Ukraine to hold peace talks with Russia on border with Belarus

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko tonight issued a chilling threat that the West’s sanctions on Russia are pushing the Kremlin into a Third World War, after Vladimir Putin put his nuclear deterrent forces on ‘alert’.

Lukashenko’s comments came as Kyiv and Moscow agreed to hold peace talks at the border with Belarus – though Volodymyr Zelensky admitted he wasn’t confident of a positive resolution, adding that he owed it to his people to at least try and engage.

This evening also saw the EU unveil a fresh package of sanctions against Putin’s regime, closing off its airspace to all Russian planes and banning Kremlin propaganda outlets Russia Today and Sputnik. In response to the measures, Russian carrier Aeroflot said it was suspending all flights to Europe.

‘Now there is a lot of talk against the banking sector, gas, oil, SWIFT,’ Lukashenko said. ‘It’s worse than war. This is pushing Russia into a Third World War. We need to be restrained here so as not to get into trouble. Because nuclear war is the end of everything.’

Ukraine’s health ministry said on Sunday that 352 civilians, including 14 children, had been killed since the beginning of Russia’s invasion. It also said that 1,684 people, including 116 children, had been wounded

Ukrainian President Zelensky’s office had earlier said the two delegations will meet ‘without preconditions’ near the Pripyat River, to the north of Chernobyl, in a deal brokered in a phone call with Lukashenko himself.

A spokesperson added that Lukashenko has taken responsibility for ensuring that all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on Belarusian territory remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, talks and return.

Zelensky described his discussion with Lukashenko as ‘very substantive’, adding that he had made it clear he did not want troops to move from Belarus to Ukraine and Lukashenko ‘assured him of this’.

He added: ‘I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try, so that later not a single citizen of Ukraine has any doubt that I, as president, tried to stop the war.’ 

It came as Putin declared, in his own televised address, that he had ordered troops operating the nuclear deterrent onto a ‘special regime of duty’ in light of ‘aggressive statements’ from NATO leaders and ‘unfriendly economic actions’. Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg responded: ‘This is dangerous rhetoric’. 

Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia at the Hague, with Mr Zelensky requesting that the UN International Court of Justice orders Russia to stop its attack against Ukraine and starts trials soon. 

The United States tonight condemned Putin’s order to put his nuclear forces on high alert as dangerous and ‘unacceptable.’ The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield also said nothing was ‘off the table’ when asked about the possibility of Putin being tried in international court as a war criminal.   

Boris Johnson, meanwhile, dismissed Putin’s announcement as a ‘distraction’ from the struggle his troops are facing in Ukraine. The Prime Minister also cast doubt on possible negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations to try to resolve the crisis. 

‘There’s nothing I’ve seen so far in his behaviour that leads me to think that he could possibly be sincere,’ he said.

Earlier Russian television footage showed Mr Putin meeting with his defence minister and the chief of the general staff, and instructing them to put the nuclear deterrent on a ‘special regime of combat duty’.

‘Western countries aren’t only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic sphere, but top officials from leading Nato members made aggressive statements regarding our country,’ he said.

But on a day when the expected assault on Kyiv again failed to materialise and the Ukrainians claimed to have driven Russian forces out of the country’s second city Kharkiv, Mr Johnson said his words were ‘a distraction from the reality of what’s going on’.

‘This is an innocent people who are facing a totally unprovoked act of aggression against them, and what’s actually happening is that they are fighting back perhaps with more effect, with more resistance, than the Kremlin had bargained for,’ he said.

‘You can see some of the logistical difficulties that the Russian forces are experiencing. The Russian defence ministry have themselves conceded that they’re having casualties. This is a disastrous misbegotten venture by President Putin.’

Elsewhere, oil giant BP announced on Sunday it is ditching its controversial 20 per cent stake in the Russian energy group Rosneft ‘with immediate effect’.

Chief executive Bernard Looney revealed the move today, saying he was ‘saddened’ and ‘shocked’ by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  

It comes after he was summoned to a meeting with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday amid growing unease about the BP’s Russian dealings. 

Earlier today, in a speech to mark Russia’s special forces day, Putin thanked soldiers for ‘heroically fulfilling their military duty’ in Ukraine, before parroting his propaganda line that his armies are providing assistance to the ‘people’s republics of Donbas’ – referring to two rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine that Russia recognised as independent states ahead of its invasion.  

