The Russian military has launched hundreds of missiles at Ukrainian targets in the past week, with the majority aimed at civilian targets, a senior U.S. military official said Friday.
“Since the attack at the Kerch Strait Bridge last week, we’ve seen the Russians continue to retaliate. The use of precision guided munitions in a very imprecise way has continued over the course of the week,” the official told reporters. “I think it’s fair to say we’re in the hundreds in terms of the number of missiles that the Russians have launched against Ukrainian targets.”
In most cases, the missiles have been used “in a deliberate way” on civilian areas and infrastructure, including bridges or power systems, according to the Pentagon.
Kremlin forces have hammered the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and other cities with a barrage of missile strikes since Monday after an explosion over the weekend damaged the bridge connecting Russia and the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula.
Earlier on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said there wasn’t a need for more “massive” strikes against Ukraine “at least for now,” and that he had no regrets initiating the strikes, CNN reported.
Despite the rain of missiles on its cities, Ukraine has continued to make gains in its war with Russia, almost in its eighth month.
The senior military official said Ukraine’s forces continue to make incremental gains in the north, central and southern part of the country as part of a so-far successful offensive that began at the start of September.
“There are some very minor incremental gains, really all the way from the northern portion of the Kharkiv area of operation down towards Lyman, but really limited in terms of movement this week,” the official said.
“Not a lot of advancement, but some. We’re talking kilometers,” the official added.