by Natalia Zinets
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky vowed on Friday to stay in Kiev amid an advance by Russian troops on the Ukrainian capital in what is an unprecedented attack on a European state since the Second World War, while the European Union announced at the end of a summit new sanctions against Moscow.
Russia launched a land, air and sea offensive against Ukraine on Thursday following a declaration of war by its President Vladimir Putin.
Several dozen people have reportedly been killed since the start of the offensive, while around 100,000 people have fled, as explosions and exchanges of fire rocked major Ukrainian cities.
An adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister said on Friday morning that an enemy aircraft had been shot down over Kiev, causing a residential building to burn after it fell.
The United States and Ukraine accuse Russia of wanting to seize Kiev and overthrow the Ukrainian government, considered by Moscow as a puppet of Washington.
The Russian army on Thursday took control of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a crucial site located about 90 kilometers north of Kiev, on the shortest route to reach the Ukrainian capital from Belarus, where Moscow has stationed troops.
Speaking in a video message, Volodimir Zelensky warned that the “enemy has listed me as target number one”. “My family is target number two. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state,” he added.
“I will stay in the capital. My family is also in Ukraine,” said the Ukrainian president.
NEW WESTERN SANCTIONS
Vladimir Putin presents the Russian offensive as a “special operation” intended to prevent Ukraine from committing what he denounces as a “genocide” of Russian speakers, accusations swept aside by Westerners. The head of the Kremlin also sees in Ukraine an illegitimate state occupying land historically belonging to Russia.
Asked if he was concerned about Volodimir Zelensky’s safety, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS television: “To my knowledge, President Zelensky is at his post in Ukraine. We are of course concerned for the safety of all our friends in Ukraine – government officials and others.”
The United States, Britain, Japan, Canada and Australia have unveiled new sanctions against Russia, in addition to those announced earlier this week when Moscow decided to recognize the independence of two breakaway regions in Donbass, in the eastern Ukraine, and to send troops there.
Meeting in an extraordinary summit in Brussels, the heads of state and government of the European Union agreed on a set of new economic sanctions against Russia described by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, as “the most severe never taken” by the block.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced overnight from Thursday to Friday, at the end of the summit, that the European sanctions targeted “70% of the Russian banking market and major public companies, including in the defense sector”.
Emmanuel Macron said he had again spoken by telephone with Vladimir Putin, at the request of Volodimir Zelensky, describing this exchange as “frank, fast and direct”. However, he denounced the “duplicity” of the Russian president.
During a press conference in Brussels, the French president indicated that Paris would later announce sanctions against Russia and would accelerate its deployment in Romania.
China has been criticized for its refusal to label the Russian offensive as an invasion.
UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING FRIDAY
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Joe Biden said “any nation that condones Russia’s blatant aggression against Ukraine will be smeared by association.” The US president declined to comment directly on Beijing’s position.
He announced new American sanctions against Russia, denouncing a “premeditated attack” by Moscow which must “bear the consequences”.
While Russia is one of the world’s main energy producers, the conflict and the sanctions imposed as a result will have a heavy economic impact across the world, in a context already complicated by the end of the coronavirus health crisis.
Volodimir Zelensky said on Friday that the clashes left 137 army and civilians dead, as well as hundreds injured.
The United States and NATO countries have sent military equipment to Ukraine but are careful not to deploy troops there for fear of triggering a larger war.
Ukraine needs “more weapons to continue the fight”, declared the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs. “The number of tanks, armored vehicles, planes and helicopters that Russia has sent to Ukraine is unimaginable,” added Dimitro Kouleba.
The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet on Friday to vote on a draft resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine and calling for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops. However, Russia has a right of veto, as a permanent member of the Council.
The Russian invasion sparked protests around the world, including in Russia, where authorities arrested hundreds of people who took to the streets on Thursday.
(Reporting Natalie Zinets in Kiev, Aleksandar Vasovic in Mariupol, Mark Trevelyan in London, Sabine Siebold and Michel Rose in Brussels, with Reuters bureaus; writing by Jean Terzian)