wreckage falls over kiev as jet is shot down

wreckage falls over kiev as jet is shot down
 

Ukraine's armed forces claimed to have shot down a Russian jet over the outskirts of the city, with flaming wreckage seen falling from the sky, as Zelensky gave a national address, saying Russia has identified him as 'target number 1' of the invasion but he and his family were remaining in the city.


He said invading Russian forces are targeting civilian areas, praising his countrymen for their 'heroism' and assuring them that the armed forces are doing 'everything possible' to protect them.

'They say that civilian objects are not a target for them. But this is another lie of theirs. In reality, they do not distinguish between areas in which they operate,' Zelensky said in a video.

'Ukrainian air defence systems are defending our skies,' he said. 'Ukrainians are demonstrating heroism'. 'All our forces are doing everything possible' to protect people, he added.

The Ukrainian leader called on people to show 'solidarity' and help the elderly find shelter and 'access to real information.' Zelensky also said that Russia will have to eventually talk to Kyiv to end their war.

'Russia will have to talk to us sooner or later. Talk about how to end the fighting and stop this invasion. The sooner the conversation begins, the less losses there will be for Russia itself,' he said.

Switching into Russian in his address, Zelensky acknowledged Russian street protests against Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine that ended with mass arrests Thursday.

'To the citizens of the Russian Federation that are coming out to protest, we see you. And this means that you have heard us. This means that you believe us. Fight for us. Fight against war.'

Russian police detained more than 1,700 people at anti-war protests across dozens of cities Thursday night.

Zelensky said the government had information that 'subversive groups' were encroaching on the city, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Kyiv 'could well be under siege' in what U.S. officials believe is a brazen attempt by Putin to dismantle the government and install his own regime.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers on a phone call that Russian mechanized forces that entered from Belarus were about 20 miles from Kyiv, according to a person familiar with the call.

The assault, anticipated for weeks by the U.S. and Western allies and undertaken by Putin in the face of international condemnation and cascading sanctions, amounts to the largest ground war in Europe since World War II.

Russian missiles bombarded cities and military bases in the first day of the attack, and Ukraine officials said they had lost control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, scene of the world's worst nuclear disaster. Civilians piled into trains and cars to flee.

As explosions sounded in Kyiv early Friday, guests of a hotel were directed to a makeshift basement shelter. Air raid sirens also went off.

'Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself and won't give up its freedom,' Zelenskyy tweeted. His grasp on power increasingly tenuous, he called Thursday for even more severe sanctions than the ones imposed by Western allies and ordered a full military mobilization that would last 90 days.

Zelenskyy said in a video address that 137 'heroes,' including 10 military officers, had been killed and 316 people wounded. The dead included border guards on the Zmiinyi Island in the Odesa region, which was taken over by Russians.

He concluded an emotional speech by saying that 'the fate of the country depends fully on our army, security forces, all of our defenders.' He also said the country had heard from Moscow that 'they want to talk about Ukraine's neutral status.'

Biden was to meet Friday morning with fellow leaders of NATO governments in what the White House described as an 'extraordinary virtual summit' to discuss Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced new sanctions against Russia, saying Putin 'chose this war' and had exhibited a 'sinister' view of the world in which nations take what they want by force. Other nations also announced sanctions, or said they would shortly.

'It was always about naked aggression, about Putin's desire for empire by any means necessary - by bullying Russia's neighbors through coercion and corruption, by changing borders by force, and, ultimately, by choosing a war without a cause,' Biden said.