Defiant president Volodmyr Zelensky today said his country’s army had successfully repelled Russian forces advancing on Kyiv and was in control of the capital after a night of brutal fighting that saw terrified residents seeking shelter underground.
In a video message to the besieged nation, Zelensky accused the Kremlin of attempting to seize Kyiv, overthrow the government and install a ‘puppet’ regime ‘like in Donetsk’, one of two separatist regions which warmonger Vladimir Putin officially recognised before launching an all-out invasion.
Declaring ‘we broke their idea’, he added: ‘The fights are going on in many cities and areas of our state. But we know that we are protecting the country, the land, the future of our children. Kyiv and key cities around the capital are controlled by our army.
‘The [Russian] occupants wanted to block the centre of our state and put here their marionette, like in Donetsk. We broke their idea.’
It comes after a high-rise apartment block in Kyiv was hit by a devastating missile this morning, while Ukraine’s civilian death toll hit 198.
As Ukrainian forces said they had fought off a Russian attack on their capital today, Zelensky vowed to stay and fight on in an impassioned video to his people.
‘I am here. We will not lay down any weapons. We will defend our state, because our weapons are our truth,’ he said outside his office, denouncing as disinformation claims that he had surrendered or fled.
Wearing military garb the president added: ‘A lot of fake information has appeared on the internet saying that I allegedly called on our army to lay down its arms and that evacuation is underway.
‘Our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children and we will protect all of this. This is what I wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine!’.
Shocking footage today showed a missile ripping apart a tower block near Zhuliany airport, while CCTV from inside also shows the extent of the damage after the site was hit.
Images show the building with a hole covering at least five floors blasted into the side and rubble strewn across the street below.
There have been no fatalities recorded from the attack, however, according to an adviser to the interior minister. Anton Herashchenko also said Russia was lying about not shelling civilian infrastructure, claiming at least 40 such sites had been hit.
Some 198 civilians, including three children, have been killed so far by Russian forces attacking the pro-Western country, Ukraine’s health minister said today.
‘Unfortunately, according to operative data, at the hands of the invaders we have 198 dead, including 3 children, 1,115 wounded, including 33 children,’ Health Minister Viktor Lyashko wrote on Facebook.
Meanwhile, Britain’s defence ministry said today the bulk of Russian forces involved in the advance on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv were now 30 km (19 miles) from the city centre.
‘Russia has yet to gain control of the airspace over Ukraine greatly reducing the effectiveness of the Russian Air Force,’ the defence ministry said in an intelligence update posted on Twitter.
It comes as a barrage of cruise missiles have also been launched by Russian forces against Ukrainian military facilities.
Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said the military struck a range of installations with long-range Kalibr cruise missiles.
He said that since the start of Russia’s attack on Thursday, the military has hit 821 Ukrainian military facilities, including 14 air bases and 19 command facilities, and destroyed 24 air defence missile systems, 48 radars, seven warplanes, seven helicopters, nine drones, 87 tanks and eight military vessels.
Claims that Russia has taken full control of the southern city of Melitopol, however, were dismissed this morning by the UK’s armed forces minister James Heappey.
Meanwhile, the mayor of a city south of the capital says the country’s military has fended off a Russian attempt to take control of a military air base.
Natalia Balansynovych, mayor of Vasylkiv, about 25 miles south of Kyiv, said Russian airborne forces landed near the city overnight and tried to seize the base. She added that fierce fighting also raged in Vasylkiv’s central street.
She said Ukrainian forces repelled the Russian attacks, and the situation is now calm. Ms Balansynovych said there were heavy casualties, but did not give any numbers.
It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: ‘Yesterday I urged NATO and Nordic partners to do all they can to support Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
‘I am pleased even more allies have come forward with defensive and humanitarian aid. We must stand with the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and democracies everywhere.’
