Kyiv:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday vowed to remain in Kiev as his troops fought against Russian invaders advancing towards the capital in the biggest attack on a European state since World War II.
Russia launched its invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday following a declaration of war by President Vladimir Putin. An estimated 100,000 people were displaced when major cities were hit by explosions and gunfire. Dozens of deaths have been reported.
US and Ukrainian officials say Russia aims to capture Kiev and overthrow the government. Russia on Thursday captured the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant north of Kiev, along the shortest route to the capital from Belarus, where Moscow has stationed troops.
“(The) enemy has marked me as the number one target,” Zelensky warned in a video message. “My family is target number two. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state.”
“I’m staying in the capital. My family is also in Ukraine.”
Putin says Russia is conducting “a special military operation” to protect people, including Russian civilians, who are victims of “genocide” in Ukraine – an accusation the West calls baseless propaganda.
Asked if he was concerned about Zelensky’s security, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS: “As far as I know, President Zelensky will remain in his post in Ukraine, and of course we are concerned about security.” from all our friends in Ukraine – government officials and others.”
SANCTIONS, MILITARY PROGRESS
Ukraine is a democratic nation with 44 million inhabitants and is the largest country in Europe in terms of area, after Russia itself. It voted for independence at the fall of the Soviet Union and has recently stepped up its efforts to join the NATO-European Union military alliance, ambitions that infuriate Moscow.
Putin denied for months that he was planning an invasion, while the United States warned that an attack was imminent and shared satellite images of Russian troops gathering on Ukraine’s borders.
The United States, Britain, Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union on Thursday announced additional sanctions against Russia, on top of those imposed earlier this week, targeting the country’s banks, government and elites. global financial system to freeze.
Russia is one of the world’s largest energy producers and both Russia and Ukraine are among the largest grain exporters. War and sanctions will disrupt economies around the world that are already facing a crisis as they emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.
Washington and other NATO members have sent military aid to Ukraine, but there is no movement to send troops to fight alongside Ukrainian forces for fear of sparking wider European conflict.
Zelensky said Friday that 137 military personnel and civilians have been killed in the fighting so far, while hundreds more have been injured. Ukrainian officials had previously reported at least 70 deaths.
About 90 km (60 miles) north of Kiev, Chernobyl has been taken by unidentified forces that disarmed a Ukrainian military unit guarding the station, Ukraine’s nuclear regulator said.
The regulator said there were no casualties, nothing was destroyed and radiation levels were unchanged. It informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it had lost control of the plant, it added.
With heavy fighting reported on multiple fronts, the United Nations Security Council will vote Friday on a draft resolution that would condemn the Russian invasion and require Moscow’s immediate withdrawal.
Moscow can veto the measure, however, and it was unclear how China, which has declined to call the Russian move an invasion, would vote.
The invasion sparked protests in the United States, Europe and in Russia itself, where authorities detained hundreds of protesters who took to the streets on Thursday.
Dmitry Muratov, a Russian newspaper editor who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, told the BBC in an interview that February 24, the day of the invasion, would end as the day “the future of Russia was taken from it”.
“Our peace-loving Russian people will now feel the hatred of the world because we are starting a third world war in the center of Europe.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)