Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday accused the Russian army of targeting civilian areas in Kiev, hailing the “heroism” of Ukrainians in the face of the Russian invasion and assuring that his soldiers were doing “everything possible” to defend the country .
“That night they started shelling civilian neighborhoods. It reminds us of (the Nazi offensive) of 1941,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video posted on social media, pronouncing this sentence in Russian to the attention of Russian citizens.
The Russian authorities “say that civilian areas are not targets, but this is yet another of their lies. In reality, they make no distinction,” ati said again in Ukrainian.
Two loud detonations were heard Friday at dawn in the center of Kiev, according to an AFP journalist. The Ukrainian army indicated that “missile fire” was aimed at Kiev, specifying that it had destroyed two in flight.
According to the mayor of the city, Vitali Klitschko, there are at least three injured, one of them seriously, in a residential area in the southeast of the Ukrainian capital.
“Ukrainians are showing heroism,” Mr. Zelensky said. When launching the invasion on Thursday, the Russians “thought our forces were tired, but we are not tired,” he said.
“All (Ukrainian) forces are doing everything possible” to defend Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky underlined.
He also felt that Russia should “talk” to Ukraine “sooner or later” to end the fighting.
“Russia will have to talk to us sooner or later. Talk about how we can end the fighting and stop the invasion. The sooner this conversation begins, the smaller the losses will be for Russia itself,” assured Volodymyr Zelensky.
Addressing Russians who demonstrated against the war on Thursday, leading to hundreds of arrests, he told them: “We see you, that means you heard us and you believe us. Fight for us, fight against the war”.
The Russian invasion began at dawn on Thursday, after Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of pro-Russian Ukrainian separatist territories in eastern Ukraine on Monday.