Ukrainian troops fought the Russian advance in Kiev and its surroundings at dawn this Saturday (02.26.2022), urged by President Volodimir Zelensky to resist the strong enemy offensive to take over the capital.

The enemy incursion would have been rejected, according to the Army, which claims to have eliminated an enemy motorized column.

“We cannot lose the capital,” Zelensky warned as night fell.

Ukraine’s military later said it repelled a Russian attack on a main artery in the capital and was fighting “heavy fighting” in a town 30 km to the southwest where Russia was trying to unload paratroopers.

“Tonight, the enemy is going to use all its forces to break through our defenses in the most vile, harsh and inhumane way. “Tonight, they are going to try an attack,” Zelensky had warned hours before.

Hard Fighting

The warning seemed to come true soon after. Russia “attacked a military unit on Victory Avenue in Kiev, the attack has been repulsed,” the Ukrainian military said on Facebook alongside a photo of a plume of smoke rising in the middle of the night in an urban area.

Throughout the morning, loud explosions were heard in the center of the capital, which, according to Western military sources, is the main target of the invasion launched on Thursday by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian military also reported “heavy fighting” in Vasilkov, a town 30 km southwest of Kiev where the Russians “try to unload paratroopers”. They had previously reported the destruction of an IL-76 military transport plane in that area and of a helicopter and a fighter in the east of the country.

mg (efe, afp)