Pyrrhic tactical victory.”
Friday is day 324 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: Ukrainska Pravda, Reuters, The Guardian, understandingwar.org