WARSAW, POLAND --
Invading Russian forces closed in on Ukraine's capital Friday, in an obvious encircling motion after a barrage of airstrikes on cities and navy bases across the nation.
With rising indicators that Russia goals to overthrow him, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed European Union leaders in a video link-up from his bunker late Thursday that it is likely to be the final time they noticed him alive.
However on Friday Zelenskyy launched a video of himself and his senior aides exterior the presidential workplace in Kyiv to reassure Ukrainians that he and different prime officers would keep within the capital.
He later appealed for cease-fire and warned in a bleak assertion that a number of cities had been underneath assault. "This night time they'll storm," he mentioned.
The assault, anticipated for weeks by the West, quantities to Europe's largest floor battle since World Conflict II as President Vladimir Putin tries to revive Moscow's Chilly Conflict affect. It's unclear how a lot or little Russian forces have seized or the extent of the casualties.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO companions agreed Friday to ship hundreds of troops to assist shield allies alongside the alliance's jap edge. Biden spoke later with Zelenskyy to convey his help and "counseled the courageous actions of the Ukrainian individuals who had been preventing to defend their nation," the White Home mentioned.
Listed below are the issues to know in regards to the battle and the safety disaster in former Soviet-dominated Japanese Europe:
RUSSIAN TROOPS MARCH ON
The Russian navy mentioned Friday it had encircled the cities of Sumy and Konotop in northeastern Ukraine, however was "taking steps to make sure civilians' security."
Protection Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov mentioned Russian forces have thus far knocked out 211 Ukrainian navy installations, together with 17 command facilities, 19 air protection missile techniques, 39 radar items, 67 tanks and 6 warplanes. The Russian navy additionally mentioned it seized a strategic airport exterior Kyiv, permitting it to shortly construct up forces to take the capital.
In the meantime, a senior U.S. protection official mentioned it is estimated that Russia has now launched greater than 200 missiles into Ukraine and a few have hit residential areas, though it was unclear in the event that they had been intentionally focused.
However U.S. protection officers consider the Russian offensive has encountered appreciable resistance and is continuing slower than Moscow had envisioned.
Late Friday, the Russian navy mentioned it has taken over Melitopol, a metropolis close to the Azov Sea. The declare couldn't be independently verified.
TALKS MAY BE ON THE TABLE
Hopes for a negotiated finish to the conflict dimmed on Friday after a tentative settlement to debate Zelenskyy's provide to designate Ukraine a non-aligned nation appeared to interrupt down.
The Kremlin initially mentioned it was able to ship a delegation to Belarus, then later backpedaled, saying it most well-liked to satisfy in Warsaw. Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov prompt it was too late, saying Zelenskyy ought to have agreed to talks earlier on.
However late Friday, Zelenskyy's spokesman Sergii Nikiforov wrote on Fb that the 2 sides are consulting on a spot and time for the talks.
Hungary's overseas minister, Peter Szijjarto, supplied Budapest as a potential location. Additionally writing on Fb, he mentioned he put the proposal to each Russia's and Ukraine's authorities and neither dismissed it.
Earlier than the invasion, the West had rejected Russia's demand to maintain Ukraine out of NATO. Putin used the refusal to justify the invasion, claiming that the West left him no different selection.
CIVILIANS IN HARM'S WAY
Waking to the second day of Russia's invasion, horrified civilians discovered themselves in danger as artillery shells rained down on some residential buildings on Kyiv's outskirts.
Metropolis residents stood uneasily in doorways of house buildings watching armored personnel carriers driving down the streets.
After 8 p.m., a big increase was heard close to Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the sq. in central Kyiv. And the mayor mentioned 5 explosions struck close to a significant energy plant simply exterior the town. The causes of the explosions was not instantly identified.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, mentioned its staffers have thus far verified at the least 25 civilian deaths and 102 injured, principally from shelling and airstrikes.
A spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee company, Shabia Mantoo, mentioned greater than 100,000 individuals had been believed to have left their houses in Ukraine and that "as much as 4 million individuals could flee to different international locations if the state of affairs escalates."
FLEEING FOR SAFETY
Hundreds of Ukrainians crossed Friday into neighboring international locations
to the west searching for security from the unfolding conflict of their nation.
With males of navy age banned from leaving the nation, most of those that crossed borders had been ladies, youngsters and the aged.
