Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Russian war in Ukraine ‘largely stalled on all fronts’ with ‘minimal progress on land, sea or air’ UK claims

‘Ukrainian resistance remains staunch and well-coordinated,’ British intelligence update says

Zoe Tidman
Thursday 17 March 2022 15:07 GMT
Comments
'We need to stop this': Zelensky shows Congress video of the damage caused by Russian troops in Ukraine

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has “largely stalled on all fronts” and has seen “minimal progress” on land , air and sea in recent days, the UK government has claimed.

The British Ministry of Defence said Ukrainian resistance “remains staunch” as they provided an intelligence update on the war on Thursday.

The invasion of Ukraine has now entered its third week, with hundreds of civilians killed and more than 3 million forced to flee since Russia launched its attack.

The UK Ministry of Defence tweeted: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has largely stalled on all fronts.

“Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses.”

It added: “Ukrainian resistance remains staunch and well-coordinated. The vast majority of Ukrainian territory, including all major cities, remains in Ukrainian hands.”

Since launching its attack on 24 February, Russia has gained control of eastern and northern parts of its neighbouring country.

This map shows the extent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
This map shows the extent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Press Association Images)

This includes the cities of Kherson and Melitopol in the southeast of Ukraine.

Russian forces freed the mayor of Melitopol - who Ukraine had accused them of kidnapping - in exchange for nine of their captured conscripts, the Ukrainian presidential office said on Wednesday.

Attacks on Ukrainian cities continued on Thursday morning, with a missile strike on a building in Kyiv killing at least one person and injuring several others.

The day before, Russa was accused of destroying a theatre where hundreds were sheltering in the besieged city of Mariupol by local authorities.

A UN Security Council meeting is set to go ahead on Thursday afternoon ahead of a resolution seeking protection for Ukrainian civilians “in vulnerable situations” as the war continues.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in