UKRAINE’S leader issued a defiant message to Vladimir Putin yesterday as Russian troops closed in on his country’s capital.
In a video message, President Volodymyr Zelensky, who remains in Kyiv, vowed to keep up the struggle saying: “The real fighting for Kyiv is ongoing. We will win.”
Authorities in the Ukrainian capital extended a curfew until early tomorrow after a night of explosions and street fighting had sent Kyiv residents seeking shelter or fleeing the city.
Ukraine’s health minister reported that 198 people, including three children, have been killed and more than 1000 others have been wounded during the largest ground offensive since the Second World War.
READ MORE: Ukraine invasion unlikely to have been preventable, experts suggest
It was unclear whether the figure includes both military and civilian casualties.
Central Kyiv appeared quiet yesterday and skirmishes reported on the edge of the city suggested that small Russian units were trying to clear a path for the main forces.
The bulk of Russian forces were 19 miles from the middle of the city, according to UK and US defence officials.
As Russian troops pressed their offensive with small groups of troops reported inside Kyiv, the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko (below), extended an overnight curfew to run until 8am tomorrow.
He said: “All civilians on the street during the curfew will be considered members of the enemy’s sabotage and reconnaissance groups.”
Russia claims its assault on Ukraine was aimed only at military targets, but bridges, schools and residential neighbourhoods have been hit since the invasion began on Thursday with air and missile strikes and Russian troops entering Ukraine from the north, east and south.
In Kyiv, a missile struck a high-rise apartment building in the south-western outskirts near one of Kyiv’s two passenger airports, leaving a jagged hole of ravaged apartments over several floors. A rescue worker said six civilians were injured.
The US government urged the Ukrainian president to evacuate Kyiv but he is reported to have turned down the offer.
In his video message Zelensky said: “We aren’t going to lay down weapons. We will protect the country.
“Our weapon is our truth, and our truth is that it’s our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of that.”
Yesterday the UK’s armed forces minister James Heappey said Russian troops had not made the progress they might have hoped, with the main armoured columns still some way from the city.
READ MORE: David Pratt: The dramatic events from Russia's invasion of Ukraine that shocked the world
He warned that the defenders faced “days, weeks, months more” of heavy fighting.
“This is going to be a long slog. It is going to be brutal. We are going to see some horrendous things on our TV screens,” Heappey told BBC Breakfast.
Britain has already sent 2000 anti-tank missile launchers and Heappy said they were looking to get more weaponry to the country.
Yesterday demonstrations were again held in Edinburgh to urge politicians to do more to support Ukraine.
Tears were shed as the crowds gathered near Holyrood chanted “please help Ukraine” and “slava Ukraini” (glory to Ukraine) to show their solidarity with those at the hands of Vladimir Putin’s aggressive advance.
Marjan Pokhyly, 28, originally from Kyiv and now living in Edinburgh, was one of the demonstrators. He told of his concern for his grandmother, who is still in Ukraine.
“On her house there was a mark for artillery strike,” he said. “I don’t know if the mark has been rubbed off, but there were people dressed in regular clothes and they were walking around marking for artillery to strike.”
Pokhyly called for Nato to protect Ukraine’s air space.
Speaking at the protest Vlada Kren, who is from Ukraine, but now lives in Edinburgh, said: “World, please help. Don’t wait for Putin to attack you, because if it’s as easy as it’s been for Ukraine, I am pretty sure he won’t stop at Ukraine, he will attack the rest of the world.”
SNP MSP Ash Regan, who spoke at the event, said: “At the moment we are in a position where we are looking to the UK because it’s the UK that acts on the international stage. We need to put pressure on them to do as much as we possibly can.”
Scotland’s External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson, above, has written to the Russian ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, to make clear that the Scottish Government condemns the “unprovoked invasion of a peaceful, democratic neighbour in the strongest possible terms”.
Robertson called for an “immediate cessation of Russia’s aggression” and told Kelin: “Our quarrel is not with the people of Russia, nor the Russian community who live and work in Scotland, but with President Putin’s regime and its deplorable actions.
“Mr Ambassador, history will judge this week’s events as a permanent stain on this Russian government’s reputation.
“The international community stands united against such aggression, and Scotland stands with the international community.”
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