Status: 02/25/2022 07:01 a.m
According to Ukrainian sources, Kiev is under rocket fire on the second day of the Russian invasion. A Russian plane was shot down. Rocket attacks were also reported in southern Ukraine.
On day two of the Russian attack, Ukraine reports rocket fire on the capital Kiev. Among other things, a multi-storey residential building was hit, as the city administration announced. “Terrible Russian rocket attacks on Kiev,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted. “The last time our capital experienced something like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany.” But the military situation remained confusing.
According to the general staff, Ukrainian troops are fighting fierce battles with Russian attackers in the Kiev region. In Ivankiv, about 80 kilometers northwest of the Ukrainian capital, paratroopers opposed an “overwhelming” number of Russian troops advancing in armored vehicles. A bridge had been destroyed. The general staff also announced that fighting was also going on at the strategically important Hostomel airfield northwest of Kiev. Ukrainian troops also held their ground there.
Apparently a Russian plane shot down
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko published a video on the social network Telegram showing fires on several floors of a building that was hit. The city administration reported three injuries, one of them in mortal danger. Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian plane, wrote an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister. It is still unclear whether the aircraft was manned. Details remained open.
The sirens wailed again in Kiev, as a correspondent for the dpa news agency reported. The city administration called on all citizens to get as safe as possible. The city’s subway stations, which have a population of about 2.8 million, served as shelters.
People took shelter in subway stations in Kiev.
Image: EPA
Rocket fire also reported in the south
Fighting was also reported from other parts of the country. In the Zaporizhia region in the south, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also reported Russian rocket fire. The attack on a border guard unit killed and injured. According to media reports, Russian troops also attacked the airport in the western city of Rivne. Fighting was also reported from Sumy in the northeast of the country near the Russian border. This information could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suspected that the Russian attack was intended to overthrow him. “According to our information, the enemy has declared me target number one, my family target number two,” he said – an assessment shared by the US government. Nevertheless, he wants to stay in Kiev. He complained that NATO did not want to accept Ukraine and that the country was on its own.
On the first day of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian army lost 137 soldiers and 316 soldiers were injured, Zelenskyy said. Russia attacked the entire territory of Ukraine. Information on civilian casualties remained sparse.
Ukraine asks hackers for help
Yesterday Zelenskyj had ordered a general mobilization, which is to apply for 90 days and provides for the call-up of conscripts and reservists. He did not say how many men will be affected. In addition, the Ukrainian government asked hackers for help to protect critical infrastructure and spy on Russian troops in cyberspace, according to two people familiar with the matter. A corresponding request from the government appeared in hacker forums.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an attack on Ukraine in a televised address yesterday. Shortly thereafter, rockets and artillery shells hit Kiev and other cities. Russia had announced the destruction of dozens of military installations in Ukraine. Within a few hours, Russian ground troops had then advanced to the greater Kiev area. Airborne troops captured a military airport on the northwestern outskirts of Kiev. .
Macron is on the phone with Putin
French President Emmanuel Macron described another phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin as “frank, direct and short”. In the conversation, at the request of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, he called on Putin to end the fighting in Ukraine as quickly as possible, Macron said. Referring to the ongoing war in Ukraine, he admitted: “It hasn’t had any effect, you can see that very clearly at the moment because the Russian president has chosen war.”
Macron said he asked Putin to discuss, to discuss with Zelenskyj. After all, Selenskyj himself did not reach Putin. It is his responsibility to take such an initiative if requested by Ukraine.
Macron campaigned to condemn and sanction the Russian actions, while keeping the path of talks open so that an end to hostilities could be reached when the conditions were met. Macron is the first Western politician to have spoken to Putin after his internationally sharply criticized order to operate.