Ukraine’s president Volodmyr Zelensky today claimed the country’s army has successfully repelled Russian forces advancing on Kyiv and is in control of the capital after a night of brutal fighting that saw terrified residents seeking shelter underground
A view shows an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday morning
People take cover as an air-raid siren sounds, near an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in Kyiv
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, posted a video on social media on Saturday morning insisting that his country would fight on
Emergency services said the number of victims was ‘being specified’ and that an evacuation was underway
The body of a Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile lies near a local oil terminal after shelling in Kirovsky District, Donetsk
A view shows an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday morning
Smoke could then be seen billowing from the tower block following the devastating attack earlier this morning
Firefighters extinguish fire in a high-rise apartment block which was hit by recent shelling in Kyiv on Saturday
CCTV images show the inside of the Kyiv apartment block moments before it was attacked by a Russian missile
Seconds later the devastation can be seen as the window smashes and a plume of smoke billows through the room
Yet even as Zelensky spoke, the Ukrainian interior ministry was warning Kyiv’s residents to shelter in place and not venture out onto the streets.
Ukraine’s armed forces on Saturday morning claimed 3,500 Russians had been killed overnight, and 200 taken prisoner. They said 14 Russian aircraft, eight helicopters, and 102 tanks had been seized.
Meanwhile, dozens of people were wounded in overnight fighting in Kyiv, city mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Saturday morning.
As of 6am local time, 35 people, including two children, had been wounded, he said. It is unclear whether he was referring only to civilians. Klitschko added there was currently no major Russian military presence in Kyiv, although he said saboteur groups were active.
Armed forces were engaged in a fierce battle for control of the city, with footage on social media showing explosions close to a metro station in the western center of the capital by the zoo; a battle ongoing for control of a thermal power plant to the north; and multiple reports suggesting fierce fighting 20 miles south, near a vital airbase.
In Kyiv, footage shared on social media showed a bombardment close to Beresteiska metro station, in the west of the city, which is near the zoo.
More than 50 explosions and heavy machine gun fire were reported in the district of Shulyavka, near Beresteiska metro and the zoo, according to The Kyiv Independent.
A bridge near the metro was blown up, according to reports. It was unclear whether the explosion was caused by artillery or by Ukrainian forces intent on stopping the Russian advance.
The district is under the control of the 101st Independent Security Brigade of the General Staff.
Terrified residents posted videos filmed from their apartments, with flashes of light and the sound of gunfire. One video shared on social media showed an apartment building glowing with red lights, which some speculated was to guide bombers or snipers. Others said the lights were to warn the military not to bomb them.
The northern suburb of Troieshchyna was also coming under sustained attack for another night, as Russia tried to wrest control of the thermal power plant on the banks of the Dnieper river. Unconfirmed reports suggested dozens of Russians had been arrested.
Meanwhile, satellite images show a huge queue of trucks and cars waiting in a traffic jam leaving Ukraine, near the Romanian border in Siret.
In Sydney, several hundred people marched in heavy rain on Saturday chanting ‘Ukraine will prevail’ and demanding more action against Moscow, while protesters in Tokyo called for Russia to be expelled from the United Nations Security Council.
The fresh protests came as Russian and Ukrainian forces clashed in fighting for Ukraine’s capital and after Russia vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would have deplored the Kremlin invasion of Ukraine.
From Tokyo through Warsaw and London to New York, thousands have protested in recent days against the invasion, Europe’s biggest security crisis in decades.
Draped in Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag and waving the country’s national banner, Sydney protesters also carried also signs condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to topple the Ukrainian government.
Some speakers demanded that the government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison expands sanctions against Moscow and bans Russian citizens from visiting Australia, while others called for the NATO to step into the conflict.
‘I want more economic sanctions on Russia, I want military help for Ukraine,’ said Katarina, a protester who gave only her first name. ‘I want more action, more concrete action and less words. It’s too late for diplomacy right now.’
Another protester, Mogdan, called on the Australian government to lead other countries in attempts to stop Putin.
‘It’s World War Three, it’s a war not only on Ukraine, it’s a war on everyone,’ the protester said.
A smaller protest took place in front of the Russian embassy in Canberra, Australia’s capital, with people carrying signs ‘Putin off Ukraine’ and ‘Stop War’.
