Ukraine can “absolutely” win the war against Russia as Moscow continues to struggle to make key breakthroughs, the Pentagon has said.
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.
Key developments:
• US says it will boycott ‘a number of G20 meetings’ if Russian officials attend
• More than 5,000 civilians have now been killed in Mariupol, says city mayor
• Around a thousand people flee Mariupol in convoy of buses and cars
• French president says civilian killings in Bucha were ‘very probably war crimes’
Speaking hours after the US announced sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Ukraine’s resistance remained strong.
“Of course [Ukraine] can win this,” he said.
“If you look at what they have been able to do so far, Mr Putin has achieved exactly zero of his strategic objectives inside Ukraine.
“He didn’t take Kyiv, he didn’t topple the government, he didn’t remove Ukraine as a nation state.
“He’s really only taken control of a small number of population centres and even they aren’t the ones he was going after.”
“The proof is literally in the outcomes that you’re seeing every day,” Mr Kirby added.
“Absolutely [Ukraine] can win.”
Russia hit by more sanctions
In addition to sanctioning Mr Putin’s two daughters, the US toughened penalties against Russian banks and banned new US investment in Russia on Wednesday.
In tandem, the UK imposed an asset freeze on Russia’s largest bank, placed sanctions on eight more oligarchs and vowed to end imports of Russian oil and coal by the end of the year.
The EU had planned to announce an embargo on coal and a ban on Russian ships and road operators, but diplomats failed to approve the measures on Wednesday as technical issues need to be addressed.
Zelenskyy calls on Western leaders to ‘borrow a little determination’
In his nightly address, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the range of new sanctions had a “spectacular look… but this is not enough”.
While welcoming moves to hit Russian banks, he said he would not rest until there is a “complete blockade of the Russian banking system from international finance”.
And he demanded quicker action on an oil embargo from the EU, whose leaders have not yet been able to reach an agreement.
Germany is said to lead resistance to an outright ban as it relies heavily on oil imports from Russia.
Meanwhile, Hungary said it was prepared to break ranks with the rest of the EU and agree to a Russian demand to pay for its gas with roubles.
“Some politicians are still unable to decide how to limit the flow of dollars and euros to Russia from the oil trade, so as not to jeopardize their own economies,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
“But that’s why people go into politics. To solve such problems, difficult tasks. To solve them quickly and in a principled fashion. If you are not capable, then you shouldn’t have started political activity.
“The embargo on Russian oil supplies will be applied anyway. The format will be found.
“The only question is how many more Ukrainian men and women the Russian military will have time to kill, so that you, some politicians – and we know you, can borrow a little determination somewhere.”