Latest updates: Ben Wallace says stretched supply chains and Ukrainian resistance means Russian brutality will ‘get worse’
Good morning. Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has been giving interviews this morning and he has been fleshing out the latest assessment of the state of the war in Ukraine from his department, the Ministry of Defence.
This is what he told Sky News this morning when asked why the enormous Russian convoy heading for Kyiv seeems to have stalled. Asked if this was because of logistical problems, or if this was a tactical decision, he replied:
Well, I think it’s a combination … What we have seen is that the tactics weren’t correct, they were rather confident they would take many of these cities in a few hours rather than six days or longer. And when any army on the move takes longer to do things, your logistical supply chain is stretched. If you’re given enough rations for two days, and it takes you six, you’ve suddenly got a problem. And I think what we’ve seen is a lot of those issues are coming to bear.
They’ve also been surprised by the Ukrainian strength of the resistance. And the Ukrainians have been also carrying out a very clever plan. We’ve seen footage of Ukrainians using UAVs to attack petrol train convoys, to go off logistical lines. We’ve seen railway lines blown up. All the things that you and I think about when you come to resistance, so I think that is effectively coming home to roost.
