Russian Forces on the Defensive as Ukraine Fights Back—Official

Ukraine's military has forced Russia's invading troops onto the defensive, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Oleksiy Arestovych gave an upbeat assessment from Ukraine's standpoint of how the war is going, three weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into the neighboring country.

Arestovych's comments reinforce Western intelligence assessments that the Russians are getting bogged down in Ukraine, after meeting unexpectedly stiff resistance.

"In Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv—they [the Russian forces] are now primarily on the defensive, trying to hold on to areas that they've taken," Arestovych told Radio Svoboda, the Russian service of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe.

The cities of Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine; Sumy and Kharkiv in the east; and Mariupol and Mykolaiv in the south have all been besieged by Russian forces.

Arestovych said the Ukrainian military does not expect Russian forces near the capital Kyiv to receive reinforcements since the Russian advance was making no progress there.

"First of all, there is nothing to summon. Second, under standard warfare logic, reinforcements are not brought to zones where there's no hope for success. You bring them where you hope to gain something. For them, Mariupol is perhaps such an area. And maybe Mykolaiv. But not Kyiv...," Arestovych said, according to a Newsweek translation of his comments.

The adviser's comments are in line with the analysis of Britain's Ministry of Defence, which said on Thursday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had stalled.

In its latest intelligence update, the Ministry said Russian forces had made "minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses."

"Ukrainian resistance remains staunch and well-coordinated," it said. "The vast majority of Ukrainian territory, including all major cities, remains in Ukrainian hands."

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine has largely stalled on all fronts," it added.

Arestovych also held a press conference on Thursday where he praised the efforts of Ukraine soldiers against Russia.

"During the day, the condition, position and character of the enemy's actions, as well as those of the armed forces of Ukraine, have not changed fundamentally," Arestovych said.

"But there are several achievements on the part of the armed forces of Ukraine. First, our troops destroyed the command post of one of the armies of the Russian Federation.

"This is a great military achievement, it probably means the death of several generals and accordingly a pause and disorganization in the fighting by the enemy."

He also went into specific details regarding how many and what vehicles the Ukrainian air force was able to destroy.

"[In the last] 24 hours our air forces performed at their best," he continued.

"A total of 10 air force units of the enemy were destroyed, five planes, two helicopters, one unmanned aerial vehicle of the operational-tactical level and several wind missiles."

Earlier this week, Arestovich also said Ukraine and Russia could have a peaceful agreement by May, according to a Reuters report. He said this in a video that was published by several Ukrainian media outlets. He said the exact date would depend on how many resources Russia was willing to commit to the invasion.

"I think that no later than in May, early May, we should have a peace agreement, maybe much earlier, we will see, I am talking about the latest possible dates," Arestovich said.

"We are at a fork in the road now: there will either be a peace deal struck very quickly, within a week or two, with troop withdrawal and everything, or there will be an attempt to scrape together some, say, Syrians for a round two and when we grind them too, an agreement by mid-April or late April."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry and Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

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