ZELENSKY confirms pre-dawn missile strikes
The Ukrainian leader has confirmed the multiple missile strikes reported pre-dawn today.
Zelensky said the strikes began at 4am on Friday local time.
He added that Russia’s strikes had targeted both military and civilian sites. Russia has previously said it’s not aiming strikes at civilians.
But as we reported earlier, the capital Kyiv has seen blasts this morning, including what appears to be a strike that hit a residential building.
It’s 7.30am in Kyiv. Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky is speaking again to his citizens in a video address. In both Ukrainian and Russian, he’s making appeals to Russia for a ceasefire.
“Russia will have to talk to us sooner or later about how to end hostilities and stop this invasion,” he said.
“The sooner the conversation begins, the smaller Russia’s losses will be.”
He added that until the attacks stop, “we will be defending our country until then”.
Just last night, he’d warned of the intensifying attack on the capital. He said he had no intention of leaving the capital and that he knew he was Russia’s number one target right now.
Ukraine FM slams Russia for ‘horrific rocket strikes’ on Kyiv
Ukraine foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba says Russia has conducted “horrific” missile strikes on Kyiv, comparing them to Nazi Germany’s attack on Ukraine during World War Two.
Heavy fight over Sumy, #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/MS581L22gQ
— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) February 25, 2022
Meanwhile, there are multiple reports of more explosions in and around Ukraine’s capital.
The BBC’s Paul Adams says he has heard air sirens and at least one blast.
Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda has reported Ukrainian military forces had destroyed a bridge near Ivankiv on the outskirts of Kyiv, to impede Russian tanks from advancing further into the city.
Ukraine’s military has published footage of what it says is a street gunbattle between Ukrainian defenders in the north-eastern city of Sumy and Russian attackers.
Sumy – with the population of more than 260,000 people – is a regional capital that lies less than 30km (19 miles) from the Russian border.
The head of the local administration, Dmytro Zhyvytsky, said a large Russian military convoy was heading west past Sumy towards the capital Kyiv.
He also said that the nearby town of Konotop was now encircled.
Ukraine: Border guards in Zaporizhzhya hit by rockets
Ukraine’s state border guard service says its unit in the south-eastern Zaporizhzhya region was hit by Russian rockets at 04:25 local time (02:25 GMT).
The service says there are casualties and injured among the border guards from the Prymors’ky Pasad unit.
