The latest as of 5:30 a.m. ET Friday:
- Kyiv city council urged residents of the northeastern Obolon district not to go outside due to “the approach of active hostilities.”
- Gunfire heard near government quarter of Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as military reports “saboteur” forces close to city.
- Ukrainian military called on Kyiv residents to prepare Molotov cocktails and to not leave their homes, reports clashes near capital.
- Loud blasts were heard in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Friday, a witness told Reuters, as missile strikes and air raid alerts were reported in a number of cities in Ukraine.
Russian forces threatened the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Friday, the second day of a full-scale invasion that has already seen the resumption of military strikes and more casualties.
Kyiv’s city council urged residents of the northeastern Obolon district not to go outside due to “the approach of active hostilities.”
The military said midday Friday that a group of Russian “spies and saboteurs” was seen in a district of Kyiv about five kilometers north of the city center. Earlier, the military said that Russian forces had seized two Ukrainian military vehicles and some uniforms and were heading toward the city to try to infiltrate under the guise of being locals.
Ukraine’s defence ministry called on Kyiv residents to prepare Molotov cocktails and to not leave their homes.
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Live: World reacts as Russia invades Ukraine
Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for Western allies to help defend Ukraine, accusing the world’s most powerful nations of “watching from afar.”
“This morning we are defending our state alone,” he said in an address to the nation Friday morning.
“Was Russia convinced by yesterday’s sanctions? We hear in our sky and see on our earth that this was not enough.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine early Thursday morning, which has already resulted in over 100 Ukrainian deaths and hundreds of injuries. The West responded with crippling sanctions, but has held back on sending its militaries to join the fight.
Loud blasts were heard in the early morning hours of Friday by people in Kyiv, according to officials and witness reports, as Ukrainian forces battled Russian invaders advancing toward the city.
Air raid sirens were later called, with municipal authorities urging people to go to the nearest shelters.
Blasts were later heard in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv around noon, a witness told Reuters.
Zelenskyy said the missile strikes on Friday were aimed at both military and civilian targets. He claimed Russian ground troops were being held back at multiple points across the country.
Russia’s defense ministry said it had destroyed 118 Ukrainian military infrastructure sites over the past two days.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials say Russia aims to capture Kyiv and topple the government, which Putin regards as a puppet of the United States. Russian troops on Thursday seized the Chernobyl former nuclear power plant north of Kyiv as they advanced along the shortest route to Kyiv from Belarus to the north.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers on a phone call that Russian mechanized forces that entered from Belarus were about 30 kilometres from Kyiv, sources on the call told the Associated Press and CNN.
Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister, told reporters he expected Russian tanks to attack Kyiv later in the day, which he said would be the “hardest” of the invasion. He said the defenders of Kyiv were ready with anti-tank missiles supplied by foreign allies.
Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar later warned that Russian forces would enter areas just outside the capital Kyiv later on Friday. She said Ukrainian army units were defending positions on four fronts despite being outnumbered.
The military said Friday morning a bridge across a river had been destroyed in the area of Ivankiv, about 60 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, amid significant fighting as Ukraine works to keep Russian forces back.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the last time Kyiv had experienced such “horrific” missile strikes was in 1941 during the Second World War, when it was attacked by Nazi Germany.
“Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one,” he said on Twitter.
Herashchenko later said a Russian aircraft had been shot down by anti-aircraft missiles, causing the object to crash into a residential building in Kyiv and set it on fire.
He said some of the loud bangs heard in the city were from the air defense system that shot the aircraft down.
It was unclear whether the aircraft was manned or whether it could be a missile, and reports of casualties varied. Kyiv municipal authorities said at least eight people were injured when the object crashed into the apartment block.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Twitter that three people were hurt, one of them critically, due to a rocket fragment hitting the city.
Air raid sirens were also heard in the city of western Ukrainian city of Lviv, while a missile hit the airport in the city of Rivne in western Ukraine, its mayor said.
Separately, Ukraine’s border guard agency said a missile strike hit a border post in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhya, killing and wounding some guards. The region has no land border with Russia, but is located on the coast of the Azov Sea which the neighbors share.
The military also said it was involved in intense fighting in the city of Sumy in Ukraine’s northeast.
In the separatist region of Luhansk, Ukraine’s state emergency agency said one person had died and buildings were damaged from Russian strikes in the city of Starobilsk.
Officials also said Ukrainian forces managed to hold back Russian forces near Chernihiv, where missile strikes damaged a military airfield on Thursday.
Yet they also warned Russian troops are using Ukrainian military equipment and uniforms to enter the country undetected.
‘Subversive groups’ in Kyiv, Zelenskyy says
Overnight, Zelenskyy said the government had information that “enemy subversive groups” were encroaching on the city. The president vowed he would not leave the capital, even though he said is is Moscow’s “number one target.”
“My family is the number two target,” he said. “They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state.”
“I will stay in the capital. My family is also in Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy ordered a full military mobilization to counter the Russian incursion that will last for 90 days, with the military bringing in weapons that could be picked up by citizens willing to join the fight. Martial law has also been declared throughout Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Kyiv “could well be under siege.” He told ABC News he was “convinced” Russia was aiming to overthrow Ukraine’s democratic government.
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Ukraine orders full military mobilization to counter Russian invasion
Putin says Russia is carrying out “a special military operation” to stop the Ukrainian government from committing genocide against its own people — an accusation the West calls baseless. He also says Ukraine is an illegitimate state whose lands historically belong to Russia.
Western countries including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, as well as Japan and Australia, imposed harsh new sanctions on major Russian banks and state-owned businesses in response.
NATO — whose eastern expansion Putin has fought against for years — said it is mobilizing extra defence forces on its eastern flank near Ukraine in response.
The attacks prompted many Ukrainians to flee to nearby countries, including Poland and Romania, or hide underground in subway stations.
The United Nations Security Council will vote Friday on a draft resolution that would condemn Russia for invading Ukraine and require Moscow to immediately and unconditionally withdraw. Yet the measure is set to fail because Russia, which currently holds the council’s revolving-door presidency, can cast a veto.
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Canada targets Russian elites, major banks in new sanctions amid Ukraine invasion
Zelenskiy said 137 military personnel and civilians had been killed in the fighting, with hundreds wounded. Ukrainian officials had earlier reported at least 70 people killed.
The United States and other NATO members have sent military aid to Ukraine but there is no move to send troops for fear of sparking a wider European conflict.
Foreign Minister Kuleba pleaded for “more weapons to continue fighting … the amount of tanks, armored vehicles, airplanes, helicopters that Russia threw on Ukraine is unimaginable.”
Zelenskyy said he is appealing to eastern European NATO members, including Poland, for an “anti-war coalition” to force Russia to sit at the negotiating table.
He said in his national address that Russia “will have to talk to us sooner or later” about ending hostilities, but vowed to defend Ukraine until those talks occur.
The Kremlin later said it had noted Zelenskyy’s willingness to discuss a neutrality pledge — first floated by one of his advisors — but said Moscow’s views of Kyiv remained unchanged.
–With files from Reuters and the Associated Press
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