Dozens of people were reported killed after Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday
Kyiv:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday vowed to stay in Kyiv as his troops battle Russian invaders advancing on the capital in the biggest assault on a European country since World War Two. .
Russia launched the invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday following President Vladimir Putin’s declaration of war. An estimated 100,000 people fled as explosions and gunfire rocked major cities. Dozens of people were killed.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials say Russia aims to capture Kyiv and overthrow the government. Russia on Thursday seized the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant north of Kyiv, along the shortest route to the Belarusian capital, where Moscow has deployed troops.
“The enemy has marked me as the number one target,” Zelensky warned in a video message. “My family is the number two target. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by killing the head of state.”
“I will stay in the capital. My family is also in Ukraine.”
Putin said that Russia was carrying out “a special military operation” to protect people, including Russian citizens, from “genocide” in Ukraine – an allegation the West calls baseless propaganda keep.
When asked if he was concerned about Zelensky’s safety, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS: “To the best of my knowledge, President Zelensky is still in Ukraine after his duties and of course we worry for the safety of all our friends. in Ukraine – government officials and others.”
PENALTIES, MILITARY PROGRESSION
A democratic country with 44 million inhabitants, Ukraine is the largest country in Europe by area after Russia. It voted for independence when the Soviet Union collapsed and has recently stepped up efforts to join the military alliance NATO and the European Union, an aspiration that angers Moscow.
For months, Putin denied that he was planning an invasion, even as the United States warned an attack was looming and shared satellite images of Russian forces gathering in the area. Ukrainian border.
The US, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union on Thursday announced additional sanctions against Russia following those imposed earlier this week, aimed at freezing banks, the government’s government government and its elite out of the global financial system.
Russia is one of the world’s largest energy producers, and both the country and Ukraine are among the top grain exporters. War and sanctions will disrupt economies around the world already facing crises as they emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.
Washington and other NATO members have sent military aid to Ukraine but have made no move to fight alongside Ukrainian forces for fear of sparking a wider European conflict.
Zelensky on Friday said 137 service members and civilians were killed in the fighting, with hundreds more injured. Ukrainian officials had earlier reported that at least 70 people had been killed.
About 90 kilometers (60 mi) north of Kyiv, Chernobyl was taken over by armed forces without a trace of who disarmed a Ukrainian military unit guarding the station, the governing body Ukraine’s state nuclear agency said.
The regulator said there were no casualties, nothing was destroyed and radiation levels were unchanged. The International Atomic Energy Agency has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it has lost control of the plant.
With fierce fighting reported on multiple fronts, the United Nations Security Council will vote on Friday on a draft resolution condemning the Russian invasion and demanding an immediate withdrawal of its troops.
However, Moscow could veto the measure and it is not clear how China, which has denied calling Russia an invasion, will vote.
The invasion has drawn protest protests in the United States, Europe and inside Russia itself, where authorities arrested hundreds of protesters on Thursday.
Dmitry Muratov, a Russian newspaper editor who won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, told the BBC in an interview that February 24, the day of the invasion, will be the day “Russia’s future is taken away from us.” from it”.
“Our peace-loving Russians will now feel the world’s hatred because we are starting a third world war in the heart of Europe.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
