Russian citizens not rushing to help their beleaguered military, Pentagon says

Ordinary Russian citizens have not streamed across the border into Ukraine to help the beleaguered Russian military, the Department of Defense said while increasingly highlighting setbacks to Putin's ambitious 2022 invasion.

"I haven't seen any indications of Russian citizens volunteering spontaneously to go fight in Ukraine," spokesman John Kirby told reporters this week at the Pentagon. 

"But that's sure as heck happening in Ukraine by Ukrainians," he said.

The comments from Kirby come while the Pentagon continues to emphasize problems Russia has encountered in Ukraine. 

"They've used a lot of munitions," Kirby said, adding that Russia has changed tactics based on its lack of military results and may be depleting its supply of weapons.

"What we have seen as they have been frustrated on the ground, they have resorted to more and more long-range fires, as we call it here," he said. "Bombardment by artillery, missiles, rockets. And clearly that's going to have — that's going to show up in an inventory decrement."

The Pentagon contrasted Russian setbacks against its protracted buildup last year of troops along the border. 

"It's quite stunning," Kirby said. "Even for all that power ... they really haven't achieved any of the strategic objectives we think they were after."  

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 24 ordered his forces to invade their western neighbor for what he presumed would be a quick, decisive "special military operation" to "demilitarize" that nation. 

Instead, Russian troops faltered, even while launching devastating artillery and rocket barrages against Ukrainian cities. In the face of heavy attack, Ukraine has maintained a strong defense — including civilians joining the fight. 

"Average citizens, taking up arms, and sometimes even resisting without taking up arms," Kirby said. "It's quite extraordinary."

By contrast, he noted, Russian citizens have not rallied to war.

"I've seen no indications that that's happening on the other side, quite the contrary," Kirby said. "You see this big, fancy rally in an athletic stadium. And which is clearly an orchestrated event by Mr. Putin."

The comment referred to a rally last week in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, where Putin assembled a crowd to cheer his leadership. 

At least one group of civilians who attended the rally have faced backlash. Olympic medalists who appeared on stage alongside Putin were called out by other athletes, or have felt repercussions from sporting bodies. 

Ukrainian ice dancer Oleksandra Nazarova posted on Instagram last week about four Russian skaters who joined the rally.

"Not so long ago we supported them in this difficult Olympic season, now they support the war against us and our country," Nazarova wrote.

Russian swimmer Evgeny Rylov is being investigated for attending the event, and has lost an endorsement from Speedo for taking part in the rally, according to a report. 

The Pentagon additionally took swipes at morale issues within the invasion force. 

"We certainly have indications that morale is a growing problem inside the Russian forces that are fighting in Ukraine," Kirby told reporters. "And as time goes on, and they continue to fail to achieve the progress on the ground that they want to achieve, we've seen increasing indications that morale and unit cohesion is a problem.

"And yes, that absolutely translates into potential military effectiveness issues."

Russian citizens have lost access to independent media reports about the war, Kirby noted.

"So clearly, they aren't getting fully informed about what their military is doing inside Ukraine," he said. 

Kyiv on Thursday announced that it had destroyed a Russian landing ship in the port of Berdyansk, in the Sea of Azov.