Russian Fleet Approach Has Ukraine’s Port City Odesa Bracing
- Threat comes amid faster advances for Putin’s forces in South
- Mariupol defenders stand between Putin and Crimea land bridge
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With a naval fleet reported near the Ukrainian city of Odesa and the city of Kherson taken, it’s increasingly clear that Russia’s invasion is gaining pace in the country’s open and hard-to-defend coastal plains, even as its advance is slowed in the north.
Along with Russia’s shift to more aggressive artillery and aerial attacks on urban centers, that is tempering optimism over Ukraine’s ability to sustain its so far effective organized resistance against a superior force.