Military operation analysts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War have put out their latest assessment of Russia's campaign. After Saturday's fighting - Day 3 of the war.
They say:
- Russia has "failed to encircle and isolate Kyiv with mechanised and airborne attacks as it had clearly planned to do".
- The Russian advance is now focused on straightforward assaults on Ukraine's capital, with attacking drives from the city's north-east and a narrow flank of the Dnipro River, which lies next to Kyiv.
- Russian forces have "temporarily abandoned" their attacks on Chernikiv and Kharkiv, noting forces are appearing to bypass those cities to drive on to Kyiv.
- Russia's attacks on those north-east and eastern cities failed because they were "poorly designed and executed", and they faced "more determined and effective resistance than expected", the Institute said.
- But Russia's successes in Ukraine's south pose the most danger and "threaten to unhinge Ukraine's successful defences to the north and north-east".
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