Amid signs that the war will be prolonged, the US Department of Defense confirmed that the Russian army has lost, since the start of the military operation in Ukraine, nearly 1,000 tanks, 350 artillery systems, 36 warplanes, and 50 helicopters.

On Thursday, a senior official in the ministry told reporters in Washington that the Russian forces lose soldiers on a daily basis, but they hid the numbers.

He also noted that the Russians have 110 combat battalions, explaining that they are making slow progress on the ground, despite having a superior force.

In the Pentagon's daily briefing on Ukraine, he pointed out that the battles are now mainly focused on the center of the Donbass region, in a Russian attempt to isolate it and besiege the Ukrainian forces.

He also continued that there were major battles in the south of the city of Isiyum, and others in the Kherson and Mykolaiv region.

He pointed out that the Russian forces are adding defenses on the Snake Island in the Black Sea to prevent the Ukrainian forces from recovering it, explaining that they have actually succeeded in staying away from the shore and besieging the Ukrainian ports.

He stressed that the Russian forces have abandoned the strategy of large territory attack, as operations have become smaller, and are now following the plan of focused bombing and then moving ground forces after destroying the target.

It is noteworthy that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has entered its fourth month, with fighting intensifying in the east.

Kyiv confirmed that the country is going through a difficult period.  Pointing to the fact that intensity of the battles in the Donbass region has reached its "peak" while Russian forces are still penetrating the industrial areas.

Last March, Moscow launched the second phase of its military operation, focusing on the east, after it failed to capture Kyiv or Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city.

For this purpose, thousands of troops were sent to the region, stationed in three directions, in order to encircle the Ukrainian forces in the city of Severodonetsk, on the eastern bank of the Seversky Donets River, and the opposite city of Lysechansk on the western bank.

While it aims to control the entire Lugansk region with the aim of opening a land corridor linking the east with the Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, despite repeatedly asserting that the goal of that operation is to protect the Russian-speaking population of the Donbass, many of whom are loyal to Russia.