Several hundred Russian, Ukrainian and Japanese protesters gathered in the busy Shibuya shopping district in central Tokyo, many with their children and holding Ukrainian flags, chanting ‘stop the war’ and ‘stop Putin’ in Japanese and English.
‘I just want to say, ‘Putin stop this, regain your sanity’,’ said Hiroshi Sawada, a 58-year-old musician who attended the rally in Tokyo.
A 28-year-old Russian worker who asked not to be named said none of the people she knew from her home country supported the war. ‘We hate what is just happening now in our country,’ she said.
Australia and Japan joined the United States, the European Union, and many other countries in imposing a series of rounds of sanctions against Russian politicians, businesses, and elite citizens over the invasion.
Images show the tower block with a hole covering at least five floors blasted into the side and rubble strewn across the street below
Firefighters look on after an apartment building in Kyiv was devastated by a missile attack on Saturday morning
Firefighters extinguish fire in an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in the Ukrainian capital this morning
Nataliya Ableyeva, 58, comforts a child who was handed over to her at the Ukrainian side of the border by a father who was not allowed to cross
Anna Semyuk, 33, hugs her son, after a stranger took her children across the border and kept them safe while fleeing from Ukraine and arriving in Hungary
Civilians are seen after an attack on a residential building during Russia’s military intervention in Kyiv, Ukraine
Medical specialists transport a wounded woman to an ambulance after recent shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday
A firefighter works inside an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in Kyiv earlier this morning
Firefighters extinguish fire in an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in the Ukrainian capital this morning
Ukrainian servicemen take cover as an air-raid siren sounds, near an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in Kyiv
Anna Semyuk, 33, hugs her children, after a stranger took them across the border and kept them safe while fleeing from Ukraine and arriving in Hungary
Helga Tarasova hugs her daughter Kira Shapovalova as they wait in a underground shelter during bombing alert in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv
Smoke and flame from a burning military truck in a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
Fire crews arrive at a local oil terminal after shelling in Kirovsky District. Tensions started heating up in Donbass
A Ukrainian soldier walks past debris of a burning military truck, on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
A civil defense man stands guard at a checkpoint in Kyiv, Ukraine after Russian troops stormed toward Ukraine’s capital
A Ukrainian soldier is seen behind tires in Zhuliany neighborhood of Kyiv during Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine
A Ukrainian soldier walks past debris of a burning military truck, on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022.
Firefighters work by a damaged apartment building in Kyiv which was hit by a recent shelling during Russia’s invasion
People leave the Zhuliany neighborhood in Kyiv where apartment blocks hit during Russia’s invasion
Ukrainian servicemen look at a damaged residential building, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine
People leave the Zhuliany neighborhood in Kyiv where apartment blocks hit during Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine
A Ukrainian soldier stands guard behind tires in Kyiv during Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, on February 26, 2022
Medics gather residential building in Kyiv which was hit by a recent shelling during Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine
A Ukrainian soldier investigates debris of a burnt military truck in a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
A soldier’s helmet with a bullet hole near debris of burning military trucks, in a street in Kyiv, Ukraine
Locals stop a car at a checkpoint after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, in Kyiv
A Ukrainian soldier check vehicles in Zhuliany neighborhood of Kyiv during Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine
A Ukrainian soldier walks past debris of a burning military truck, on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
A Ukrainian soldier assembles grenades near burning military trucks, in a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
An armored vehicle drives along in Zhuliany neighborhood of Kyiv during Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine
Ukrainian servicemen walk by a damaged vehicle, at the site of fighting with Russian troops
Ukrainian first responders stand by a damaged vehicle, at the site of fighting with Russian troops
A group of Ukrainian soldiers stand next to burning military trucks in a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
Ukrainian soldiers walk around debris of burning military trucks in a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
A man inspects a broken window, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, in Kyiv
Debris of a burning military truck on a street, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday after Russian troops stormed toward Ukraine’s capital
