Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky released a self-shot video from
central Kyiv on Friday vowing alongside key aides to stay and defend the
capital against the Russian invasion.
اضافة اعلان
"We're all here. Our military is here. Citizens in society are here.
We're all here defending our independence, our country, and it will stay this
way," Zelensky said, standing outside the presidency building.
Wearing olive green military-style clothing and standing with his prime
minister, chief of staff and other senior aides, Zelensky appeared to be
responding to pressure from Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Russian troops clashed briefly with Ukrainian forces for the first time
within Kyiv itself on Friday.
Larger forces are bearing down on the capital and the city was bracing for a
possible night of air strikes.
Meanwhile, in a televised address from Moscow, Putin branded Zelensky's
government "terrorists" and "a gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis",
urging the Ukrainian military to mutiny.
Zelensky has received support from many Western leaders for his
determination to resist Putin's invasion, and European Union chief Charles
Michel embedded the Ukrainian leader's video in a tweet.
"The spirit of a free and democratic Ukraine is strong," Michel
said.
The European Union is about to impose tough new economic penalties on Russia
over the invasion, and Putin himself has been put on a sanctions list for the
first time.
But Kyiv has been pushing
EU and NATO members to do more, in particular through supplying advanced
weaponry and excluding Russia from world financial networks.
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