US: Russia has fired more than 250 missiles at Ukraine
“Most of these launches are short-range ballistic missiles,” the unnamed senior Pentagon official told reporters on Saturday, according to US media reports.
The Russian Defense Ministry official added that the Russians continue to target civilian and residential areas with their missiles.
The Pentagon official also clarified: “We can not say whether the targeting of civilian and residential areas was intentional or not, but no doubt this missile barrage will hit civilian and residential areas.”
The US official explained that until this morning, the US had no sign of Russian forces taking control of Ukrainian cities.
“There have been intermittent power outages in Ukraine, but in general, the Internet is available,” he said.
According to IRNA from Moscow, videos, scenes and reports shown by Russian TV channels in the first place on Russian TV channel 24 today, Saturday and yesterday, indicate that the city of Kiev, the thousand-year-old capital of Ukraine, is in chaos.
Many streets in Kiev are empty and people do not leave their homes for fear of gunfire being heard scattered from different parts of the city and only go to the shops near their homes for essential purchases.
Russia 1 TV channel reported that the shelves of many grocery stores in Kiev are empty and this has created problems for residents to get food.
Russia 24 television broadcast images of the distribution of weapons by the Ukrainian army and the Ministry of Defense among the residents of Kiev, who were given Kalashnikov rifles to those who wished.
The report said that 18,000 weapons were distributed among Kiev residents yesterday.
By order of the mayor of Kiev, the metro of the Ukrainian capital has been closed and trains are closed.
According to the Kiev Metro press office, 46 metro stations are currently used as shelters and people are free to enter.
Criticizing the West’s indifference to Moscow’s security concerns, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that his country recognizes the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics and signed cooperation and friendship agreements with the leaders of those republics at the Kremlin Palace.
In a speech on Russian national television on the morning of Thursday, February 24, Putin announced military action in Donbas and called on Ukrainian forces to lay down their weapons and go home.
Reacting to Putin’s move, US President Joe Biden issued a statement saying the world would hold Russia accountable. Putin has chosen a pre-planned war that will result in catastrophic casualties and human suffering.
The president also spoke after talks with members of the Group of Seven, saying that the Russian military had launched a brutal attack on the Ukrainian people, calling it unreasonable, unnecessary and pre-planned, and calling Vladimir Putin an aggressor. And announced that we would impose new sanctions on Moscow.
The United States has so far imposed sanctions on US banks and financial institutions, as well as the Russian company Stream 2. Washington has also imposed sanctions on President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Grasimov.