London, Mar 26: The UK Defence Ministry on Saturday said that Russia continues to besiege a number of major Ukrainian cities and would likely continue its use of heavy firepower on urban areas.
“Russia continues to besiege a number of major Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol,” the ministry said in a series of tweet. “Russian forces are proving reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations, rather preferring to rely on the indiscriminate use of air and artillery bombardments in an attempt to demoralise defending forces,” the ministry said.
“It is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties,” the Defence Ministry added.
On Friday, Russia said that the “first phase” of the ongoing war was complete and will now target liberating the east. CNN quoted Sergei Rudskoy, Head of the Russian General Staff’s main operations administration, as saying, “The main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been carried out.
“The combat capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces have been substantially reduced, which allows us to concentrate our main efforts on achieving the main goal: the liberation of Donbas.”
The ongoing conflict started on February 24 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion on Ukraine.
(UNI)
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