"These weapons were designed to take on targets of strategic importance, but Russia continues to expend them in large numbers," the assessment said. Moscow also fielded the core elements of six armies yet achieved only tactical success in the city of Sieverodonetsk.
"The Russian armed forces are increasingly hollowed out," the assessment says. "They currently accept a level of degraded combat effectiveness, which is probably unsustainable in the long term."
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that it added 25 people to the list of Americans banned from entering Russia "as a response to the ever-expanding U.S. sanctions against Russian political and public figures." Included are first lady Jill Biden and the couple's daughter Ashley. The president was included on a previous list. The latest list also includes four senators the ministry blames for "the formation of the Russophobic course" in Congress. They are Republicans Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins and Ben Sasse and Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand.
"It just goes to show you that the Russian capacity for these kinds of cynical moves is basically bottomless," national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. "So it probably shouldn't come as a surprise to any of us that they would do something like this."
The U.S. and other countries have hit numerous Russian oligarchs with sanctions that have led to seizure of massive yachts and other property.
Kherson Mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev has been abducted by Russian forces that occupy the southern city of almost 300,000, a mayoral adviser said. Halyna Liashevska said the mayor had remained in the city after the Russians swept in out of a sense of duty to his constituents. Russian forces have routinely abducted pro-Ukrainian activists and other public figures in the cities it overruns. Kolykhaiev was escorted out of his office in handcuffs, Liashevska said.
Control of the region gives Russia a crucial "land bridge" connecting Russia to Crimea, which Russia took from Ukraine in 2014. Separatists have called for a referendum aimed at leaving Ukraine to become a part of Russia.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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