After a night of bombings and street fighting, Russian troops on Saturday approached the Ukrainian capital as residents of Kiev sought refuge underground. The country's leader, Zelenskiy, rejected a U.S. withdrawal proposal, insisting he would stay. "The battle is here," Zelenskiy said.
It is unclear how far russian troops have advanced. Ukrainian officials have reported some success in fending off attacks, but fighting near the capital continues. The reported skirmishes on the edge of the city suggest that small Russian forces are trying to clear the way for the main force.
Russia claims its attacks on Ukraine targeted only military targets, but civilian casualties were seen in Europe's largest ground war since World War II.
Mayor Vitaly Klitsko said a missile hit a high-rise apartment building in the city's southwest suburb near one of Kiev's two passenger airports, leaving a jagged hole in several floors. A rescue worker said six civilians were injured.
The mayor extended his two-day curfew from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., which lasted from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Saturdays.
"All civilians on the streets during the curfew will be considered members of enemy sabotage and reconnaissance organizations," Klitchenko said.
The conflict has driven hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians from their homes. More than 120,000 Ukrainians have left the country for Poland, Moldova and other neighboring countries, U.N. officials said.
Saturday's street clashes came after two days of massive airstrikes and missile strikes, with Russian soldiers entering from the north, east and south. The attacks hit bridges, schools and residential areas, killing and injuring hundreds of people.
Ukrainian President Zelens addressed the nation via his smartphone on Saturday, February 26, 2022 in the center of Kiev, Ukraine.
In the fog of war, it is unclear how much Ukraine remains under Ukrainian control and how much Russian troops have captured. The Russian Defense Ministry claims that the Russian military has complete control of the southern city of Melitopol, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) off the coast of the Sea of Azov, and said Russian-backed separatists have made significant progress in the eastern region of Donbass.
However, Ukrainian and Western officials say Ukrainian troops have succeeded in slowing Russia's advance. Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said a Russian missile was shot down before dawn on Saturday while heading to a dam at a huge reservoir serving Kiev.
Western officials believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to overthrow the Ukrainian government and replace it with his own regime. The invasion represents Putin's boldest effort to date to redraw Europe and restore Moscow's cold-war influence. It sparked new international efforts to end the invasion, including direct sanctions against Putin.
Zelenskiy reassured on Saturday that the country's troops would defend against a Russian invasion. In a provocative video recorded on a street in central Kiev, he said he stayed in the city, false claims that the Ukrainian army would lay down its arms.
"We're not going to lay down our arms. We will protect the country," the Ukrainian president said. "Our weapon is our truth, and our truth is that it is our land, our country, our children. We will defend it all. ”
Zelenskiy said in a second video later on Saturday that Moscow's plan to quickly seize the capital and establish a puppet government had not been successful. In an exciting speech, he accused Russian troops of attacking civilian areas and infrastructure.
After the president told European leaders in a phone call Thursday that he was Russia's number one target, his whereabouts have been kept secret and they may never see him again.
According to a senior U.S. intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation, the U.S. government urged Zelenskiy to evacuate Kiev earlier Saturday, but he rejected the offer. The official quoted the president as saying that "the battle is here" and that he needed anti-tank ammunition, but "not free riding".
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was not authorized to speak to the media.
Ukraine's health minister reported on Saturday that 198 people, including three children, had been killed and more than 1,000 injured since Russia's offensive began before dawn on Thursday. It is unclear whether the figure includes military and civilian casualties.
Ukrainian officials say hundreds of Russians were killed in the first few days of the fighting. Russian authorities did not publish casualty figures.
The United Nations estimates that as many as 4 million people could flee if fighting escalates. Refugees arriving in the Hungarian border town of Zakhony say men of combat age are not allowed to leave Ukraine.
"My son was not allowed to come. My heart aches, I'm shaking, I can't calm down, I don't let him come," said Vilma Sugar, 68.
Kiev city officials urged residents to seek shelter, stay out of windows, and take precautions to avoid flying debris or bullets. Many people spend the night in basements, underground car parks and subway stations.
"We were all scared and worried. At that time we didn't know what to do and what would happen in a few days," said 20 Lucy Vashaka, an employee of a small hotel in Kiev.
A British official, James Heappey, minister of armed forces, said that so far the fighting in the capital had been limited to "areas where Russian special forces and paratroopers are very isolated" and that "there is still a way to go near the main armored columns in Kiev".
The United States and other global powers began freezing the assets of Putin and his foreign minister on Friday as part of tougher sanctions against Russia as its incursions spilled into the world economy and energy supplies.
A massive outflow is underway
The U.N. refugee agency said on Saturday that nearly 120,000 people have so far fled Ukraine into Poland and other neighboring countries following the Russian invasion.
The number is rising rapidly as Ukrainians snatch their belongings and flee Russia's deadly attacks on their country, including an attempt to occupy the capital.
Poland has declared its borders open to fleeing Ukrainians, even for those without official documents.
On Saturday, a government official also said the country sent a hospital train to pick up war-wounded people in Mostizka in western Ukraine and take them to Warsaw for treatment.
The hospital train, which departs from the border town of Przemyźr, has five carriages suitable for transporting the wounded and four carriages to provide humanitarian assistance to the Lviv region of Ukraine.
Some Ukrainian men have also reportedly returned to Ukraine from Poland to take up arms against Russian troops.
However, they are the exception, mainly from Ukraine.
"To date, nearly 116,000 have crossed international borders. This could go up and change every minute," said Shabia Mantu, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. "It's very fluid and it changes every hour."
The agency expects as many as 4 million Ukrainians to flee if the situation deteriorates further.
On Saturday, February 26, 2022, a Polish border guard assisted refugees from Ukraine to arrive at the Polish border crossing in Korzova
After Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy on Thursday banned men of military age from leaving the country, most of the people who arrived were women, children and the elderly.
Mantu said most are traveling to neighboring Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, and even some are traveling to Belarus — where some Russian troops are entering Ukraine.
She didn't immediately provide details of the numbers by country, but by far the largest number has arrived in Poland, where about 2 million Ukrainians have settled in recent years to work, and they are known as Russia's first invasion of Ukraine in 2014 to drive it away and look for opportunities in Poland. The booming economies of the EU's neighbors.
The Polish government said Saturday morning that more than 100,000 Ukrainians had crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border in the past 48 hours.
According to polish broadcaster TVN24, at the Medyka crossing, vehicles waiting to enter Poland extend 15 kilometers (9 miles) to Ukraine.