The United States has assessed Russian forces to have fired more than 160 missiles into Ukraine, a senior Defense Department official said Thursday.
The Kremlin has launched “in total more than 160 missiles for airstrikes,” fired from a mixture of ground- and naval-based platforms, the official told reporters.
Most of the projectiles fired are short-range ballistic missiles, but the airstrikes also include “a mix of medium-range as well as cruise missiles,” the official said.
They added that the U.S. believes Kremlin troops have pushed closer to Kyiv since this morning, with Russian airborne troops believed to be Ukraine’s in second-largest city.
“We also have seen indications since we last talked of additional airborne troops into Kharkiv” in northeast Ukraine, the official said. “Our assessment is still that there’s active fighting going on there.”
The U.S. has not yet observed “a push deeper or further into the West,” and has seen “occasions that some Ukrainian units are fighting back.”
But they also noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet committed “a large proportion of the forces that he has available.”
Russia invaded Ukraine early in the morning Thursday, Moscow time. Explosions in several of Ukraine’s major cities could be heard following Putin’s announcement that Russia would be conducting a “special military operation” in the former Soviet state.
President Biden announced additional sanctions on Russian banks and elites ties to the Kremlin Thursday afternoon, from a briefing at the White House. Biden said that Putin “chose this war.”