Street fighting begins in Kyiv; people urged to seek shelter
ABC News
Russian troops are storming toward Ukraine’s capital, and street fighting is breaking out
KYIV, Ukraine -- Russian troops stormed toward Ukraine’s capital Saturday, and street fighting broke out as city officials urged residents to take shelter. The country's president refused an American offer to evacuate, insisting that he would stay. “The fight is here,” he said.
As dawn broke in Kyiv, it was not immediately clear how far the soldiers had advanced. Ukrainian officials reported some success in fending off assaults, but fighting persisted near the capital. Skirmishes reported on the edge of the city suggested that small Russian units were probing Ukrainian defenses to clear a path for the main forces.
The swift movement of the troops after less than three days of fighting further imperiled a country clinging to independence in the face of a broad Russian assault, which threatened to topple Ukraine's democratic government and scramble the post-Cold War world order.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered renewed assurance Saturday that the country’s military would stand up to the Russian invasion. In a video recorded on a downtown Kyiv street, he said he had not left the city and that claims the Ukrainian military would put down arms were false.
