KYIV — Ukrainian soldiers repulsed a
Russian attack
in the capital, the military said Saturday after a defiant President Volodymyr
Zelensky vowed his pro-Western country would not be bowed by Moscow.
اضافة اعلان
“I am here. We will not lay down any weapons. We will defend our
state, because our weapons are our truth,” Zelensky said, as Russia said it had
fired cruise missiles at Ukraine’s military infrastructure.
Wearing olive green military-style clothing
and looking tired but determined,
Zelensky said: “Our truth is that this is our
land, our country, our children and we will protect all of this. This is what I
wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine!”
It was the third day since Russian leader
Vladimir Putin unleashed a full-scale invasion that has killed dozens of
people, forced more than 50,000 to flee Ukraine in just 48 hours and sparked
fears of a wider conflict in Europe.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned that
the world must brace for a long war.
“This crisis will last, this war will last
and all the crises that come with it will have lasting consequences,”
Macron said at an agriculture fair in France.
A high-rise apartment block was hit by
shelling overnight in Kyiv as the fighting raged, emergency services said.
The authorities said the number of victims
was “being specified” and that an evacuation was underway.
They posted a picture online of the tower
block with a hole covering at least five floors blasted into the side and
rubble strewn across the street below.
“Heavy fighting continues,” the
State Special Communications Service of Ukraine posted on its telegram account around 0330
GMT.
Earlier Saturday, Ukraine’s military said
Russia had “attacked one of the military units on Victory Avenue in Kyiv” but
that the assault had been “repulsed”.
It also reported another incident northwest
of the capital.
Kyiv said 137 people, including soldiers and
civilians, have been killed.
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry said “two
enemy targets were shot down” – identifying them as a Russian SU-25 helicopter
and a military bomber – near the separatist zone in the east.
A Russian transport plane had also been
“knocked down” near Vasylkiv, a town roughly 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest
of Kyiv, the ministry added on its official Facebook page.
Earlier, small arms fire and explosions were
heard in the capital’s northern district Obolonsky as what appeared to be an
advance party of
Russia’s invasion force left a trail of destruction.
Ukrainian forces reported fighting with
Russian armored units in two locations between 40-80 kilometers north of Kyiv.
The Ukrainian defense ministry said 2,800
Russian soldiers had been killed, without providing evidence. Moscow has yet to report on casualties.
The
United States, Canada, Britain and the
European Union doled out further sanctions on Russia on Friday, including
against Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The EU foreign policy chief
Josep Borrell called it the “harshest” package ever drawn up by the bloc.
The UK government ordered all assets of both
men frozen while the United States and
Canada will also impose sanctions on the
pair, with Washington including a travel ban.
Russia said the sanctions against the pair
were “a demonstration of the complete impotence of the foreign policy” of the
West.
“We have reached the line after which the
point of no return begins,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria
Zakharova said.
Moscow also vetoed a UN Security Council
resolution that deplored “in the strongest terms” Russia’s invasion, while
China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained.
Putin had earlier described the Ukrainian
government as “terrorists” and “a gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis”, urging
the country’s military to topple Zelensky.
A Kremlin spokesman said Putin was ready to
send a delegation to Belarusian capital Minsk “for talks with a Ukrainian
delegation”.
But the US swiftly dismissed the offer.
After invading Ukraine, “now we see
Moscow suggesting diplomacy take place at the barrel of a gun. This is not real
diplomacy,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
The US-led military alliance
NATO said it was
deploying its rapid response forces for the first time to bolster defenses on
the alliance’s eastern flank.
Despite Zelensky calling on Western allies to
expel Moscow from the
SWIFT banking transfer system, numerous EU countries,
including Germany, Hungary and Italy, have been reluctant over fears Russia
could cut off gas supplies.
Facebook also unveiled new restrictions,
demonetizing Russian state media across its platform.
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