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US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin claimed that Russia made “missteps” and “struggled with logistics” in its military campaign in Ukraine, and asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to “seek a diplomatic solution.”
When CNN’s Don Lemon asked Austin about his assessment of Russian forces in Ukraine, the Pentagon chief said, “Oh, it’s hard to tell, Don. I think, you know, they have not progressed as quickly as they would have liked to. I think they envisioned that they would move rapidly and very quickly, seize the capital city, they’ve not been able to do that.”
“They’ve struggled with logistics. So we’ve seen a number of missteps along the way,” he said in the interview on Friday.
“I don’t see, you know, evidence of good employment of tactical intelligence. I don’t see integration of air capability with a ground maneuver,” he continued. “And so there are a number of things that we would expect to have seen that we just haven’t seen, and the Russians really have had some … presented … some problems. So, many of their assumptions have not proven to be true as they entered this fight.”
Austin said that President Putin could pursue diplomacy if he wanted to.
“We’re here because of his decision to launch this attack. He can make a decision today to end this and seek a diplomatic solution. He’s had a number of opportunities along the way. He has opportunities today to decide to do something different,” Lloyd told Lemon.
“This is not going well for him on the battlefield. And there are a number of things that are now coming into play that will make things more difficult for him as he goes forward,” he added.
