(NewsNation) — Ukrainian government officials are saying Russian troops continue gathering outside Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and it is possible that they might take control of the city in a matter of days.
Former U.S. Lt. Gen. RIchard Newton isn’t so sure.
“They may try to advance and try to try to tighten up the encirclement around Kyiv,” Newton said Sunday on NewsNation Prime. “Kyiv is 320 square miles. It’s a really large piece of property. So, it would be rather difficult for any invading force to take Kyiv.”
Russian forces launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including powerful bombs dropped on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said. But a miles-long Russian armored column threatening the capital remained stalled outside Kyiv.
“The stiff resistance that the Ukraine military has shown” is indicated by ‘the fact that the 40-mile Russian convoy is still (unable) to move forward toward Kyiv,” Newton said. “Kyiv is certainly threatened, but I think you’re going to find a very stiff battle to go on.”
Newton said he believes Russians entering Kyiv will face a “block by block and street by street” battle, especially now that other countries, especially Poland, have been given a “green light” to provide Ukranian fighters with fighter jets.
If Ukranian forces wind up controlling the skies over Kyiv, “that could be a game changer in compelling the Russians to think again about this attack.” And even if Kyiv falls, the battle won’t be over, Newton added.
If the capital falls, Putin “has to now maintian control of the rest of the country. You’re gonna have insurgencies (and) other parts of the country that won’t necessarily be in the control of Putin.”
Sunday evening, heavy shelling also came to Mykolaiv in the south and Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city. Efforts to evacuate residents from the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin on Sunday were mostly unsuccessful.
A senior American defense official said Sunday the U.S. believes that about 95% of the Russian forces that had been arrayed around Ukraine are now inside the country. Ukrainian air and missile defenses remain effective and in use, and the Ukrainian military continues to fly aircraft and to employ air defense assets, the official said.
Russia is calling up additional troops and mercenaries, a sign that Putin’s original force was insufficient to complete the takeover of Ukraine, Newton said.
“Putin is indeed running out of resources … the tide could turn against the Russian army in the field. What his generals told him two, three, four weeks before (the invasion) is not coming to fruition on the battlefield today.”
