Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its third day on Saturday with a number of main Ukrainian cities being hit by Russian missiles and shells as civilians took to underground shelter or fled their houses.
The Ukrainian army mentioned on Saturday morning that its troopers had repelled an assault on the capital Kyiv following experiences of heaving combating and bombing in a single day.
“Final night time was tough, however there aren’t any Russian troops within the metropolis,” Mayor of Kyiv Vitaly Klitschko mentioned on Saturday morning.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video from the middle of Kyiv within the early hours of the morning to disprove rumors that the federal government had already surrendered.
The Ukrainian Protection Ministry mentioned that Russian cruise missiles fired from warships within the Black Sea hit the northeastern cities of Sumy and Poltava in addition to the southern port metropolis of Mariupol, the place officers additionally reported heavy combating on town’s outskirts.
Additional combating was additionally witnessed in or across the cities of Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa, all to the west of Crimea, the Russia-annexed Ukrainian peninsula from which one arm of the Russian invasion was launched.
UN Excessive Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi mentioned on Friday that greater than 50,000 folks had fled the nation already. And experiences on Saturday from Polish officers point out that quantity has greater than doubled.
Learn DW’s newest updates from the continued battle.
How has the West responded?
The EU imposed additional sanctions on Thursday, together with freezing the European property of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his International Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Discussions amongst EU leaders over the choice of kicking Russia out of the worldwide banking switch system SWIFT are nonetheless ongoing, with Germany and Italy each notably blocking such a transfer.
NATO additionally activated its Response Pressure as a defensive measure for the primary time in its historical past amid fears that Moscow that the battle may unfold to neighboring NATO member states.
UN Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres referred to as on Russia to return its troopers “to their barracks.” His feedback got here after Moscow blocked a UN Safety Council decision demanding an finish to the invasion.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Saturday that Europe must be ready as a result of the warfare “will final, and all of the crises that include it is going to have lasting penalties.”
What has Putin mentioned in regards to the invasion?
Putin expressed a willingness to carry “high-level” peace talks with Ukrainian officers, going as far as proposing peace talks in Minsk.
His feedback got here after a telephone name together with his Chinese language counterpart Xi Jinping who expressed assist for a negotiated answer to the battle.
Nonetheless, shortly afterward the Russian President referred to as on the Ukrainian army to overthrow the democratically elected Ukrainian authorities as a situation for peace talks.
Moscow has additionally vowed to retaliate towards Western sanctions.
ab/wmr (dpa, AFP, AP, Reuters)