Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 25: Russian forces were closing in on the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv on Friday as the world looked on from a distance except ordering economic sanctions even as the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered full mobilisation of his forces to counter Russia’s military operation launched by Vladimir Putin on Friday.
Media reports from Ukraine said multiple explosions were heard in Kyiv in the early hours of Friday. Zelensky said late Thursday quoting preliminary figures that at least 137 Ukrainians, including soldiers, had been killed since the Russian invasion began early on Thursday, and 316 have been wounded.
Ukrainian military said Russian ‘spies,’ ‘saboteurs’ were seen three miles from Kyiv as “invasion” presses toward Ukrainian capital. Media reports said gunfire are reported from Kyiv’s government headquarters.
In a video message posted on his Facebook account, Zelensky regretted that his country did not receive any military support from any country to stop the “Russian aggression.” He said other states were “afraid” to support Ukraine’s accession to NATO. “No matter how many conversations I had with foreign leaders, I heard a few things. The first is that we are supported. I am grateful to each state that helps us concretely, not just in words. But there is a second — we are left alone to defend our state. Who is ready to fight with us? Honestly — I do not see,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine’s army said on Friday it was “fighting the invading Russian forces” northwest of the capital Kyiv, as Moscow pressed on with its advance on the pro-Western country for a second day. “Airborne assault troops of the Ukrainian armed forces are fighting in the areas of the settlements of Dymer and Invankiv,” Kyiv’s army said on its Facebook page. It said the Russian forces were approaching Kyiv from north and northeast, Ukraine’s army said with rising fears the capital could fall on the second day of Moscow’s offensive.
The soldiers are trying to “bypass” the northern city of Chernigiv — where they were “rebuffed” — to attack Kyiv, the Ukrainian army said. The Kyiv authorities told residents of the north-western Obolon area on Friday to stay off the streets given “active hostilities” were approaching. “In connection with the approach of active hostilities, residents of Obolon district are asked not to go outside,” city council said in an alert.
Russian forces have captured Zmiinyi Island in the Black Sea, where 82 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered to them, Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday. Ukrainian officials have said all 13 border guards deployed on the island south of the port city of Odessa were killed by arms fire from a Russian warship.
Explosions and gunfire erupted in a northern district of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday as invading Russian forces closed in. Pedestrians ran for safety and small arms fire and explosions were heard in the Obolonsky area. The larger blasts could be heard as far away as the city centre. A Ukrainian government adviser said on Friday he expected Russia to try to break into Kyiv during the day. City residents were urged to proceed to shelters due to an air raid alarm.
Russian forces first arrived on the outskirts of Kyiv on Thursday when helicopter-borne troops assaulted an airfield just outside the city, close to Obolonsky. The Ukrainian military claims to have repulsed the attack on the Gostomel airbase, but Russian ground forces have also been pushing down the west bank of the Dnieper river from Belarus.
As they arrived in Obolonsky, within the city, the Ministry of Defence’s Facebook page urged civilians to resist. “We urge citizens to inform us of troop movements, to make Molotov cocktails, and neutralise the enemy,” it said. Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko said at least three people were injured when a rocket hit a multi-story apartment building in Ukraine’s capital on Friday, starting a fire.
Even as Russia claimed no civilian was hit by its raids, Zelenskyy said the Russian military’s claim it was not targeting civilian areas was “a lie.” He said military and civilian areas in Ukraine were both being hit by Russian attacks. Residential areas in Kyiv suffer heavy damage as Russia presses its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital. Ukrainians were taking shelter deep underground in Kyiv’s metro system as Russia’s invasion continues.
World leaders reacted swiftly to the latest developments of the Russian forces marching towards Kyiv with U.S. President Joe Biden announcing additional sanctions against Russian banks, major state-owned enterprises and Russian elites.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephonic conversation with Putin on Thursday night calling for an immediate ceasefire and expressing concerns regarding the safety of the Indian citizens in Ukraine.
The conflict began escalating on February 21, 2022 after Russian President Vladimir Putin granted recognition to two separatist regions in Eastern Ukraine as independent nations and deployed Russian troops near the Ukrainian border as “peace-keeper” in the two regions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday Moscow was ready for talks if Ukraine’s military surrendered, as he insisted that invading forces were looking to free the country from “oppression.”
Zelensky on Friday again urged the European Union to impose tougher sanctions on Russia over its invasion, after the bloc held off hitting Moscow with the full arsenal of punitive measures. “Not all possibilities for sanctions have been exhausted yet. The pressure on Russia must increase,” Zelensky tweeted after talking to EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.
Russia denied carrying out missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday, Russian news agencies cited a defence ministry source as saying, after Ukraine accused Moscow of attacking residential areas. The same source told Russian media that the aircraft downed over Kyiv on Friday morning was a Ukrainian fighter jet hit by friendly fire.
But the Ukraine’s chiefs of staff claimed Russia was using the Gomel airfield in Belarus to line up troops to assault Kyiv due to damage to the Hostomel military airport near the Ukrainian capital. “In order to intimidate the population of Ukraine, the enemy is increasingly choosing to destroy civilian infrastructure and housing,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a Facebook statement.
In view of the latest developments, India was planning special evacuation operations to bring out its citizens stranded in Ukraine. The union government sources said the entire cost of the evacuation operation would be borne by the Government of India. Air India was planning to operate two flights to Romanian capital Bucharest on Friday to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine due to a Russian military offensive, senior government officials said.
Indian nationals who have reached the Ukraine-Romania border by road will be taken to Bucharest by officials of the Indian government so that they can be evacuated in the two Air India flights, they added. The two Air India flights will depart from Bucharest on Saturday, the officials said. Around 20,000 Indians — mainly students — are currently stranded in Ukraine, the officials noted.
Following Britain’s economic sanctions, Russia’s civil aviation authority banned U.K. flights to and over Russia in retaliation to the British ban on Aeroflot flights. Rosaviatsiya said that all flights by the U.K. carriers to Russia as well as transit flights are banned starting Friday. It said the measure was taken in response to the “unfriendly decisions” by the British authorities who banned flights to the U.K. by the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot as part of sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday pledged “further UK support to Ukraine” in a phone call with Zelensky, his office said. “President Zelensky updated the prime minister on the most recent Russian military advances… including the terrible developments in Kyiv,” Downing Street said in a statement. “The prime minister committed to provide further UK support to Ukraine in the coming days.” Britain had said it was ready to provide Ukraine with additional military support, including lethal defensive weapons but Defence Secretary Ben Wallace ruled out sending troops.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said Washington would intervene if Putin moved into NATO countries, stressing that if his Russian counterpart was not stopped now, he would be emboldened. The countries on NATO’s eastern flank, especially the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all have received the first batches of US military troops and equipment.
In the wee hours of Friday, Ukraine said it lost control of the Chernobyl nuclear site, the site of the 1986 disaster, and the staff at the Chernobyl plant had been “taken hostage.” World leaders have decried the invasion and announced sanctions on Russia. China, meanwhile, continues its support of the Kremlin with its customs agency approving imports of wheat from all regions of Russia.
Spain said Friday it had evacuated about 100 of its nationals from Ukraine, including its ambassador to the country and remaining diplomatic staff due to Russia’s military invasion. “The last remaining staff members of the Spanish embassy are leaving” Kyiv including the ambassador, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said. They were evacuated along with “a convoy of around 100 Spanish nationals, who had to leave Kyiv due to the deterioration of security conditions”, he added.
