After confronting them in the northwest axis, did the Russians advance to Kyiv become difficult?

Kiev

- Fighting fronts are burning on the entire Ukrainian-Russian border, and the bombing operations do not stop, but rather increase and decrease in intensity according to the extent of the resistance shown by the Ukrainian forces in the adjacent areas, thus hampering the invasion and progress of the Russian forces on the ground and in the depth.

But this is not the case in the vicinity of the capital, "Kyiv";

It is clear that the first days of the invasion were enough for the Russian forces, coming from the Belarusian border in the north, to take control of the city and the outskirts of "Chernobyl", famous for its nuclear reactor, and to advance through it to the northern and northwestern suburbs of the capital.

New members of the "Regional Defense Forces" receive training in Kyiv (Reuters)

Two axes burning around Kyiv

Indeed, the fiercest battles for the defense of Kyiv are taking place at the "Hostomel" airport northwest of Kyiv, in the town of Bucha and the neighboring city of Irbin, which is only about 25 kilometers from the capital, Kyiv.

Three days ago, the Russian forces focused on the northeastern axis of Kiev, specifically on the city of "Brovary", after apparently making progress in the Chernihiv region, northeast of the capital.

From the south, Russia targeted Vasilkiv Airport, southwest of Kyiv, and the cities of Bila Tserkav and Uman, located on the line linking the capital with the city of Odessa in southern Ukraine, without access by land.

Difficult progress from the West

According to military experts and analysts, the Russian forces are advancing to the capital and bombing from their positions on the border with Ukraine, on the Belarusian border, and in the "occupied" Crimea, and this explains their advance on those axes surrounding Kiev, without the western axis, so far.

The military expert at the Strategic Defense Center, Victor Kevlyuk, says that Russia wanted to quickly encircle the capital, "Kyiv" from all axes, in preparation for storming it after days of siege and bombing, during which it prevented displacement and the arrival of supplies.

While the long columns of vehicles and soldiers on the northwest axis were intended to spread along the western borders of the city, this did not happen.

According to the expert, the Russian forces faced violent resistance in "Hostomel", "Bocha" and "Erbin" (the northwest axis), which thwarted their movement, and their progress became almost impossible, "and if it does, it will be met with violent resistance as well, as happened in the town of Makarev, west of City".

Kevlyuk points out that the west of "Kyiv" is mainly a forested area, and progress there is difficult as the resistance was violent, not to mention the difficulty of obtaining support.

This reality, according to the military expert, prompted the "awaited" Russian columns to disperse their gathering between the northern forests and villages, so that they would not be an easy target for the Ukrainian artillery and Bayraktar drones.

In the past few days, the Ukrainian army repelled the attempts of Russian forces to storm Kyiv (European)

logistical problems

The Kyiv municipal administration stresses that "the capital is not besieged or encircled at all," and according to military experts also, the difficulty of encircling it lies in the "painful strikes" inflicted by the Russian forces on the city's edge, and logistical problems it suffers from.

The expert says, "The enemy has lost a lot of its forces and mechanisms in Hostomil, Bucha, Irbin and Makarif, and for this reason it realizes that in its progress more - and on various axes - suicide, so we find that it is currently focusing on devastating missile strikes from time to time, before taking the step of progressing again."

He pointed out, in this regard, that "the massed Russian forces are sufficient to strike the infrastructure and population, but they are suffering, and insufficient to encircle and storm the city."

Retaliation bombing raises the suffering

That is why, according to Kevlyuk, Russia may soon resort to targeting the depth to relieve suffering and pressure, as it did in Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol mainly.

"This is a well-known Russian policy of revenge," he said.

In the same context, the expert considered that the cost of the war was shocking to the Russians, because, if it is true that more than 12 thousand Russian soldiers were killed (according to Ukrainian data), this means that there are about 30-40 thousand more wounded, not to mention the repercussions of the catastrophic sanctions on the Russian economy .