DUBAI: Russia pressed its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital Friday after unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending in troops and tanks from three sides in an attack that could rewrite the global post-Cold War security order.
Explosions sounded before dawn in Kyiv as Western leaders scheduled an emergency meeting and Ukraine’s president pleaded for international help.
The nature of the explosions was not immediately clear, but the blasts came amid signs that the capital and largest Ukrainian city was increasingly threatened following a day of fighting that left more than 100 Ukrainians dead.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the government had information that “subversive groups” were encroaching on the city, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Kyiv “could well be under siege” in what US officials believe is a brazen attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismantle the government and replace it with his own regime.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers on a phone call Thursday evening that Russian mechanized forces that entered from Belarus were about 20 miles from Kyiv, according to a person familiar with the call.
The assault, anticipated for weeks by the US and Western allies and undertaken by Putin in the face of international condemnation and cascading sanctions, amounts to the largest ground war in Europe since World War II.
Russian missiles bombarded cities and military bases in the first day of the attack, and Ukraine officials said they had lost control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
Civilians piled into trains and cars to flee and patrons of a hotel were directed into a shelter as explosions sounded in Kyiv.
“Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself and won’t give up its freedom,” Zelenskyy tweeted. His grasp on power increasingly tenuous, he called Thursday for even more severe sanctions than the ones imposed by Western allies and ordered a full military mobilization that would last 90 days.
Here is a live update of the main developments in Ukraine as they happen. (All timings are in GMT)
10:22: Kremlin says Russia will retaliate against Western sanctions imposed since the invasion.
The news comes as the EU prepares more sanctions against Russia.
10:02: UN condemns the more than 1,800 arrests of anti-war protesters in Russia.
10:00: Saint Petersburg is stripped of hosting this season’s Champions League final after Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. Read the story here.
(FILE/AFP)
09:58: Loud blasts heard in east Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
09:15: Gunfire heard near government district in Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv.
08:57: 82 Ukrainian soldiers surrender in the Black Sea region: Al Arabiya reports citing the Russian Defense Ministry.
08:38: Russia bans British airlines from entering its airspace, including transit flights.
08:21: The Russian defense ministry says it shot down 5 Ukrainian fighterjets and 5 drones.
08:04: Russia’s defense ministry says it will deploy paratroopers to guard Chernobyl power plant, which it took control of on Thursday.
08:03: Russia’s defense ministry says it has destroyed 118 Ukrainian military sites.
07:40: Ukraine army says it is fighting Russian forces outside the capital city
07:13: Federated States of Micronesia breaks ties with Russia over Ukraine war.
07:10: UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace says Russian army has failed to deliver on day 1, adding that it had taken any of its major objectives.
And he said it was estimated that Russia had lost over 450 military personnel. Read the story here
UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. (File/AFP)
06:24: Ukrainian President Zelensky says in a tweet that hjs country needs “effective international assistance.”
06:18: Ukrainian President Zelensky hails his people for their ‘heroism’ in face of Russian advance and urges Russians to protest against #Ukraine war.
He says Russia will have to talk ‘sooner or later.’
05:42: Ukrainian President Zelenskiy says the new sanctions have not convinced Russia to stop its invasion.
05:19: Ukrainian President Zelenskiy says Russia resumed its missile strikes at 4 a.m. local time on Friday.
He added that the Russian strikes were fired on both military and civilian targets.
And he said Russian troops had been stopped from advancing.
04:47: Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba slams what he described as the ‘horrific’ Russian rocket strikes on Kyiv.
04:29: Ukraine’s Central Bank bans operations with Russian ruble, Belarusian ruble
03:38: A Russian missile strike hit a Ukrainian border post in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhya, killing several guards and wounding others, the border guard service said on Friday.
The region has no land border with Russia.
03:30: Sirens rang out in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv early on Friday, a Reuters witness said.
Kyiv has reported dozens of casualties and hundreds of wounded.
The capital Kyiv came under attack on Friday morning, while a missile hit the airport in the city of Rivne in western Ukraine, its mayor said.
03:30: Ukraine says the number of downed Russian fighter planes has reached 16.
03:25: A Ukrainian fighter plane crashes into a residential building in Kyiv, erupting in a ball of flames: the Ukrainian interior ministry said.
02:40 Explosions heard in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
02:31: New US sanctions hit Russian banks, elites; EU list cover financial, energy and transport sectors. Read here.
01:45: French President Emmanuel Macron said the Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to bring us back to age of empires and confrontations.
He held a “frank, direct and quick” phone call with the Russian leader on Thursday to ask him to stop military operations because the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had asked him to.
The French president said there was duplicity on the part of the Russian president, but said it was important to keep the path open for dialogue with Putin.
Speaking at an emergency EU summit in Brussels, Macron said that the bloc was more than just a market of consumers and needed to be a power with energy and defense sovereignty.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron arriving for an emergency European Union summit. (AFP)
01:40: The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen says steps agreed by EU leaders in reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine include financial sanctions, targeting 70% of the Russian banking market and key state owned companies, including in defense. She said the EU will hold the Kremlin accountable.
01:00: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he has discussed the situation in Ukraie with the UAE foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
00:29: Prime Minister Morrison said that Australia will impose further sanctions on Russian individuals.
He also said that its is unacceptable that china is easing trade restrictions with Russia at this time.
00:24, Friday Feb. 25: US Treasury added five more Russian banks to the sanctions list including country’s the two largest, both majority owned by the government, although each faced penalties with differing severity.
