Russian missiles rain down on the Ukrainian city of Lviv 1:54
(CNN) --
The United States believes that Russia is learning from its failures in northern Ukraine, where it did not have adequate capabilities to sustain military operations, and applying those lessons to its new approach in the east and south of the country, according to a senior US defense official.
"What we have seen in the last few days is that they are still trying to set the terms," the senior defense official said in a call with reporters on Monday.
"We call it setup operations."
Russian missiles hit 3 Ukrainian Army warehouses in Lviv
"It looks like they were trying to learn from failed lessons from the north, where they didn't have adequate sustaining capacity in the area they were going to operate," the official said.
The official said the US has seen Russia moving in "heavy artillery," "command and control enablers" and "aviation, particularly helicopter support" as part of 11 new tactical groups that have been moved in the east and south of Ukraine "in recent days".
The story of Kira, the Ukrainian girl who was left at the mercy of the Russians 3:20
Russia is massing troops and appears close to taking the southeastern port city of Mariupol.
CNN reported Monday that Mariupol's fate hangs in the balance as an unknown number of defenders make their last stand at a steel plant.
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According to Petro Andriushchenko, adviser to the city's mayor, intense fighting continued to take place in the city on Monday.
Later Monday, Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine's President's Office, said the "second phase of the war" had begun in the eastern Donbass region, amid clear signs of an intensified Russian offensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the start of the battle for Donbas in a video address on Monday.
"Russian troops have started the battle for Donbas for which they have been preparing for a long time and a considerable number of Russian units are concentrated and focused on that offensive," Zelensky said.
He stressed that the Ukrainian forces will continue to fight against Russian aggression in the region.
Zelensky: The battle for the Donbas region has begun 1:44
"No matter how many Russian military personnel they bring into that area, we will continue to fight and defend and we will do so on a daily basis. We will not give up anything that is Ukrainian, but we do not need anything that is not ours," Zelensky said.
"I am grateful to all of our warriors, our soldiers, our heroic towns and cities in the region who resist and stand firm," he said.
Russia's disjointed – and at times chaotic – operation in northern Ukraine has been well documented, and its early military failures were largely a surprise to US and Western officials.
Since Russia launched its assault on Ukraine on February 24, it has bombarded Ukrainian cities with missiles and artillery, destroying apartments, hospitals and schools and killing hundreds of civilians.
But its ground invasion has largely stalled and Moscow has failed to take key cities, including Kyiv, due to fierce Ukrainian resistance and what senior defense officials have described as tactical blunders.
Ukrainians pray before threat of Russian invasion in Donbas 2:27
Russia focuses on the east and south
The United States believes that Russia has added 11 tactical groups (BTGs) to its forces in the east and south since the end of last week, according to the senior US defense official, bringing the total number of Russia's BTGs to 76.
"They have increased their capacity inside Ukraine," the official said.
The official said that all Russian ground troops are currently concentrated in eastern and southern Ukraine, but the US cannot pinpoint exactly how the new BTGs are distributed.
In preparation for a new kind of fighting in the open plains of southeastern Ukraine, right next to Russia, the US is providing Kyiv with the kinds of high-firepower capabilities that some officials in the Biden administration viewed as a risk. too big climbing a few weeks ago.
The new $800 million weapons package represents the clearest sign to date that the war in Ukraine is changing, and with it, the weapons Ukraine will need if it hopes to continue holding back a regrouping and resupplying Russian military. after their initial failures in the first weeks of the war.
The Biden administration announced that the new package included 11 Mi-17 helicopters – which had initially been destined for Afghanistan – 18 more 155mm Howitzer cannons and 300 Switchblade drones, as well as radar systems capable of tracking incoming fire and locating its origin.
This package differs from the previous aid in part because this delivery includes more sophisticated and heavier weaponry than previous shipments.
A US official told CNN last week that this is due to changes on the ground, arguing that because Russia, which was unable to capture Kyiv, has changed its strategy to concentrate forces in eastern Ukraine, The United States is also changing its own strategy when it comes to Ukraine.
"The contours of what they need are very different," the US official said.
Several of the weapons systems are complex enough that the Pentagon said it will have to provide training to Ukrainians outside the country, as was previously provided for the Switchblade drones, with the senior defense official saying training in the Howitzers will start "in the next few days."
"We will try to get opportunities for a small number of Ukrainians to become familiar with these systems," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said at a briefing with reporters last week, "but we don't think it's going to be a difficult task." burdensome or lengthy in time or resources".
With information from Nathan Hodge, Kostan Nechyporenko, Oren Liebermann, Jeremy Herb, and Kaitlan Collins.
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