Russians are several days behind their goal in Ukraine, Pentagon assesses

The Pentagon assesses that Russian forces are several days behind where they wanted to be at this point in eastern Ukraine, according to a senior defense official. 

The Russians expected to be farther along in their goal to trap Ukrainian troops in the east and thought this would be accomplished by now, according to Pentagon assessments. They are "nowhere close" to their goal of totally encircling Ukrainian forces, the official said. 

Russian forces have been making slow, uneven and incremental progress in east and south Ukraine, according to the official, in part, because they're wary of outrunning supply lines, as they did in northern Ukraine at the start of the invasion and also because of the effectiveness of Ukrainian resistance.