Russian Convoy “Bogged Down,” Hit With Ukrainian Ambushes, Fuel & Food Shortages, Morale Problems

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

Are invading Russian forces now stalled and stricken by fuel and food shortages, sustainment challenges and significant morale problems? The Pentagon says that all of those possibilities are indeed quite realistic amid reports from Ukrainian fighters engaging the invading force.

Russian Convoy “Bogged Down” 

A senior Pentagon official told reporters that the Russian convoy heading south toward Kyiv is “bogged down” and having problems.

“Our assessment is that it is not exactly moving with great speed, that they continue to be bogged down, coming down from the north, to get to Kyiv,” the official said.

A senior Pentagon official told reporters that, according to DoD’s best assessment, the advancing Russian forces are challenged by the “resistance that they are facing and the fuel and sustainment problems they are having.”

“We are also picking up signs that they’re having problems feeding their troops; that they’re — not only are they running out of gas, but they are running out of food. And we also believe that a part of the stall could be — and I emphasize the word “could” — could be a result of their own self-determined sort of pause in operations, that they are possibly regrouping, rethinking, reevaluating, that that could be part of it,” the senior Pentagon official told reporters, according to a Pentagon transcript.

They may also be having trouble countering or breaking through a highly motivated, tactically dispersed, yet effective Ukrainian force armed with anti-armor weapons. They may be staging ambushes and carefully staged hit and run attacks on approaching vehicles at key “choke points” such as bridges and intersections where they may be more vulnerable.

By seeking to ambush Russian forces at intersections, bridges and narrow passageways, Ukrainian fighters may be having success with tactics employed with less effectiveness by the Iraqi Republican Guard in 2003 during the US invasion of Iraq, according to an Infantry Battalion Task Force Commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom, retired Lt. Col. Scott Rutter.