Burning military vehicles on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, February 26, 2022. Russian forces are launching new strikes against Ukrainian targets across the country, including Kiev.
Efrem Lukatsky / AP
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Efrem Lukatsky / AP
Burning military vehicles on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, February 26, 2022. Russian forces are launching new strikes against Ukrainian targets across the country, including Kiev.
Efrem Lukatsky / AP
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russia launched a wave of attacks into Ukraine targeting airports and fuel facilities in what appeared to be the next phase of an invasion that has been slowed by fierce resistance. . The US and EU have responded with weapons and ammunition for Ukraine’s larger population and strong sanctions aimed at isolating Moscow even further.
Huge explosions lit up the sky early Sunday morning south of the capital Kyiv, where people gathered in homes, underground garages and metro stations in anticipation of a large-scale attack by Russian forces.
According to the office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the mayor of the nearby town of Vasylkiv, the blaze rose into the air before dawn from an oil depot near Zhuliany airport, about 25 miles (40 km) south of the capital.
Zelenskyy’s office also said Russian forces blew up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, prompting the government to warn residents to protect themselves from the smoke by covering windows. with a damp cloth or gauze.
“We will fight as long as it takes to liberate our country,” Zelenskyy declared.
Frightened men, women and children sought safety inside and underground, and the government maintained a 39-hour curfew to keep people out. More than 150,000 Ukrainians have fled to Poland, Moldova and other neighboring countries, and the United Nations warns that number could rise to 4 million if fighting escalates.
President Vladimir Putin has not revealed his final plans, but Western officials believe he is determined to topple the Ukrainian government and replace it with a regime of his own, redrawing Europe’s map and restoring influence of Moscow during the Cold War.
To support Ukraine’s ability to hold out, the United States pledged an additional $350 million in military aid to Ukraine, including anti-tank weapons, armor, and small arms. Germany said it would send missiles and anti-tank weapons to the besieged country and would close its airspace to Russian planes.
The US, the European Union and the UK have agreed to block “selected” Russian banks from the global financial messaging system SWIFT, the money transfer system of more than 11,000 banks and other financial institutions across the globe. worldwide, part of a new round of sanctions aimed at imposing costs on Moscow for the invasion. They also agreed to impose “restrictive measures” on Russia’s central bank.
It is unclear how much territory Russian forces have captured or to what extent their advance has stalled. “The pace of Russia’s advance is likely to slow temporarily due to severe logistical difficulties and strong Ukrainian resistance,” the British Ministry of Defense said.
More than half of Russia’s combat forces concentrated along the Ukrainian border have entered the country, and Moscow must commit to providing more fuel and other support units outside, a senior US defense official said. in Ukraine than originally anticipated. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal US assessments.
A curfew forcing everyone in Kyiv inside was set to last until Monday morning. The relative quiet of the capital was broken sporadically by gunfire.
Fighting on the outskirts of the city shows that small Russian units are trying to clear the way for the main forces. Small groups of Russian troops have been reported inside Kyiv, but Britain and the United States say most of them are 19 miles (30 km) from the city center as of Saturday afternoon.
Russia claims its attack on Ukraine from the north, east and south has only hit military targets, but bridges, schools and residential areas have been hit.
Ukraine’s health minister said on Saturday that 198 people, including three children, had been killed and more than 1,000 others wounded in Europe’s biggest land fighting since World War II. It is unclear if those numbers include both military and civilian casualties.
A rocket has hit a high-rise apartment building in Kyiv’s southwestern suburbs near one of the city’s two passenger airports, leaving a jagged pit of devastated apartments across much of the city. floor. A rescue worker said six civilians were injured.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, said troops in Kyiv were fighting Russian “sabotage groups”. Ukraine says about 200 Russian soldiers have been captured and thousands have been killed.
Markarova said Ukraine is gathering evidence of shelling of residential areas, kindergartens and hospitals to label The Hague as a crime against humanity.
Zelenskyy reiterated his openness to negotiations with Russia in a video message, saying he welcomes offers from Turkey and Azerbaijan to organize diplomatic efforts, which have so far faltered.
The Kremlin has confirmed a phone call between Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev but shows no sign of restarting talks. A day earlier, Zelenskyy offered to negotiate an important Russian request: to give up its ambitions to join NATO.
Putin has sent troops into Ukraine after weeks of denying he intended to do so, and has built a force of nearly 200,000 troops along the country’s borders. He claimed the West did not take Russia’s security concerns seriously about NATO, the Western military alliance Ukraine wanted to join. But he also expressed disdain for Ukraine’s right to exist as an independent state.
This effort has come at a huge cost to Ukraine, and apparently to Russian forces.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Interior Minister, said that Ukrainian artillery fire destroyed a Russian train supplying diesel to the army that was moving towards Kyiv from the east.
The country’s infrastructure ministry said a Russian missile was shot down early Saturday as it headed for the dam of a vast reservoir serving Kyiv. The government also said a Russian convoy was destroyed. Video footage shows soldiers inspecting burned-out vehicles after Ukraine’s 101st brigade reportedly destroyed a column of two light vehicles, two trucks and a tank. Could not verify the claim.
The highways entering Kyiv from the east are dotted with checkpoints manned by Ukrainian troops and youths in civilian clothes wielding automatic rifles. Low-flying planes patrol the skies, though it’s not clear if they’re Russian or Ukrainian.
In addition to Kyiv, the Russian offensive appears to have focused on Ukraine’s economically important coastal regions, from near the Black Sea port of Odesa in the west to as far as the port of Mariupol in the Sea of Azov in the east.
Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol guard bridges and block people off the coast amid fears the Russian navy could launch an attack from the sea.
“I no longer care who wins and who doesn’t,” said Ruzanna Zubenko, whose large family was forced out of their home on the outskirts of Mariupol. “The only important thing is that our kids can grow up smiling and not crying.”
Fighting also broke out in two eastern territories controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Authorities in Donetsk say the city’s hot water supply to some 900,000 people has been suspended due to Ukrainian shelling that damaged the system.
The US government has urged Zelenskyy to evacuate Kyiv as soon as possible but he has rejected the offer, according to a senior US intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation. Zelenskyy released a defiant video recorded on a downtown street, saying he remains in the city.
“We will not lay down our arms. We will defend the country,” he said. “Our weapon is our truth, and our truth is our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of them.”
Hungary and Poland both open their borders to Ukrainians.
Refugees arriving in the Hungarian border town of Zahony say men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave Ukraine.
“My son is not allowed to come. My heart hurts, I’m shaking,” said Vilma Sugar, 68.
At the Polish border crossing at Medyka, several people said they had walked 15 miles (35 km) to reach the border.
“They have no food, no tea, they are standing in the middle of the field, in the street, the children are freezing to death,” Iryna Wikleenko said as she waited for her grandchildren and daughter-in-law on the Polish side. make it pass.
Officials in Kyiv urged residents to stay away from windows to avoid debris or bullets.
Store shelves were sparsely stocked at grocery stores and pharmacies, and people worried how long supplies of food and medicine could last.
The United States and its allies have been beefing up forces on NATO’s eastern flank but have so far ruled out deploying troops to counter Russia. Instead, the US, the European Union and others have imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Russia, freezing the assets of businesses and individuals including Putin and his foreign minister.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, warned that Moscow could respond by rejecting the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty, freezing Western assets and severing diplomatic relations.
“There is no special need to maintain diplomatic relations,” Medvedev said. “We can see each other in binoculars and guns.”
