Russian forces bear down on Kyiv

Ukraine slams West’s inaction as Russian forces bear down on Kyiv

President and foreign minister compare attack to World War II.

BY LILY HYDE, EMMA ANDERSON AND ZOYA SHEFTALOVICH

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused the West of not doing enough to support Ukraine as Russian forces on Friday closed in on Kyiv, a European capital of 3 million people.

Missiles rained down on the city before dawn, causing civilian casualties. That barrage was followed by an incursion into the northern Obolon district of Kyiv by advance units of Russian sabotage troops, who were ultimately killed or captured by Ukrainian soldiers. The Ukrainian army said there was heavy fighting to the northwest of the capital and that a bridge had to be blown up to prevent the advance of a Russian tank column.

Oleksii Arestovych, an adviser to Zelenskiy, said: “Kyiv is preparing for its defense. All the men of Kyiv are invited to join the defense and to arm.”

A POLITICO journalist in the city said air-raid sirens sounded through the morning and that there were repeated explosions. People ran to shelters, while many others tried to flee the city by car, clogging the roads.

Describing the morning missile barrage as “horrific,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba drew comparisons with World War II. “Last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany. Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one.”

Zelenskiy vowed to stay on in Kyiv and lead the resistance to the invasion, saying he had no doubt that Russian President Vladimir Putin was seeking to depose him with the assault of the capital.

“According to the information we have the enemy has marked me as target number 1, my family as target number 2. They want to undermine Ukraine politically by removing the head of state,” he said in an address to the nation, wearing a khaki army top.

He criticized Ukraine’s allies in the West for not doing enough to deter Putin. “This morning we are defending our state alone. Like yesterday, the world’s most powerful forces are watching from afar. Did yesterday’s sanctions convince Russia? We hear in our sky and see on our earth that this was not enough,” he said.

The situation for Kyiv looked grave on Friday morning.

Around 10 a.m., when the sabotage troops pushed into the Obolon district, the ministry of defense implored residents to make Molotov cocktails.

Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar also warned Russian forces appeared to be entering from the west through Vorzel, a suburb of Kyiv. Malyar later warned that Russian troops had captured some Ukrainian equipment and were using it as a ruse to enter the city.

That followed fierce fighting on Thursday when Russian airborne troops battled with Ukrainians for control of an airport at Hostomel, just to the northwest of Kyiv. Ukraine’s government said that the airstrip had been so badly damaged at Hostomel that the Russians were forced to advance more slowly by land. Russian troops were also making advances on the eastern approaches to Kyiv. The Ukrainian military posted a video of heavy fighting in the city of Sumy, while Russian soldiers were also encircling Konotop.

Ukraine’s Interfax news agency quoted an official saying the advance of a tank column had been delayed by blowing up a bridge to the northwest of Kyiv. The Ukrainian government said it had shot down an aircraft, whose wreckage fell into the city.

Zelenskiy insisted Ukraine had not been defeated, claiming its forces had stopped Russian troops from advancing in “most directions.” He said: “It will not be possible to destroy our character. Kalibr missiles are helpless against our freedom.”

The morning barrage against Kyiv came roughly 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale bombardment and invasion of Ukraine, calling on the country to disarm and drop its ambitions to join NATO. Russia claimed its initial attack was devastating, knocking out 74 ground bases and 11 air bases.

The Ukrainian military said it was holding out against the Russian offensive in the east of the country. Overall, Ukrainian forces estimated that they had destroyed more than 30 Russian tanks, up to 130 armored combat vehicles, seven aircraft and six helicopters. U.K. Defense Minister Ben Wallace said Britain’s assessment was that 450 Russian soldiers had died. Britain also said Ukrainian resistance meant Russia had not achieved its first-day targets.

Ukraine’s government confirmed 137 deaths and more than 300 injured. Kyiv also reported that Russian troops had seized the radioactive site of the former Chernobyl nuclear reactor.

“The nature of the military invasion indicates that the main purpose of the Kremlin regime is to block Kyiv, create a land corridor to the occupied Crimean peninsula and a self-proclaimed Transnistria,” the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a note.

A senior U.S. Defense Department official told reporters Thursday that Russia intends to “decapitate” the democratic government in Kyiv. Putin’s forces are “making a move on Kyiv,” the official said, “basically decapitating the government and installing their own method of governance.” 

Zelenskiy has ordered full military mobilization and published a decree forbidding Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country. 

In an address on Thursday just after 11 p.m., he said Russian “saboteurs” had entered Kyiv and vowed not to flee despite having become a target. He questioned the West’s resolve, however, and said: “Who is ready to fight with us? Honestly, I don’t see anyone … They say they are with us but they are not ready to take us in the [NATO] military alliance. All of them are afraid.”

Kyiv’s mayor, the former heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, said he and his brother, fellow Hall of Fame boxer Wladimir Klitschko, would fight to defend their home country, telling British broadcaster ITV, “I don’t have another choice. I have to do that.”