but kyiv is big and it is sprawling and the defenders have many advantages which they are using. problems for the russians include rivers, notjust the mighty dnipro running through kyiv, but its tributaries and large areas of marshland that can hold up and bog down armies. at their headquarters, the generals running kyiv�*s defence invited us to their war room and they sounded confident, like their president. they are tracking the two main russian thrusts, from the east and from the north—west, which they said are being attacked and have barely moved. we have heard a lot about this long russian convoy that was to the north—west of the city — what has happened to that? translation: that was a week ago, the big column, _ our military hit it. they moved a bit but they never did anything that we felt in kyiv.