Russian military forces are moving to behead the Ukrainian government in Kiev, the Pentagon said Thursday, grimly evaluating the early stages of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
A senior Defense Ministry official said three lines of Russian troops and military forces are rapidly advancing towards Ukrainian cities, with two of them heading towards Kiev, the capital, and the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Forces are making their way to Kiev from Belarus in the north and Crimea in the south, using rockets and long-range artillery, the official said.
“By our estimation, they have every intention of beheading the government and establishing their own method of government,” the official told reporters at a briefing at the Pentagon. He said the Pentagon does not have “full knowledge” of Russian troop movements, but described what he described as the “initial phase of a large-scale invasion” coming from Belarus and Crimea.
To date, Russian forces have attacked Ukrainian military and air defense installations using more than 100 medium and short-range ballistic missiles. Russia also used sea-launched missiles from warships in the Black Sea, the official said. Until Russia attacked Western Ukraine.
Defense ministry officials said Ukrainian forces were fighting back, with the most intense fighting taking place in Kharkiv in the country’s east.
“We haven’t seen a traditional movement like this, from state to state, since World War II, and if it develops in the way we believe it will happen so far, it has every chance of becoming very bloody, very expensive. and has a very strong impact on European security,” the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make these comments publicly.