Ukraine update: Ukraine threatens to encircle Russian troops; Biden heads to Europe

Putin thought his capture of Ukraine would be over quickly. Then it devolved into a likely stalemate. Now Russia faces a real possibility of devastating battlefield losses.

The Ukrainian military is now acknowledging several new successes northwest of Kyiv, but whether those successes will result in the true encirclement of the Russian artillery positions north of the city remains unknowable. For the first time, however, such encirclement appears to be a genuine threat to Russian forces. Cutting off already tenuous Russian supply lines in the region could upend whatever shreds remain of Russian strategy—but we can also presume Putin's military will itself take desperate steps to try to prevent that outcome.

President Biden will arrive in Europe tomorrow for a barrage of meetings with NATO and G-7 nations as NATO contemplates further ways to intervene in the war without escalating into military conflict with Russia. And in Ukraine's south, Russia continues to attack civilians even as Russian forces appear to be either static or in retreat when running up against the actual Ukrainian military.

Here's some of today's news:

• Biden heads to Europe to bolster NATO allies, strategize on next Ukraine actions
• Ukraine fighting to liberate Kherson
• The things that are not happening may be the most interesting
• Russia already lost the short war, but can it win a longer conflict?
• What a difference a week makes
• Russian TV retaliates against Schwarzenegger after his video message reached millions

,

Wednesday, Mar 23, 2022 · 12:34:15 PM +00:00 · Barbara Morrill

Continuing coverage can be found here.

Mar 23, 2022 · 2:13:39 AM +00:00 · kos

Fascinating claimed intercepted call from Russian officer near Mykolaiv to superiors in Russia. He says:
- This is worse than Chechnya
- 50% of troops have frostbite
- They can’t evacuate the dead
- Don’t have enough tents
- RU plane dropped a bomb on their own position 🧵 pic.twitter.com/3KjGrqD5jZ

— Dmitri Alperovitch (@DAlperovitch) March 23, 2022

Wednesday, Mar 23, 2022 · 2:16:22 AM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Also from the Defense Department briefing earlier today, it seems that the U.S. has not started delivering the materials approved in the latest $800 million assistance package for Ukraine. So it’s a bit early to start speculating over whether anything has been hit by the Switchblade loitering missile.

Wednesday, Mar 23, 2022 · 2:33:26 AM +00:00 · kos

What a story!

For weeks, Oleksandr and his friend Andrii have been driving into the war zones outside Kyiv, running critical supplies in and getting people out.

Oleksandr reckons they’ve evacuated over 250 civilians.https://t.co/Mjd1AFurmS

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 22, 2022

Wednesday, Mar 23, 2022 · 10:39:02 AM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

This is a disturbing action. Not because it limits the ability to evacuate refugees from Chernihiv, because Russia doesn’t care about that. And not because it cuts off the ability to bring aid to Chernihiv, Russia likely views that as a route by which the city can also be resupplied militarily. The disturbing thing is that those bridges were also Russia’s route for bringing forces between Chernihiv and Kyiv.

‘This suggests that Russia’s first priority is reducing Chernihiv than any military action.

⚡️Russian invaders destroy Chernihiv bridge to Kyiv.

The bridge was used to evacuate civilians from Chernihiv, located 130 kilometers northeast of Kyiv, and bring humanitarian aid to the city, which has no electricity and suffers from the shortage of supplies.

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 23, 2022