Russians targeting civilians, closing in on Kharkiv: US Defense official
The Russians are targeting civilians and Russian military forces are closing in on Kharkiv, while convoy remains "stalled," a U.S. Defense official told reporters on Thursday.
"Clearly they've shown a willingness to hit civilian infrastructure on purpose, and that you see in the example of media towers and media facilities," the official said.
The Russians have also been hitting government infrastructure in cities like Kyiv and Kharkiv, the official said.
The Russian advance on Kyiv is still "stalled" and is roughly 25K north of the city, which is where it was "about two to three days ago," the official said.
"We believe that their movement has stalled for many reasons, including the Ukrainian resistance, their own logistics and sustainment challenges that they've had, as well as ... certainly it could be possible that the weather is not cooperating. And ... lastly, because we think to some degree they are doing some reassessment of their own," the official said.
Russian forces are closing in on Kharkiv, according to the official.
The official couldn't confirm that Kherson has fallen under Russian control.
The official said one possibility as to why Russia advanced on Kherson is the Russians intend to move past Kherson to the town of Mykolayiv to be in position to move on Odessa from sea and land.
So far, the U.S. hasn't seen any naval moves near Odessa, but they are watching closely, according to the official.
Mariupol is still under Ukrainian control though the city is under increasing bombardment as Russian forces attempt to advance on the city "from the north as well as from the coastline northeast of Berdyansk," according to the official.
Approximately 90% of the more than 150,000 Russian forces that were arrayed at the border are inside Ukraine, according to the official. This is up from an estimated 82% on Wednesday.
As of Thursday morning, the U.S. has counted more than 480 Russian missile launches.
The official said a majority of the Russian missiles are being launched from within Ukraine.
"They have mobile systems, they're moving them inside," the official said. "The next biggest chunk are coming from Russia, more than 160 from Russia. More than 70 are coming from Bellarus. And then a very small number, less than 10, that we've observed coming from the Black Sea."
The official said the Ukrainians "still have a majority of their air and missile defense capabilities available to them."
-ABC News' Matt Seyler
