Kiev (agencies)
Russian missiles fell on Kiev yesterday, and families took refuge in shelters, and the authorities asked residents to prepare Molotov cocktails to defend the Ukrainian capital, while Ukrainian forces fought fierce fighting against the Russian army forces in the capital, on the second day of the attack launched by Moscow.
Moscow announced the seizure of the strategic Hostomil Airport northwest of Kiev, confirming the siege of the Ukrainian capital from the west, and the airport will play a decisive role as a starting point for the attack on Kiev, around which the battles have been taking place since the early hours of the war. The Russian claim could not be immediately confirmed, while Ukrainian authorities reported heavy fighting in the airport area. The day after the Russian President launched a massive attack against Ukraine that killed dozens and displaced more than 100,000 people, the Ukrainian authorities seem determined to fight, while the vanguard of the Russian units entered the northern neighborhoods of Kiev, causing the first casualties. A Archyde.com witness confirmed that artillery shells were heard in Kiev, while an AFP reporter saw the body of a civilian on a sidewalk in the residential district of Oblon. Residents reported seeing two bodies that appear to be Russian soldiers, but this information could not be confirmed.
Ukrainian forces announced that they are fighting Russian armored units in two towns located 40 and 80 km north of Kiev. Russian forces were also approaching the capital from the eastern and northeastern sides, according to the Ukrainian army. After many residents fled, the center of the capital, Kiev, which in normal times has three million people and is currently under a curfew, seemed to be a ghost town.
Armed men were stationed, and armored vehicles were deployed at the most prominent crossroads near government buildings. The few passers-by were stopping to chat about the latest developments, while sirens and explosions were heard in the city.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called on civilians in Kiev to “report the movements of the Russians,” and called on them to “make Molotov cocktails.” Russia does not announce the casualties among its forces.
“The city has entered the stage of self-defense, gunshots and explosions reverberate in some neighborhoods, and the vandals have already entered Kiev,” said Vitali Klitschko, the former world heavyweight boxing champion and mayor of Kiev. “The enemy wants to bring our country’s capital to its knees and destroy us.” Ukrainian officials reported that a Russian plane had been shot down and crashed into a building in Kiev during the night, setting it on fire and injuring eight people.
President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Twitter about fierce battles that killed at the entrance to the cities of Chernihiv and Melitopol in the east, as well as in the area of Hostomil airport.
For his part, Adviser to the Ukrainian President, Mikhailo Podolyak, said yesterday that his country still controls the lands attacked by Russian forces. He added, “Russia wants to create chaos and form an interim administration,” noting that the most critical situation is in the cities of Kharkiv, Sovi and Yug.
For its part, the Interfax news agency, quoting the Russian Defense Ministry, reported that Russian forces had isolated the cities of Sumy and Konotop in northeastern Ukraine. It said the forces had captured 211 Ukrainian military targets.
The windows of a 10-storey apartment building near Kiev’s main airport were blown out, where a pre-dawn shell left a two-meter-deep crater. “How can I survive this?” said Oksana Goulenko, as she tried to remove the wreckage of broken glass from her room.
Despite this, the Ukrainian armed forces announced that they had inflicted heavy losses on the Russian side. The Defense Ministry said 2,800 Russian soldiers were “missing”. It was not clear whether the Russian soldiers were killed, injured or captured. The ministry also estimated the destruction of about 80 tanks, more than 500 other military vehicles, 10 fighters and seven helicopters.
It is impossible to confirm the death toll between soldiers and civilians, and the two sides provided conflicting information. Russia says: it has not incurred any major losses.
Ukraine said earlier that more than 1,000 Russian attackers had died. In its latest statement, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stated: “We are strong! Victory will be ours!”
Yesterday, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister condemned the launch of Russian missiles targeting Kiev at dawn yesterday, which wounded at least 3 people. “Terrific launch of Russian missiles on Kiev,” Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter. “The last time our capital witnessed something like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany,” he added. Two powerful explosions were heard at dawn yesterday in the center of Kiev.
The ground forces of the Ukrainian army indicated on their Facebook account that there were “rocket launches” targeting Kiev, stressing that they destroyed two of these missiles while they were in flight. She posted a short video showing a burning apartment building. Hundreds of people were crowded in a shelter under a building in Kiev after a televised warning of air strikes.
Two children draped in their winter coats, ages 5 and 7, fell asleep. Their young mother, Victoria, 35, said: “Is it reasonable to wage war against peaceful people?”
Ola, 40, said: “The children are terrified, crying and asking, Mom, are we all going to die?” Witnesses said the explosions could also be heard in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, near the Russian border, while sirens sounded in Lviv in the west. Authorities reported heavy fighting in the eastern city of Sumy.