UK intelligence says Russian troops in Ukraine ‘largely stalled in place’

An intelligence update by the British Ministry of Defense says that most Russian forces in the invasion of Ukraine are “largely stalled in place.”

The UK says that Russian troops saw “limited progress” on Monday, but a number of Ukrainian cities are still under heavy Russian bombardment.

The statement also says that Ukrainian troops “continue to repulse Russian attempts to occupy the southern city of Mariupol.”

Mariupol has been a key target that has been besieged for more than three weeks and has seen some of the worst suffering of the war.

But no clear, independent picture has emerged of how close its capture might be.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says their forces are still defending the city and have destroyed a Russian patrol boat and electronic warfare complex.

Russia for now controls the land corridor from Crimea, the peninsula it annexed in 2014, and is blocking Ukraine’s access to the Sea of Azov, the ministry says.

“Nobody can tell from the outside if it really is on the verge of being taken,” says Keir Giles, a Russia expert at the British think tank Chatham House.