On the third day of the invasion led by Russian President Vladimir Putin, heavy fighting is taking place in Kiev, the capital that has become a ghost town where a curfew was introduced on Saturday until Monday morning.
The Ukrainian army says it destroyed a column of five Russian vehicles, including a tank.
A tall residential building was hit by a missile strike, authorities said, though they did not give a toll.
The metro is at a standstill and now serves as an anti-aircraft “refuge” for the inhabitants.
Ukrainian forces also reported “heavy” fighting 30 km southwest of the capital, where the Russians “are trying to land paratroopers”.
Russian army ‘expands offensive’
The Russian army received the order on Saturday to expand its offensive on Ukraine, “in all directions”, announced the Ministry of Defense.
The Kremlin accused Kiev of preventing a truce on Friday by “refusing negotiations”.
Russian national media have been ordered to remove from their content any reference to civilians killed by the Russian military. Officially, Moscow calls its intervention a “special military operation” intended for “peacekeeping”.
Russia has committed in Ukraine “more than 50%” of the force it has massed on the country’s borders and appears “increasingly frustrated” by the firm resistance of the Ukrainian army, a senior official in the country said on Saturday. Pentagon.
Two hundred civilians killed, 115,000 refugees in Poland
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, for its part, does not give any assessment of its losses.
Poland has announced that 115,000 Ukrainians have already crossed its borders to take refuge there.
Western weapons and aid
“We held our ground and successfully repelled enemy attacks. The 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, ”assured Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky in a video.
Vowing to stay in the capital, he also said that “weapons and equipment from our partners are on their way to Ukraine”.
Washington has thus announced new military aid of 350 million dollars, including “new defensive military means”. Germany, for its part, has confirmed the dispatch of 400 anti-tank rocket launchers to Ukraine, which breaks with its policy of recent years, which consisted of prohibiting the dispatch of lethal weapons to conflict zones.
The Czech Republic will donate machine guns, automatic and sniper rifles, pistols and ammunition.
The Netherlands will also supply missiles and military equipment.
Penalties
Germany said on Saturday it was ready to accept a “targeted restriction” of Russia’s access to the Swift banking system, a key cog in global finance. It was the last European country reluctant to exclude Russia from this system.
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).
Moscow has decided to close its airspace to planes linked to Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic, after a similar decision taken by these three countries against Russian companies.
Romania in turn closed its airspace to Russian airlines on Saturday and repatriated its diplomatic staff from Kiev.