Russian rockets cause major damage in central Kyiv

A slew of Russian rockets left apartment complexes damaged, trees fragmented and at least one home on fire in central Kyiv on Wednesday, The New York Times reported.

In a residential area of the Ukrainian capital, the newspaper noted that there were few casualties from the rockets but extensive damage to the area. The Times reported that it looked like Russian Grad missiles had been used in the attack — the first instance of the central part of the city being hit by such missiles — by a launcher system.

The development comes as Russian forces struggle to seize control of the Ukrainian capital. A senior U.S. defense official said on Tuesday that Russia had lost over 10 percent of its combat force in Ukraine as the Russian military struggles to provide more weapons, food and fuel to its soldiers. 

The official told reporters that they had indications that Ukrainian forces “are now able and willing to take back territory that the Russians have taken.”

In an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that Russia had “struggled with logistics” and that officials had seen a “number of missteps” as he assessed the nation’s progress in Ukraine.

“I think, you know, they have not progressed as quickly as they would have liked to. I think they envisioned that they would move rapidly and very quickly, seize the capital city, they’ve not been able to do that,” Austin said. “They’ve struggled with logistics. So we’ve seen a number of missteps along the way.”

“I don’t see, you know, evidence of good employment of tactical intelligence. I don’t see integration of air capability with a ground maneuver,” Austin added. “And so there are a number of things that we would expect to have seen that we just haven’t seen, and the Russians really have had some … presented … some problems. So, many of their assumptions have not proven to be true as they entered this fight.”

The development comes as Russia nears four weeks since the start of its invasion in Ukraine.