Kyiv officials have warned residents that street fighting against Russian forces has begun and urged people to seek shelter, while the country’s President has refused a US offer to help him evacuate.
Key points:
- Invading Russian forces closed in on Kyiv on Friday, in an apparent encircling movement
- A number of cities in Ukraine were reportedly hit by Russian Kalibr cruise missiles
- Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding it stop attacking Ukraine
The warning issued on Saturday advised residents to remain in shelters, avoid going near windows or balconies, and to take precautions against being hit by debris or bullets.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military command said areas near the cities of Sumy, Poltava and Mariupol were hit by air strikes on Friday, with Russian Kalibr cruise missiles launched at the country from the Black Sea.
On Saturday morning, Russian and Ukrainian forces clashed on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier that Russian troops would attempt to take Kyiv before dawn, warning the nation’s fighters to be on alert and saying: “We cannot lose the capital.”
Mr Zelenskyy warned the nation to stay on its guard.
“This night will be more difficult than the day. Many cities of our state are under attack,” he said in a video address.
“Special attention on Kyiv — we cannot lose the capital,” he added.
“Tonight they will attempt a storming” of the capital, he added in an apparent reference to Kyiv.
The Ukrainian military said in a Facebook post on Saturday that Russian troops attacked an army base in Kyiv but the assault was repelled.
Separately, the Interfax Ukraine agency said Russian soldiers were trying to capture one of the city’s electricity generating stations.
The air force command reported heavy fighting near the air base at Vasylkiv, southwest of the capital, which it said was under attack from Russian paratroopers.
The Russian military laid claim on Friday to the southern Ukraine city of Melitopol.
Still, it was unclear how much of Ukraine was still under Kyiv’s control and how much or little Russian forces had seized.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin unleashed a full-scale invasion on Thursday that has killed dozens of people, forced more than 100,000 to flee Ukraine, according to the UN, and sparked fears of a new cold war in Europe.
NATO bolsters eastern nations
As fighting persisted, Ukraine’s military said it had shot down an II-76 Russian transport plane carrying paratroopers near Vasylkiv, a city 40 kilometres south of Kyiv, an account confirmed by a senior American intelligence official, according to the Associated Press.
It was unclear how many were on board. Transport planes can carry up to 125 paratroopers.
US President Joe Biden and his NATO partners (shown in green in the map below) agreed to send thousands of troops to help protect allies along the alliance’s eastern edge.
Mr Biden spoke later with Mr Zelenskyy to convey his support and “commended the brave actions of the Ukrainian people who were fighting to defend their country”, the White House said.
Mr Zelenskyy told European Union leaders in a video call from his bunker late on Thursday that amid growing signs that Russia aimed to overthrow him, it might be the last time they saw him alive.
But on Friday Mr Zelenskyy released a video of himself and his senior aides outside the presidential office in Kyiv to reassure Ukrainians that he and other top officials would stay in the capital.
Mr Zelenskyy was urged to evacuate Kyiv at the behest of the US government but turned down the offer, according to a senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation.
The official quoted the President as saying, “The fight is here,” and he needed anti-tank ammunition but “not a ride”.
The Russian assault, anticipated for weeks by the West, amounts to Europe’s largest ground conflict since World War II.
In a window into how the increasingly isolated Mr Putin views Ukraine and its leadership, he urged Ukraine’s military to surrender, saying: “We would find it easier to agree with you than with that gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis who have holed up in Kyiv and have taken the entire Ukrainian people hostage.”
Mr Putin has not disclosed his ultimate plans for Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: “We want to allow the Ukrainian people to determine its own fate”.
Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia recognised Mr Zelenskyy as the President, but would not say how long the Russian invasion could last.
Russia vetoes UN Security Council resolution
Western countries have announced a barrage of sanctions on Russia, including blacklisting its banks and banning technology exports.
But they have stopped short of forcing it out of the SWIFT system for international bank payments.
The US imposed sanctions on Mr Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
The EU and Britain earlier froze any assets Mr Putin and Mr Lavrov held in their territory. Canada took similar steps.
Sports leagues moved to punish Russia, and even the Eurovision song contest banned the nation from the May finals in Italy.
Through it all, Russia remained unbowed, vetoing a UN Security Council resolution demanding that it stop attacking Ukraine and withdraw troops immediately.
The veto was expected, but the US and its supporters argued that the effort would highlight Moscow’s international isolation.
The 11-1 vote, with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining, showed significant but not total opposition to Russia’s invasion of its smaller, militarily weaker neighbour.
“We are united behind Ukraine and its people, despite a reckless, irresponsible permanent member of the Security Council abusing its power to attack its neighbour and subvert the UN and our international system,” US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after Russia cast its veto.
Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia thanked the Security Council members who did not support the draft, which he described as anti-Russian.
“Your draft resolution is nothing other than yet another brutal, inhumane move in this Ukrainian chessboard,” Mr Nebenzia said.
ABC/wires
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