Russia fired over 500 missiles into Ukraine, claims Pentagon; NATO warns of 'more deaths'

Russians have fired more than 500 missiles in the week since Ukraine's invasion, Pentagon said on Friday. The troops are closing in on several major cities with a large military convoy about 15 miles away from the capital of Kyiv.

"The days to come are likely to be worse with more death, more suffering, and more destruction," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed similar concerns in meeting with NATO and European allies in Brussels. "We have to sustain this until it stops until the war is over, the Russian forces leave, the Ukrainian people regain their independence," Blinken said.

The United Nations has recorded at least 752 civilian casualties so far across Ukraine, with 227 killed and 525 injured, including scores of children.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Friday after Russia took control of Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Heavy shelling sparked a brief fire, but no event of radiation escaping was reported.

"We've just witnessed a dangerous new escalation," US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, "that represents a dire threat to all of Europe and the world."

Russia poised to deploy up to 1,000 mercenaries to Ukraine

Meanwhile, Russia is poised to deploy up to 1,000 more mercenaries to Ukraine in the coming days and weeks, reported CNN, citing a senior Western intelligence official. He warned that Moscow could "bombard Ukrainian cities into submission," an escalation that would lead to significant civilian casualties.

The US has already seen "some indications" that Russian mercenaries may be involved in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine "in some places," a senior defence official said earlier this week, without stating the exact figures. Now, a US official has stated that Russia is planning to deploy up to 1,000 more mercenaries in the near future.

The mercenary forces would fortify the flagging units, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered its second weekend.

The US believes Russian mercenaries already in Ukraine have "performed poorly when facing resistance from the Ukrainians," and that 200 of them have already been killed in the war as of late February.