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Topics: Ukraine, Russia, World News, Vladimir Putin, Weather
Chloe Rowland
Topics: Ukraine, Russia, World News, Vladimir Putin, Weather
Stranded Russian soldiers could freeze in their tanks as a 40-mile-long convoy remains stuck around 19 miles away from the centre of Kyiv.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin's 'special military operation' enters the two-week mark, warnings have been issued over an estimated 15,000 Russian troops currently stuck in a huge convoy of tanks and military vehicles stalled just outside Kyiv.
A combination of artic air and easterly winds will see Ukraine plunged into a pronounced cold snap over the next few days, with temperatures expected to plummet to around -20°C – conditions that could make the lives of invading forces 'unbelievably tough'.
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Former British Army Major Kevin Price told the Daily Mail that the vehicles could soon become '40-ton freezers' and commented that Arctic-style conditions could serve to demotivate unprepared troops.
'Minus 20C will degrade the Russian force, there is no question. It will improve cross-country mobility because there will be less mud but the Russians are not ready for Arctic conditions,' he said.
Glen Grant, a senior defence expert at the Baltic Security Foundation, also weighed in on the severe cold snap, explaining that Russian troops could be forced to flee to avoid freezing to death.
'A metal tank is just a fridge at night if you are not running the engine,' he warned. 'The [Russian troops] won’t wait, they will get out, start walking to the forest, and give themselves up.'
Emphasising how the soldiers 'aren't stupid', he added: 'You just can’t sit around and wait because if you are in the vehicle you are waiting to be killed.'
In the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance and possible fuel issues, both the UK Defence Ministry and US Defence officials have claimed the stalled column hasn't budged over the past few days, with a senior US defence official telling press on Sunday: 'There does not appear to be any significant movement along the Russian axes,' as per the Independent.
The increasingly-freezing weather conditions not only pose fresh obstacles for Russian troops, but will likely add to the hardship to those desperately fleeing the warzone amid an already tense situation, as several attempts to open humanitarian corridors came to little avail.
More than two million refugees were confirmed to have fled the conflict as of yesterday, March 8, in what the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is calling the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War Two.
If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information