On the third day of the invasion led by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kiev is Saturday morning under fire from Russian missiles.
Heavy fighting is taking place in the capital and in particular on Victory Avenue, one of the main arteries, where the Ukrainian army says it destroyed a column of five Russian vehicles, including a tank.
According to the mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, the night was “difficult” in the capital where there are Russian “sabotage units”, but no regular units yet.
A high-rise residential building was hit by a missile strike, authorities said.
Ukrainian forces also reported “heavy” fighting 30 km southwest of the capital where the Russians “are trying to land paratroopers”.
Russia for its part did not mention any offensive on Kiev, only reporting cruise missile attacks on military infrastructure, advances in the East, where the army supports the separatists of the Donetsk and Lugansk territories, and in the south where Russian forces entered from the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.
Some 200 civilians killed
The Ukrainian government has reported 198 civilians killed, including three children, and more than a thousand wounded since the start of this invasion.
Dozens of soldiers also lost their lives. Russia does not give any assessment of its losses.
For its part, Poland announced on Saturday that 100,000 Ukrainians had already crossed its borders to take refuge from the Russian attack.
Western weapons, according to Zelensky
“We held our ground and successfully repelled enemy attacks. Fighting continues in many cities and regions of the country, but […] it is our army that controls Kiev and the key cities around the capital, ”said Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, in a new video address published in the morning on Facebook.
Mr. Zelensky, who swears he will stay in the capital, also said on Twitter, after a conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, that “weapons and equipment from our partners are on their way to Ukraine”. “The anti-war coalition is working,” he insisted.
The Czech Republic thus announced in the morning that it was going to donate to Ukraine machine guns, automatic and precision rifles, pistols and ammunition, for a value of 7.6 million euros.
The Netherlands has indicated that it will provide missiles and military equipment for “Ukrainian self-defense” against Moscow.
Censorship in Russia
Russia’s media regulator on Saturday ordered national media to remove from their content any reference to civilians killed by the Russian military in Ukraine as well as the terms “invasion”, “offensive” or “declaration of war”. “.
“Only official Russian sources have current and reliable information,” said Roskomnadzor, while officially Moscow calls its intervention in Ukraine a “special military operation” intended for “peacekeeping”.
Penalties
Ukraine’s president on Saturday called on Germany and Hungary to have the “courage” to approve Russia’s exclusion from the SWIFT interbank system, a measure being considered by the European Union in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and towards which Berlin and Budapest are reluctant.
Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, a former Soviet dissident and opponent of Putin, has called on the West to “exclude Russia from global financial markets”.
A commercial boat transporting vehicles to Saint-Petersburg, suspected of belonging to a Russian company targeted by EU sanctions, was diverted to Boulogne-sur-Mer (north-west of France).
Poland announced on Saturday that it was refusing to play the World Cup qualifier against Russia.
Curfew and underground refuge
The mayor of the Ukrainian capital announced on Saturday a toughening of the curfew in place due to the Russian invasion, warning that anyone on the streets between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. would be treated as an enemy.
“All civilians who are on the street during the curfew will be considered members of the enemy’s sabotage and reconnaissance groups,” Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
Imposed in Kiev on Thursday after the start of the Russian offensive, the curfew lasted so far from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Mr. Klitschko also announced that the capital’s metro had now been transformed into a refuge for residents and would no longer provide transport service for the time being.
“The metro has gone into shelter mode,” he wrote in a separate message on Telegram.
Flight to Poland
One hundred thousand Ukrainians have crossed the Polish border since the Russian attack which began on Thursday, Polish Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker announced on Saturday.
“Since the start of war operations in Ukraine and until today, along the entire length of the border with Ukraine, one hundred thousand people have crossed the border, coming from Ukraine to Poland,” Mr. Szefernaker to journalists at the Medyka border post.
According to him, 90% of these refugees have somewhere to go in Poland, with friends or relatives, while the others benefit from the assistance of nine reception centers set up near the border.
They are offered meals, medical assistance if needed, a place to rest and information on what to do.
Polish border guard chief Tomasz Praga said at the same press conference that Friday alone saw nearly 50,000 Ukrainians arrive in Poland.
Before the start of the Russian attack, Poland already had about one and a half million Ukrainians on its territory, the vast majority of whom came to work in this EU member country with its rapidly growing economy.
The government and civil society have expressed strong support for Ukraine and their intention to welcome refugees, while most Ukrainians fleeing the conflict appear to be opting for Poland.
According to a tweet Saturday from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, nearly 116,000 Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries since February 24, mostly to Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia and Romania. “Their number is increasing,” the UN agency said.