One lady from Kyiv who arrived in Przemsyl, Poland, described how males had been pulled off trains in Ukraine earlier than they bought to the border.
Automobiles had been backed up for a number of miles at some border crossings as authorities in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova mobilized to obtain the Ukrainians, offering shelter, meals and authorized assist. These international locations additionally eased their regular border procedures, together with COVID-19 testing necessities.
POPE'S PERSONAL APPEAL FOR PEACE
The pope broke protocol with an in-person go to Friday to the Russian Embassy to "categorical his concern in regards to the conflict" in Ukraine.
Pope Francis' extraordinary gesture was considered as an indication of his anger at Russia's actions, and his willingness to make a private enchantment for the tip of hostilities.
The pope traveled to and from the embassy in a small white automobile, with Vatican officers saying they knew of no such earlier papal initiative.
NUCLEAR WAR NIGHTMARE REVISITED
Reviving Chilly Conflict fears of a nuclear showdown, Putin has warned in a speech that he has the weapons obtainable if anybody dares to make use of navy means to attempt to cease his takeover of Ukraine.
Whether or not an empty risk or not, Putin's phrases re-animated the specter of nuclear conflict -- via accident or miscalculation.
The Russian president mentioned in a speech early Thursday that regardless of "shedding a substantial a part of its capabilities after the autumn of the Soviet Union," Russia stays "one of the vital highly effective nuclear states" and has "a sure benefit in a number of cutting-edge weapons."
PROMISES OF MONEY FOR UKRAINE
The United Nations plans to hunt over $1 billion in donations for humanitarian reduction in Ukraine over the subsequent three months, the U.N. humanitarian chief mentioned Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned the EU has selected an "unprecedented" 1.5 billion euros ($1.68 billion) in financial support for Ukraine.
TURNING THE SCREWS ON RUSSIA
The West has taken a navy choice in Ukraine off the desk, however world leaders -- apart from Moscow ally China -- are making ready measures geared toward hurting the Russian economic system and its leaders, together with Putin himself.
The U.S., Britain, Canada and European Union mentioned Friday they'll sanction Putin and Lavrov, his overseas minister. The EU unanimously agreed to freeze their property.
White Home press secretary Jen Psaki indicated the U.S. sanctions will embody a journey ban.
Russian International Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova mentioned the sanctions confirmed the "complete helplessness" of the West. "Who're you going to speak to? ... A nuclear energy, an amazing nation; who have you ever determined to play with?" Zakharova mentioned in televised remarks.
EU ministers have mentioned that even additional sanctions had been nonetheless potential, together with booting Russia out of SWIFT, the dominant system for international monetary transactions.
Asian and Pacific international locations have joined the West in taking punitive measures in opposition to Russia, together with export controls geared toward ravenous its industries and navy of semiconductors and different high-tech merchandise.
In retaliation to a British ban on Aeroflot flights, Russia's civil aviation authority forbade U.Ok. flights to and over Russia beginning Friday.
Canada's largest province is pulling all Russian vodka from government-owned liquor shops, Ontario's finance minister mentioned. Quebec is contemplating a ban on Russian liquor.
The Council of Europe additionally suspended Russia from the continent's foremost human rights group.
And in popular culture, the wildly fashionable Eurovision tune contest additionally banned Russia from the Might finals in Turin, Italy.
SPORTING WORLD TURNS ITS BACK
Russia has been stripped of internet hosting the Champions League remaining by UEFA w ith St. Petersburg changed by Paris, and System One dropped this season's Russian Grand Prix in Sochi in September
The showpiece remaining within the European males's soccer season will nonetheless be held on Might 28 however on the 80,000-seat Stade de France.
The Worldwide Ski Federation introduced Russia won't host any extra of its World Cup occasions this winter, and the European curling championships scheduled to be held in November in Perm, Russia, can even be relocated, the game's worldwide governing physique introduced on Friday.
The Worldwide Tennis Federation additionally canceled all occasions happening in Russia indefinitely.
Related Press writers world wide contributed to this report.
A Ukrainian soldier talks together with her comrades sitting in a shelter on the line of separation between Ukraine-held territory and rebel-held territory close to Svitlodarsk, jap Ukraine, on Feb. 23, 2022. (AP Picture/Evgeniy Maloletka)
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