A Ukrainian serviceman walks by a damaged vehicle, at the site of a fighting with Russian troops after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine
A soldier walks along Ukrainian armored vehicles blocking a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
A Ukrainian servicemen walk by a damaged vehicle, at the site of a fighting with Russian troops, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine
A Ukrainian soldier drinks water near grenades and debris of burning military trucks in a street in Kyiv, Ukraine
Smoke is seen rising from buildings on February 26, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Explosions and gunfire were reported around Kyiv
A Ukrainian soldier walks past a burnt military truck in a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
A local resident applies sticky tape to their window, at the site of night fighting with Russian troops, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine
Ukrainian soldiers stand next to a burnt military truck, in a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
Ukrainian soldiers investigate debris of a burning military truck on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday
A Ukrainian fireman kneels by a damaged vehicle, at the site of a fighting with Russian troops after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine
Ukrainian servicemen inspect near a damaged vehicle, at the site of a fighting with Russian troops
A man stands on the road near a high-rise apartment block which was hit by shelling in Kyiv on Saturday
Debris of a burning military truck is seen on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday morning as Russian troops stormed towards the capital
Ukrainian service members look for and collect unexploded shells after a fighting with Russian raiding group in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv
A Ukrainian service member holds a cup of tea as he patrol the empty road on west side of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv
Ukrainian soldiers walk near debris of a burning military truck on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday morning
Ukrainian soldiers walk past debris of a burning military truck on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday morning
A satellite image shows queues of trucks and cars waiting in a traffic jam leaving Ukraine, near the Romanian border in Siret
Elsewhere, RT head Margarita Simonyan – seen as a leading Putin cheerleader – accused the Armed Forces of Ukraine of deploying Grads missile launchers in residential areas.
‘Only terrorists do this. This is a war crime. They are asking Putin: bomb our people,’ she said.
Wagner – a private mercenary army seen as having Kremlin links – indicated they would join the war in Ukraine.
‘We will do exactly the same to you, Ukraine, as what you’ve done to Donbas,’ said the group in a website post. We are against those who kill children, women and elderly.’
An appeal has been signed by more Russian doctors to Putin to stop the war. So far 350 have backed the call – but the number is rising fast.
‘The war will take so many lives, cripple so many destinies that we won’t be able to help however hard we try,’ they said.
‘And everyone will be screaming in pain, calling for their mother, in one and the same language.’
By 5:30am in Kyiv (10:30pm Eastern), Ukraine’s armed forces were claiming that the advance from the west had been repelled.
But a CNN crew in Kyiv reported the sounds of heavy gunfire and what appeared to be anti-aircraft fire.
Ukraine’s government said earlier on Friday night that they had shot down two Russian military transport planes carrying paratroopers on the outskirts of Kyiv.
The first IL-76 came down near Vasylkiv, 20 miles south of Kyiv, the Ukrainian military said.
The second IL-76 was shot down near Bila Tserkva, 50 miles south of the capital, Nexta reported.
The fate of those onboard was unclear. The aircrafts – medium-range military transport aircraft, which first went into service in 1974 – can hold 150-225 fully-equipped soldiers, and is used to drop paratroopers into combat and resupply arms.
The town of Vasylkiv appeared, at 3am local time (8pm Eastern), to be a focus of heavy fighting to the south.
Nexta, a local media network, reported that Russians ‘dressed in uniform of the Ukrainian national police’ attacked a checkpoint near Vasylkiv, shooting at Ukrainian soldiers.
‘Immediately after that a group of Russian military in a truck came in. There is a heavy fight going on,’ the site reported.
New satellite images showed the build up of troops to the north, in Belarus.
The photos showed approximately 150 transport helicopters and ground troops 20 miles from the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, in southern Belarus.
Not long after the first troop carrier was shot down, Ukraine’s State Agency for Special Communications said that Ukraine’s air defense had downed a Russian close-support aircraft and a helicopter in Donbas.
A S-300 surface-to-air missile system destroyed a Russian Sukhoi Su-25 jet and an unspecified helicopter at midnight, they said.
The Russian Air Force currently operates around 250 Su-25s of all variants, and they are considered a staple of Russian ground-attack regiments.
Opposition was growing in Russia to the carnage in Ukraine.
Communist MP Mikhail Matveev said: ‘I think that the war should be stopped immediately.
‘When I voted for the recognition of the DPR / LPR, I voted for peace, not for war.
