Russia has launched “nearly 670” missiles since the invasion of Ukraine began, a senior US defense official told reporters on Tuesday.
According to the official, almost half of the missiles fired were fired from Russia, “the other half – mainly from the territory of Ukraine.” According to the official, “just over 70” missiles were fired from Belarus, and “only half a dozen or so” from the Black Sea.
Putin has “nearly 100 percent” of the combat power he built up for this invasion of Ukraine, and Putin “still has 95 percent of the combat power he started with,” the official added.
“The combat power available to him, if you count his estimated losses only in terms of aircraft and vehicles that are either inoperable, not moving, or inaccessible to him, he still has a lot of combat power available,” the official said.
According to the official, most of Ukraine is covered by “some kind of Russian anti-aircraft missile systems.”
“A very small part of Ukraine’s territory is not covered by any Russian anti-aircraft missile capability, and they also carry out offensive air strikes with aircraft-launched missiles as well as mobile launchers,” the official said.
Although the Russians have more control over airspace in some parts of the country, “in the north more than anywhere else”, the official said, they do not control the entire country and overall the space remains contested.
“This is a very contentious airspace and, as I said, the Russians have not achieved air superiority over the entire country,” the official said. “But, as I said, there are parts of Ukraine where the Russians have been able to control the airspace better, especially, as you can imagine, in the north more than anywhere else, but this is changing, it is very dynamic. , daily.”