Moscow has shifted its focus to its war against Kiev after nearly 50 days of fighting with a senior U.S. defense official who said Wednesday that all Russian ground forces have now entered the eastern side of Ukraine. Security officials have sounded the alarm that the Kremlin’s inability to seize the Kiev capital meant launching a major offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting in Ukraine has shifted to the east of the country. (Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV / AFP via Getty Images) US RETURNS FROM MI-17 HELICOPTERS SENT TO UKRAINE AS PART OF $ 750 MILLION Russia has launched its second escort this week and ground forces are flooding Ukraine’s northern border in the Lunsk region, the official said. “I think you will go so far as to say that all their ground forces are in either Donbass – in the Luhank region or in the Donetsk region – and then in the south they line up all the way from Mariupol to Mykolaiv,” the official added. . Defense officials have warned that Russia’s determination to continue its “special military operation” in a centralized location like Donbass would mean an even more brutal struggle. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mocked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion on Wednesday, questioning how many would have to die before leaving. “Do you remember how Russia boasted that it would occupy Kyiv in 48 hours? On the contrary, Ukraine had been repelling the enemy for 48 days,” he said in a speech to the nation. Ukrainian soldiers climb into a combat vehicle outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 2, 2022. (AP) KHARKIV BEATEN WITH 53 STRIKES IN 24 HOURS, TENS INJURED BELOW RUSSIAN CAR DRIVES SOUTH “They say they do everything for the sake of the people, for the sake of Donbass, but even during World War II, Donbass did not see such cruelty in such a short time,” he continued. “The story of the siege of Leningrad was repeated in Donbas. What would the people who died or almost died in Leningrad during the Nazi siege say about it? What would they say about the siege of Mariupol?” Zelensky said this week that Ukrainian forces were not getting what they needed from allies to quickly end the war before it escalated further into eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian president again urged the United States and NATO to send warplanes so that his troops could lift the weekly blockade on Mariupol and help repel more Russian invading forces by gaining more control over the region. In this photo provided by the Presidential Press Office of Ukraine, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy listens during his meeting with the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, April 1, 2022. ((Ukrainian Press Office Presidential Press via AP) CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION The United States has provided more than $ 1.7 billion in security assistance since the invasion, but has refused to provide aircraft over fears that it could direct Russian aggression against NATO nations across Ukraine. The Biden administration is expected to announce another round of security assistance this week.