‘For Russia to become a shield, so that the Donbas was not bombed, but not for Kyiv to be bombed.’
The onslaught came shortly after Ukraine’s president warned that the Russians intend to take Kyiv overnight, urging his countrymen to resist the expected onslaught as Western officials say the city appears surrounded.
Zelensky, addressing the nation from a secret location in the capital, had a dire warning for his embattled and defiant people on Friday night.
‘Russia will try to break our resistance with all its might,’ he said, in a video posted to social media.
‘Tonight the enemy will begin storming us. We need to withstand them!’
The United States has offered to evacuate Zelensky and his family, but the president is refusing to leave. On Thursday evening he told the country he was aware that he was ‘target number one’ for Russian assassins, but he and his family would not leave.
Smoke and flames are seen billowing over Kyiv’s Peremohy Avenue in the west of the city, near the zoo, in the early hours of Saturday morning
The Ukrainian armed forces tweeted in the early hours of Saturday that the attack from the west, near the city’s zoo, had been repressed, stating: ‘Russian war criminals attacked one of the military units in Kyiv on Victory Avenue. The attack was repulsed’
Kyiv was in flames in the early hours of Saturday
Significant explosions were seen from Beresteiska metro station in the west of Kyiv
Zelensky said that Chernihiv, Symy, Kharkiv, Donbas, and the south could also come under attack.
‘This night will be difficult, very difficult. But the morning will come,’ he said, according to The Kyiv Independent.
The 44-year-old referenced the Russian shelling of a kindergarten in Ukraine that killed at least one child and injured more, saying: ‘What kind of war is that? Were these children neo-Nazi? Or were they NATO soldiers?’
Vitali Klitschko, the former world champion heavyweight boxer who is now the mayor of Kyiv, said his city faces a ‘difficult night’.
The British Ministry of Defence said they believe Kyiv, home to 1.4 million people, is close to being encircled as the Russians advance from all sides.
Kyiv’s streets were empty on Friday night as people sought shelter in the city’s subway system. Many had fled, with buses and trains out of the city packed with people desperate to escape, and long lines of traffic choking the roads.
In Cherkasy, home to 270,000 people 120 miles south of Kyiv, video on social media showed people in a basement on Friday night, resolutely singing the national anthem as they awaited the onslaught.
In New York, on Friday night, a United Nations resolution that called on Moscow to halt its attack on Ukraine and withdraw its troops was vetoed by Russia – a permanent member of the Security Council. China, India and the UAE abstained.
Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, urged Ukraine’s troops on Friday to overthrow their own government and begin to negotiate with the Kremlin.
‘It looks like it will be easier for us to come to terms with you than with this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis,’ he said.
There was little sign that Ukrainian generals were tempted, and Russia appears to have been somewhat taken aback at the scale of Ukrainian resistance and their ability to defend their country.
There was no doubt, however, that Russia’s overwhelming military superiority would soon come into effect.
With 900,000 troops, Russia has the fourth largest military in the world, and more than a decade of reforms and procurement has made it a dangerous opponent.
Ukraine has just 361,000 troops, although Zelensky on Thursday ordered a full mobilization of troops and banned men aged 18-60 from leaving the country, in readiness for a whole-nation effort.
Residents of Kyiv take cover in a bomb shelter in the early hours of Saturday
Kyiv locals endured a terrifying and sleepless night on Friday, as the bombardment began at around 3am Saturday
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, is seen addressing the nation on Friday night
Photos posted to social media showed what they said were explosions in Kyiv on Friday night
Ukrainians sing their national anthem in a basement in Cherkasy, 120 miles south of Kyiv
Ukrainian soldiers are pictured forming up across a highway in Kyiv as they prepare to defend the city from Russian attackers, with gunfire and explosions heard in the centre of the capital
Soldiers tasked with defending Kyiv from advancing Russian troops take up positions underneath a highway into the city
Ukraine’s highly-motivated infantry have modern weapons and protective gear, including N-LAW and Javelin anti-tank missiles provided by Britain and the US.
