Russian leader Vladimir Putin “has achieved zero of his strategic goals” and is “really only taking control of a small number of population centres”, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
It comes as US officials say at least 24,000 Russian troops have completed their withdrawal from around Kyiv, but fears remain that they are now refitting and resupplying in preparation for a future deployment in Ukraine.
“The threat of (a) ground invasion (of Kyiv) is clearly gone for the moment… but it’s not clear what their longer-range goals are,” a US defence official said on condition of anonymity.
“The troops leaving the area were withdrawing to Belarus and Russia to reconsolidate, but it was not clear how many would eventually be sent back to Ukraine,” they added.
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