administration being asked very pointed questions today about concerns that this conflict could spill over beyond the borders of ukraine. but certainly here in the pentagon tonight and in the intelligence community broadly near in washington, all eyes are on kyiv right now. really growing concern in washington tonight that the ukrainian capital is in real danger of falling in the coming days, that its fate hangs in the balance here. senior biden officials briefed capitol hill lawmakers tonight, telling them that russian forces that had entered into ukraine from the north from belarus are now just 20 kilometers from kyiv, the nation s capital. and of course that briefing was quite a few hours ago. it s possible even that those forces have advanced even since then. you know, the even as western officials i should add say that the ukrainians have put up a stiff resistance against the russians, u.s. defense and intelligence officials have been
attacked by nazi germany. meanwhile, russian forces have been pounding air fields and military bases all across the country. the british intelligence reporting at least 80 strikes since the fighting began. a u.s. source says russia has launched more than 160 missiles. heavy fighting reported in northeastern ukraine as well. video posted on twitter claims to show a military academy on fire. now cnn has witnessed heavy artillery fire in ukraine s second largest city, kharkiv. ukraine s president says at least 137 soldiers have been killed since this invasion began. and he believes the russians are coming after him. translator: according to our information, the enemy has marked me as target number one. my family is target number two. they want to destroy ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. we have information that enemy sabotage groups have entered
the dramatic video you see there shows one of the anti-missile systems shooting a rocket out of the sky. we re also hearing ukrainian troops blew up a bridge to keep a column of russian troops from advancing on the capital. this is on the outskirts of the city. t some 800 casualties on russian forces, it s not clear if it s deaths or injuries and we can t independently confirm it. ukrainian says it has destroyed more than 30 russian tanks and has lost 137 of its own troops. again, we cannot confirm those numbers independently. meanwhile, russia has been targeting numerous cities and military facilities since this invasion began with forces still pushing across the border as we speak. we re told some units are moving towards kyiv. the goal surrounding it, at least initially. perhaps going in after that. we just don t know.
ballistic or cruise missiles over the past several hours. cnn crews have heard multiple loud explosions there. a ukrainian government video showing an apartment building on fire. it is unclear, what caused the blaze. the explosions came after ukraine said it had inflicted 800 casualties among russian forces. cnn couldn t independently verify that claim. meanwhile, an audiotape has reportedly captured some of the last words from ukrainian troops, who died defending an island in the black sea. snake island was overrun by russian forces on thursday, according to ukraine s border guard. but the reaccocording caught a purported exchange between a russian warship and the ukrainian defenders before the assault. have a listen. [ speaking foreign language ]
initial missile and air strikes were designed to take out strategic targets to weaken the ukrainian air defenses. i think the russians have been largely successful, although there are media reports of one ukrainian fighter which they re calling the ghost of kyiv, which has taken down six russian aircraft. so he is a fighter ace now. but i think the following on from those missile strikes we see continuing, you will see the russians send in their ground forces, and you re already seeing that in fighting around chernobyl and coming from the north from belarus towards kyiv. and behind those initial thrusts are the russian s second and third echelon forces. you have to understand the way the russians fight, a series of echelon forces. the very fact they haven t committed 50% of their deployed forces so far is significant. but a lot of the force is in the