President Vladimir Putin has shaken off western and European military intelligence estimating the Russian capabilities in the special military operation in Ukraine, and chances are high the crisis is going to be long-drawn-out.
According to the latest analysis from the US, Russia has launched “nearly 670” missiles since the beginning of their invasion of Ukraine, and almost half of the missiles launched have been fired from Russia.
“The other half largely from inside Ukraine,” the official said in a report by the CNN. “A little bit more than 70” missiles have been fired from Belarus, and “only a half dozen or so” are coming from the Black Sea, the official added.
Putin has “nearly 100 percent” of the combat power that he amassed for this invasion inside of Ukraine and he “still has 95 percent of the combat power that he started with,” the official added.
This is coming after initial intelligence report last week said he had expended up to 5 percent of his combat power, besides the losses of hardware.
“The combat power available to him if you count his estimated losses just in terms of aircraft and vehicles that are either inoperable or not moving or not available to him, he still has a lot of combat power available,” the official said.
Most of Ukraine is covered by “some sort of Russian surface-to-air missile capability,” the official told reporters.
“Very little of the nation of Ukraine is not covered by some sort of Russian surface-to-air missile capability, and they are also conducting offensive air strikes through missiles launched by aircraft as well as by mobile launchers,” the official said.
While Russians have more control of the airspace in some parts of the country, “up in the north more than anywhere else,” they don’t have control over the entire country, and the space overall remains contested, the official said.
“It’s very contested air space, and as I’ve said before, Russians have not achieved air superiority over the whole country,” the official said.
“But as I’ve also said, there are parts of Ukraine where the Russians have been able to be more in control of the airspace, particularly you might imagine, up in the north more than anywhere else, but it changes, it’s very dynamic, every day.”