Washington DC March 4 2022: A senior US defence official has just briefed journalists on how the Pentagon sees the main developments on day nine of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine.
Here are the main points:
Russia has launched more than 500 missiles since the start of the invasion and 92% of Russia’s pre-staged combat power is now inside Ukraine
However, the airspace over Ukraine continues to be contested
The main advance of Russian forces north of Kyiv are still about 25km (16 miles) outside the city
Russian forces are about 10km from the city centres of Chernihiv and Kharkiv
In the south, heavy fighting is still being observed in Kherson, which has reportedly fallen to Russian control – a claim US officials were not in a position to dispute
There is now fighting inside Mykolaiv, to the north-east of Odessa
The US does not assess Russians are in Mariupol – but Moscow does intend to surround Mariupol from north and from the coast.
The assault on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant demonstrates the “recklessness” of the Russian invasion, but there is no radioactive leakage so far from the plant, according to US assessments.
