Newsman: The Ukrainian government was still in control of Kyiv Saturday after a night of explosions and gun battles in the streets of the capital, vowing not to lay down its arms against the Russian assault. Russia’s defense ministry claimed to have captured the southern city of Melitopol, with video posted to social media showing a Russian flag flying above a police station in the city.
The British government said it had failed to capture the city of 150,000 as well as any of its major goals in the first days of the conflict. “We can’t see anything to substantiate” the claim that Melitopol had fallen and it still appeared to be “in Ukrainian hands,” British armed forces minister James Heappey told the BBC early Saturday.
“The reality is that the armored columns that were coming down from Belarus and the north that were going to encircle Kyiv are still some way north because they’ve been held up by this incredible Ukrainian resistance,” he said.
The exact progress of Russia’s advance was unclear, but the attack has upended the West’s sense of security. NATO has moved to reinforce its eastern flank after Putin left the world in doubt he was prepared to try and overturn the post-Cold War order. US will provide Ukraine in new $350M military aid package.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has refused to leave the capital despite saying he believes he is the number one target of the Russian attack. Instead he has been posting videos from the streets, urging his people to join him in defiance. He also announced a curfew between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. local time over the weekend, warning that anyone seen on the streets during that time would be considered an enemy combatant due to the presence of Russian sabotage and reconnaissance teams.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday Ukraine is “successfully repelling” Russia’s attacks and that Kyiv and its outskirts are under the control of the Ukrainian military.
Russian forces have advanced close to several cities but except for the southern city of Melitopol do not yet appear to have advanced into them.Ukrainian troops do appear to have managed to hold the Russian forces at bay in intense fighting near Kyiv and in cities in the north, east and south of the country.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday in a televised address, Russia had hoped to install a puppet government in Kyiv but that “we broke their plans.”
“The fighting goes on in many cities of our state, but we know we are defending our country, our land, and our childrens’ future,” he said.
Zelenskyy said the Russian forces are being “severely repulsed” in every city under attack and that in fighting around Kyiv Russia “didn’t gain any advantage,” despite attacking with missiles, fighter jets, drones, artillery, armored vehicles, saboteurs and paratroopers.
Zelensky also said that the international “anti-war coalition is working,” saying Ukraine now has the support of most EU countries to cut Russia off from the SWIFT banking system. He then said he hopes Germany and Hungary will agree, suggesting for now they still have not.
He also again called on ordinary Russians, seeking their help in stopping the war.
“Now I want to be heard in Russia. By absolutely everyone. Thousands of deaths, hundreds of captured, who just can’t grasp what they have been sent to Ukraine for to die and to kill others,” Zelenskyy said. “The faster you tell your authority that the war must be stopped immediately, the more your people will stay alive.”
Russia’s military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.
Thursday’s attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
On Friday, The U.S. said Saturday it was sending an additional $350 million of military assistance to Ukraine, including anti-armor, small arms and other equipment.
The new package of $350 million in assistance to Ukraine will include “anti-armor, small arms and various munitions, body armor, and related equipment in support of Ukraine’s front-line defenders facing down Russia’s unprovoked attack,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
It’s not clear how the equipment will be provided to the Ukrainian military.
He said this brings total U.S. security assistance approved for Ukraine in the last year to $1 billion.
The Ukraine’s health ministry said that 198 people had been killed including three children, with more than 1,000 injured across the country. Russia has not reported any deaths, but the Ukrainian government said Saturday that it had lost as many as 3,000 personnel, more than a dozen aircraft and 102 tanks.
There were no reports that anyone was killed, but Ukraine’s state emergency service said two people were injured and 20 evacuated from the building.
A Russian boat loaded with cars bound for St. Petersburg was seized off the coast of France overnight under new sanctions imposed by the European Union, French maritime officials confirmed to NBC News.
And at the United Nations, a security council resolution condemning Russia’s military aggression was vetoed — by Russia. The council voted 11-1 in favor of the resolution, and Russia was the lone vote against it while three countries abstained.
