Russian forces have failed in their mission to encircle and capture Kyiv, leading to Moscow’s announcement that military action around the Ukrainian capital would be scaled back, the US Department of Defense said on Tuesday.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby made clear during his remarks at a daily press briefing that Russian forces, and concurred with a reporter’s assertion that the Russian military had suffered a “defeat” on the outskirts of Kyiv.

“I said as much in my opening statement. They failed to take Kyiv,” Mr Kirby told reporters.

While adding that he was hesitant to “slap a bumper sticker” on the Russian military campaign as a whole, he went on to assert that the capture of Kyiv was a “key objective” of the Russian effort and that, with few minor exceptions, Russian forces had failed to secure any major objectives around Ukraine in their entirety.

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