With the Russian advance slower than expected, there were fears on Friday night that Putin could resort to high-power thermobaric weapons – dubbed the ‘father of all bombs’ – as brave Ukrainians resist his attempts to take control of Kyiv.
There are also concerns that units that are running behind schedule as they encounter stiff opposition could resort to indiscriminate shelling as a terror weapon.
Thermobaric weapons – also known as vacuum bombs – are high-powered explosive that use the atmosphere itself as part of the explosion. They are among the most powerful non-nuclear weapons ever developed.
A thermobaric bomb dropped by the U.S. on Taliban in Afghanistan in 2017 weighed 21,600 pounds and left a crater more than 1,000 feet wide after it exploded six feet above the ground.
Thermobaric weapons were developed by both the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 1960s. In September 2007, Russia detonated the largest thermobaric weapon ever made, which created an explosion equivalent to 39.9 tons.
The U.S. version of the weapon reportedly costs over $16 million each.
‘My fear would be that if they don’t meet their timescale and objectives they would be indiscriminate in their use of violence,’ a Western official said.
‘They don’t adhere to the same principles of necessity and proportionality and rule of law that Western forces do.’
The bomb works by using oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion, making it far deadlier than a conventional weapon.
While Russian special forces have reached the suburbs of Kyiv, the bulk of Russia’s heavy armor is believed to be still more than 30 miles away from the capital.
Kyiv’s streets were eerily empty on Friday evening as the city’s residents braced themselves for the expected onslaught
Kyiv’s empty streets are pictured on Friday night
Kyiv’s inhabitants take refuge in the subway on Friday night
A Ukrainian passenger train from Kyiv arrives at the Przemysl station in southeastern Poland on Friday. About 29,000 people crossed Poland’s border with Ukraine over the past 24 hours
A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that Russia appears to have lost some of its momentum due to the Ukrainian’s fiery resistance.
‘We do assess that there is greater resistance by the Ukrainians than the Russians expected,’ the official said, adding Ukraine’s command and control of its military ‘remains intact.’
‘They are not moving on Kyiv as fast as what we believe they anticipated they would be able to do. That said, they continue to try to move on Kyiv.’
Putin has only mobilized about one-third of the 190,000 troops he has stationed at the Ukraine border, the official said.
Zelensky and his aides, including the defense minister, Oleksiy Reznikov – behind Zelensky, with glasses – posted a video from Kyiv early on Friday morning, reassuring the people that he remained with them and had not fled, despite his life being in danger
Russian troops are now advancing on Kyiv from the north and east, with US intelligence saying the plan is to besiege the city, capture an airport, and fly in paratroopers who would then attack the capital. The aim would be to capture the government and force them to sign a peace treaty handing control of the country back to Russia or a Russian puppet
Ukrainian soldiers look at their burnt-out army military vehicle in Kyiv on Friday
Firemen extinguish a fire inside a residential building damaged by a missile on Friday in Kyiv
Astonishing footage from Kyiv on Friday showed a Russian tank swerving towards a car and then driving over it twice – and the elderly driver then being pulled, alive, from the flattened vehicle.
The driver of the tank could then be seen reversing back over the car further crushing it.
‘I saw an armored vehicle and there was automatic fire,’ said Kyiv resident Viktor Berbash, 58.
‘And here this car, with probably an anti-aircraft gun on it, was already here.
‘It was not by chance, it was for fun, there was no need for this,’ Berbash said.
‘And it just ran into this car. Stopped, reversed over it again and drove on.’
The collision occurred in Kyiv’s Obolon district on Friday.
The tank was believed to be a Strela-10 — an anti-aircraft vehicle used by both the Russian and Ukrainian armies.
Incredibly, the elderly driver was still alive and pulled free from the wreckage
Video shows the shocking moment a Russian tank runs over the car of a civilian
The Russian tank can be seen deliberately crossing several lanes to reach the car
The vehicle was completely flattened resulting in screams from those watching nearby
A group of men used tools including an axe and a crowbar to free the man from the wreckage
The men used tools in order to try and free the man from the wreckage
Incredibly the man appeared to have survived the collision with the Russian tank
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