According to the US news channel CNN, explosions could be seen and heard in the outskirts of Kiev on Saturday night. Accordingly, videos from eyewitnesses show explosions on the northwestern outskirts of Kiev. There is a military base in this area.
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CNN teams in the capital also reported loud explosions heard west and south of the city. The sky on the horizon was lit by a series of lightning bolts.
Shortly thereafter, Ukraine’s State Service for Special Communications reported clashes with the Russian army in an eastern suburb near Troezhyna. In addition, Ukrainian forces reported heavy fighting around Vasylkiv, a town about 18 miles south of the capital Kiev.
The most important thing from the night about the Ukraine invasion:
- Explosions in the north, east and south of Kiev
- Russian plane carrying paratroopers allegedly shot down
- Russian attack on Kiev’s main artery “Victory Road” allegedly averted
- Clashes with the Russian army in the eastern Kiev suburb of Troieshyna
- Thermal power station No. 6 is under fire and under attack
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had expected a massive assault by the Russian army on Kiev on Saturday night. In a statement late Friday evening, he called on the population to resolutely defend the capital. “The fate of the country is being decided right now,” he said.
According to the Ukrainian army, however, it repelled an attack by Russian forces on one of its positions on the Kiev Victory Road. This was announced by the Ukrainian land forces on Saturday night on their Facebook page. The Victory Street is a main artery of the capital.
Ukrainian forces also claim to have shot down a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane. Russian paratroopers were on board, wrote the Ukrainian chief of staff Valery Saluschnyj on Twitter on Saturday night. He named the city of Wassylkiv south of the capital Kiev as the crash site. The information was not independently verifiable.
The military also announced the shooting down of a Russian helicopter and a SU-25 fighter jet. A confirmation of the losses by the Russian Ministry of Defense was initially not available.
More on the Russian attack on Ukraine on Tagesspiegel Plus:
The State Service for Special Communications of Ukraine announced during the night that Russian troops were trying to attack thermal power station No. 6. The Ukrainian army is defending itself. The power plant is located in the extreme north-east of the metropolis on the right bank of the Dnipro River. There were also reports of explosions and automatic weapon fire from other locations on the right bank.
In a video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of attacking “civilian infrastructure”. Addressing the Russian population, Zelenskyj said in Russian: “There is nothing that could explain why kindergartens and civilian infrastructure are being shelled.”
“What kind of war is this against the Ukrainian children?”
He continued: “What kind of war is this against the Ukrainian children? Who are these people? Are they also neo-Nazis? Or is it NATO soldiers who pose a threat to Russia?”
With his statements, Zelenskyj also refers to Vladimir Putin. The Russian President had previously uttered clear untruths: He had claimed that the democratically elected Ukrainian government was a “Nazi” regime and “fascist”.