Explosions Inside Kiev, People Told to Hide in Bomb Shelters
⚡️Warning sirens go off in Kyiv as local authorities ask people to hide in bomb shelters.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 25, 2022
Kyiv residents post videos of multiple large explosions as Russian silovik telegram channels boast of over 40 ballistic missiles launched at the city.
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) February 25, 2022
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) February 25, 2022
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) February 25, 2022
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) February 25, 2022
This is terrible. No way this can justified with any legitimate military interests and can be without serious civilian casualties. This madman and all enablers must be dragged to the ICC.
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) February 25, 2022
Horrific Russian rocket strikes on Kyiv. Last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany. Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one. Stop Putin. Isolate Russia. Severe all ties. Kick Russia out of everywhete.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) February 25, 2022
Reports are that Russian forces are moving en masse on Kyiv from the north, south and east.
— Ben Pauker (@benpauker) February 25, 2022
.@siobhan_ogrady just texted that she heard a loud boom in Kyiv. Reports earlier that Russian troops were encroaching on the city from the northeast.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) February 25, 2022
Kiev will fall in a few hours.
Still no evidence Zelensky is in the Ukraine, though he keeps saying he is. He gave this speech a few hours ago.
The Guardian put up a summary of what’s happened so far:
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has confirmed multiple reports of Russian missile strikes in a national address early on Friday morning.
- Loud explosions were heard in Kyiv in the early hours of Friday morning. A Guardian reporter in the city confirmed they heard what sounded like a loud explosion.
- Two multi-story residential buildings were seen on fire in south-east Kyiv after they were reportedly hit by falling debris from an aircraft that was shot down. Photos published by Ukraine’s state emergency services department show a multi-story building burning.
- The Ukrainian interior ministry said it shot down a Russian aircraft over Kyiv. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said the Russian aircraft was hit by the Ukrainian air force and fell in the Darnitsky district.
- Russian forces were within kilometres of reaching Kyiv, according to US officials. According to a phone call that took place about 6:30pm ET on Thursday, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers that Russian mechanised forces that entered Ukraine from Belarus were about 20 miles (32km) from Kyiv, the Associated Press reports citing a source familiar with the call.
- The Ukrainian border post in Zaporizhzhya region was hit by a missile strike at 4.25am local time, Ukraine’s border guard service said.
- Ukraine’s armed forces confirmed additional weapons are being brought to Kyiv, amid reports of explosions in the Ukrainian capital.
- The EU’s Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, disclosed the details of the second tranche of sanctions against Russia.
- French president Emmanuel Macron said Russian president Vladimir Putin had been duplicitous in his conversations with him, discussing the details of the Minsk agreements over the phone while preparing to invade Ukraine.
- The United Nations announced it is immediately allocating $20m to scale up UN humanitarian operations in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave a national address, confirming 137 civilians and military personnel have been killed so far in the Russian invasion of his country.
- Zelenskiy added that his country has been left on its own to fight Russia and he and his family remained in Ukraine, despite Russia identifying him as “target number one”.
- the Ukrainian president also decreed a full military mobilization against the Russian invasion, which is to last 90 days.
- Russians have also been bravely protesting against attacks on Ukraine despite the often heavy-handed consequences of doing so.
- The US is ready to accept Ukrainian refugees fleeing Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said.
- The government of Ukraine is asking for volunteers from the country’s hacker underground to help protect critical infrastructure and conduct cyber spying missions against Russian troops, according two people involved in the project who spoke with Reuters news agency.
Not really super interesting at this point.
It will be interesting when the march is over and Russia declares what it’s going to do with the country.