Attack on Ukraine: Kiev’s second night of war

It is the second night of war in Ukraine, fighting is going on in Kiev. There is conflicting information about the course of the front and the number of victims. Hundreds of thousands are fleeing.

The second night of the war begins for the residents of Kiev. “The situation is threatening for Kiev – without exaggeration,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Friday evening in the Messenger service Telegram. Russian troops are near the metropolis. He reported five violent explosions that shook the city in the evening. So far, however, it is unclear what happened. The city’s bridges are secured by soldiers, and there are also checkpoints in the city area.

The Ukrainian military reportedly fought fierce battles with Russian troops in the Kiev area on Friday. According to the information, Russian soldiers were also approaching the capital from the east and north-east. The Ukrainian army took up defensive positions on bridges and armored vehicles rolled through the streets.

According to the Russian army, it has blocked the Ukrainian capital from the west and captured the strategically important Hostomel airfield north-west of Kiev. The Ukrainian side did not initially confirm this. With the airport in Hostomel, the Russian army would be able to transport troops directly to the outskirts of Kiev.

“The city is in defense mode”

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter on Friday: “Terrible Russian rocket fire on Kiev”. Two Russian missiles were intercepted and destroyed over the city, the Ukrainian army said. Mayor Klitschko spoke of three injuries from rocket parts, “the city is in defense mode”. Russia increasingly wants to destroy civilian infrastructure and houses, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.

Zelenskyj’s selfie: “We are in Kiev”

President Zelenskyj published a short video on his Facebook page on Friday evening, showing him with other high-ranking politicians: “We are all here,” he says in it. “We are in Kiev. We are defending Ukraine,” he wrote. He was responding to rumors that he was hiding in a bunker or that he had left town.

Videos of fighting in northern Kiev

Videos are circulating on social media showing fighting in a northern residential area of ​​Kiev. Among other things, they show how a tank rolls over a car whose driver is then rescued by local residents. Shots by uniformed officers on a military truck and dead people can also be seen – but it cannot be said with certainty whether the dead are Ukrainian or Russian soldiers.

The Ministry of Defense had previously called on the people of Kiev to prepare so-called Molotov cocktails for battle and to report sightings of Russian military technology. Residents should not leave their homes. The Ukrainian army warned that Russian units were using partially conquered Ukrainian technology.

Hardly any reliable information on the course of the front

For Kiev, as for the rest of the country, there is still hardly any reliable information about the exact course of the front. From Kharkiv in the east of the country, the media and local residents reported explosions. At Cherson in the south, Russian troops broke through the Ukrainian defenses and crossed the Dnipro. Kherson plays an important role in protecting Odessa.

According to Ukrainian sources, the port city on the Black Sea coast was also shot at. Several rockets were fired from the sea at border protection systems on Friday, the Odessa border guard said. Infrastructure in the Mykolaiv region is also affected. Several observation posts were damaged. It is feared that Russian troops could advance to Odessa – a strategically important city.

Number of dead unclear

President Zelenskyy said 137 soldiers were killed and 316 soldiers injured in the Ukrainian army on the first day of the invasion. The Russians, contrary to their promises, made no distinction between military targets and residential buildings, he said.

At the same time, the Ukrainian army claims to have inflicted “heavy casualties” on Russian troops. So far, the invading troops have “lost” 2,800 soldiers, according to the Defense Ministry in Kiev. It was unclear whether the soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. In addition, it is estimated that up to 80 tanks, more than 500 other military vehicles and ten airplanes and seven helicopters were destroyed.

This information cannot be independently verified at this time. However, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that there were no casualties.

According to Russia, 118 Ukrainian military objects were “out of action” and shot down five Ukrainian warplanes and a helicopter. This information cannot be verified either.

Hundreds of thousands fleeing

According to the United Nations, hundreds of thousands of people have fled since the Russian army invaded. It also depends on the course of the war how many of them want to stay in Ukraine or leave the country, said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths.

People are fleeing mainly from the south and the east, also reported ARD correspondent Ina Ruck, who is in the southwest of the country. According to official information, about 1,600 people have arrived in Hungary so far. Most of them would be picked up at the border by relatives and friends living in Hungary and taken inland. So far, the authorities have only had to accommodate a few people in prepared accommodation.

Several thousand people are said to have arrived in Poland, mainly women, children and the elderly. The Ukrainian government has decided that men of military age between 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country. Romania reports that 19,000 Ukrainians have fled to the neighboring country.

conflicting parties as a source

In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body.