The Russian Defense Ministry said that the first day of the invasion of Ukraine had achieved all its goals.
New Delhi:
Ukrainian forces fought against Russian troops on the streets of the capital Kyiv on Friday as President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of targeting civilians and called for more international sanctions.
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Pedestrians run for safety as fires and small arms explosions break out in the Obolonsky district to the north of Kyiv. Loud explosions could be heard in the city center, where residents endured a tense first night under curfew and the sound of bombings, AFP news agency reported.
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So far, more than 1,000 Russian servicemen have been killed in the Ukraine conflict, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. “Russia has not suffered many casualties in skirmishes in any armed conflict since its inception,” the ministry said.
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The ministry said the clash was provoked by “an enemy reconnaissance and sabotage group”. Russian forces first arrived on the outskirts of Kyiv on Thursday when a wave of helicopter troops hit Gostomel airport just outside the city, near Obolonsky.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to stay in Kyiv as his troops battled Russian invaders in the biggest attack on a European country since World War II. “The enemy has marked me as the number one target,” Zelensky warned in a video message. My family is the number two target. I will stay in the capital. My family is also in Ukraine,” he said.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that Moscow wants to “liberate Ukraine from oppression”. Lavrov said that during a press conference in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to conduct a special military operation to demilitarize and de-fascist Ukraine.
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Russian forces say they have taken control of a vital canal supplying water to Moscow-annexed Crimea, which has been in short supply for the past eight years. Crimea received most of its water from Ukraine’s Dnieper River through the North Crimean Canal until 2014, when Moscow annexed the peninsula and Kyiv authorities blocked the waterway.
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Invasion of Ukraine invited severe economic sanctions against Russia. In a speech from the White House, US President Joe Biden said four more banks – including the two largest banks, Sberbank & VTB – will be punished by Western sanctions. In addition, export controls imposed on sensitive components would “cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports.” Mr. Biden said the penalties would be severe and would have a lasting impact on the Russian economy.
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The US president asserted that there is currently no attempt to impose direct sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is said to have amassed a huge secret fortune over the course of two decades. his reign.
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He said the US will have consultations with India on the crisis in Ukraine. India has a historic and time-tested friendship with Russia. At the same time, the strategic partnership with the United States has grown at an unprecedented rate over the past decade and a half.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin late on Thursday, calling for an “immediate end to violence”. The conversation came hours after Ukraine called on India to intervene urgently.
With input from AFP
