Wednesday thread on the war in Ukraine. Usually get to this earlier in the day, but had competing assignments today.
Major takeaways from a couple of Pentagon briefings:
Major takeaways from a couple of Pentagon briefings:
In a morning background briefing, a senior U.S. defense official said the Pentagon now assesses that Russia is using "dumb bombs." It marks another example of how they're indiscriminately attacking people in Ukraine.
Right on cue, the images of today's hospital bombing in Mariupol flashed. The senior defense official said they did not yet have an assessment.
The Russians have made some progress toward Kharkiv, the senior U.S. defense official said. "They gained about 20 kilometers over the last 24 hours in terms of proximity."
The situation around Kyiv was the same today. Russians are still stalled near the airport north of the city. Other Russians are attempting to advance from other directions. The city still holds.
Russians are making some progress near the southern city of Mykolaiv, too, the senior U.S. defense official said.
"We estimate that they're about 15 kilometers away, but to the north of Mykolaiv, and they have increased their shelling of the city," he added.
"We estimate that they're about 15 kilometers away, but to the north of Mykolaiv, and they have increased their shelling of the city," he added.
As of Wednesday, the Russians had launched 710 missiles at Ukraine since the start of the invasion two weeks ago. That number continues to climb by a few dozen per day.
Patriot missile batteries have been repositioned in Poland, the senior defense official said. That move was announced Tuesday night, so done deal there. The units are designed to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles.
There was also an on-the-record briefing with @PentagonPresSec this afternoon. Good coverage of that from @karoun here:
washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
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