Russia has conducted “more than 450 missile launches,” since the beginning of their invasion of Ukraine, a senior US defense official told reporters on Wednesday.
The missiles being launched include “all stripes and sizes,” the official said, including “short-range, medium-range, surface air missiles, cruise missiles.”
The airspace over Ukraine also remains contested, the official added.
“Ukrainian air and missile defense capabilities remain intact and viable, but then again so do the Russians,” the official said.
There has not been “significant change on the ground” in Ukraine since yesterday, according to a senior defense official, with the US estimating that Russia has committed 82% of its available combat power that had been staged outside Ukraine into the country, just a small increase in the 80% the US estimated had been committed yesterday.
And though there has been “no appreciable movement” of Russian forces advancing on Kyiv since yesterday, Russia has increased its “missiles and artillery targeting the city,” according to the official, including targeting infrastructure in the city.
The official said similarly that while Russian forces are assaulting Cherniv and Kharkiv, there has been “no appreciable movement by the Russians to take either one,” with Russian forces “stalled” outside those cities.
However, Russian forces have made more progress in the south, according to the official, though the US sees the city of Kherson as “contested,” despite Russian claims that they had taken control of the city.
The official said that though there had been no moves on Mariupol by Russia, there were “preliminary indications” Russian forces would try to move on the city from the Donetsk region, with an assault on the city likely from multiple directions.
