Ukraine Crisis: Over 50% of Russian troops just 30 km away from Kyiv, says US
The US official said advancing Russian forces were roughly 30 kilometers outside Kyiv as of Saturday (February 26), and that an unspecified number of Russian military "reconnaissance elements" had entered the capital.
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New Delhi: A senior US defense official on Saturday (February 26) said the United States estimates that more than 50 per cent of Russian combat power arrayed along Ukraine's borders has entered Ukraine. That is up from a US estimate Friday (February 25) that one-third of the Russian force had been committed to the fight.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal US assessments, would not say how many Russian troops that amounts to inside Ukraine, but the US had estimated the total Russian force arrayed near Ukraine at more than 150,000.
The official said advancing Russian forces were roughly 30 kilometers outside Kyiv as of Saturday (February 26), and that an unspecified number of Russian military "reconnaissance elements" had entered the capital.
Meanwhile, Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, on Saturday (February 26) used its veto power to block a resolution condemning its aggression against Ukraine while the US slapped individual sanctions on Vladimir Putin and his top officials.
The US, which prepared the resolution with Albania, said it knew the resolution was inevitable but the West wanted Moscow to know the state of its isolation.
Meanwhile, India, of which Russia is a strong ally, was joined by China and UAE in abstaining from the said resolution and sought for an immediate cessation of violence as well as the safe evacuation of Indian stranded in Ukraine.
However, the vote on Friday was 11 in favour, with Russia voting no and China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining, which showed significantly but not total opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of his country's smaller and militarily weaker neighbour.
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