Russian artillery closing in on Kyiv for siege, US says, with troop morale flagging

Russia's advance has stalled on multiple fronts, including artillery, air and sea mastery.

Russian-made multiple rocket launchers "Smerch," front, and "Uragan," behind it, at a display on the first day of Moscow's International III Arms Exhibition in Moscow, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is the largest conflict that Europe has seen since World War II, with Russia conducting a multi-pronged offensive across the country. The Russian military has pummeled wide areas in Ukraine with air strikes and has conducted massive rocket and artillery bombardment resulting in massive casualties. (AP Photo, File) (AP Photo) An armed man stands by the remains of a Russian military vehicle in Bucha, close to the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Russia on Tuesday stepped up shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, pounding civilian targets there. Casualties mounted and reports emerged that more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian artillery recently hit a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, the capital.  ((AP Photo/Serhii Nuzhnenko)) Troops and military vehicles deployed in Ozera, northeast of Antonov Airport  (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies)

"Some of that is, we believe, a function of poor leadership, lack of information that the troops are getting about their mission and objectives, and I think disillusionment from being resisted as fiercely as they have been," Kirby explained. "But, again, I want to stress that these are anecdotal accounts."