‘I want to thank the command, the personnel of the special operations forces, veterans of the special forces units for their loyalty to the oath, for their impeccable service in the name of the people of Russia and our great motherland,’ he said. 

In a televised address, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the peace talks were called after Belarus prepared its forces to join the Russian invasion.

‘Today, we were as close as ever to the entry of Belarus armed forces into the war. This is why President Zelensky and President Lukashenko spoke today,’ he said in his address.

‘We have to defend our northern flank and we have to minimise the threats coming from there. So we agreed to send a delegation to the location on the Ukranian-Belarus border and we go to there to listen to what Russia has to say.

‘We are going there without preliminary agreement on what the outcome of these talks can be. We are going there to say what we think of this war and Russia’s actions.’

Mr Kuleba said Belarus had assured Ukraine that no Belarusian military force will be use against Kyiv while the talks take place, but he insisted Ukraine’s military military would continue to ‘fiercely defend’ the country against Russia attacks in the meantime.

‘I think the fact Russia wants to talk without any pre-conditions or any ultimatums, without any demands addressed to Ukraine, is already a victory for Ukraine,’ he added.

Iskander missiles were launched from Belarus to Ukraine around 5pm (3pm GMT), an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister said. 

Russia’s flagship carrier announced Sunday it was suspending flights to Europe after the European Union closed its airspace to Russian aircraft for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The announcement came after the EU said Sunday it would close its airspace to Russian carriers, adding to a litany of sanctions imposed on Russia over its attack on Ukraine.

‘Aeroflot is suspending flights of the European route network from February 28, 2022 until further notice,’ the company said on its website.

The EU’s airspace ban prohibits flights into or over the EU by all Russian planes, including private jets.

The measure consolidated what was already de facto largely in place, with many of the EU’s 27 nations having individually announced airspace closures to Russian flights.

In response, Russia has barred flights from a number of countries such as Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Russian forces stormed Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv today after failing in their overnight efforts to seize control of the capital city of Kyiv. 

However reports in Ukraine suggest troops have managed to successfully repel the Russian advance on Kharkiv, which is close to the Russian border, with one British reporter on the ground confirming that the city remains under Ukrainian control despite this morning’s attack.

Oleh Sinehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional administration, today said Ukrainian troops had managed to reclaim the city. In a post on Telegram, he said: ‘Control over Kharkiv is completely ours!

‘The armed forces, the national police, and the defence forces are working and the city is being completely cleansed of the enemy.’

Kharkiv’s defence came as Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence today claimed Ukrainian troops had killed or injured more than 4,300 Russian soldiers in the first three days of fighting. Russia has not released an updates on its military losses. 

The Kremlin accepted it had lost troops in the conflict for the first time today, but did not provide a number. ‘There have been killed and wounded among the Russian military during the course of the special military operation,’ the defence ministry in Moscow said in a statement quoted by TASS news agency 

A US official told Reuters that Russia had committed around two-thirds of its combat power inside Ukraine and launched more than 320 missiles over the course of the conflict.  

In an article today, UK Armed Forces minister James Heappey has insisted Putin’s ‘days are numbered’ if he fails in Ukraine, with his campaign falling ‘well behind’ its planned timeline.

Mr Heappey, a former major in the Rifles, said Putin’s forces had been unable to capture key cities in the first few days of fighting as intended and had left pockets of ‘well-armed’ Ukrainians to the rear of their front line. 

A picture is emerging of a haphazard and disorganised invasion effort, with armoured columns running out of fuel or getting lost, and some having to advance without air cover. 

Mr Heappey wrote in the Telegraph: ‘After three days of intense fighting, spurred by dogged Ukrainian resistance, Russia is well behind its planned timeline.

‘Progress to Kyiv has been much slower than they’d expected, they were unable to take key cities early and now must try to bypass them.

‘This leaves pockets of well-armed and well-trained Ukrainians to the rear of the Russian front line, exposing a vulnerable logistics tail – an omen for what awaits Putin.’

At the same time, Ukrainians are volunteering in their droves, with ‘long queues’ at recruitment centres, the minister wrote. 

Meanwhile, footage from the town of Koryukivka, near the Russian border, showed hundreds of locals massing on a road to block the advance of a Russian tank column. 

Mr Heappey believes that if Putin fails and ordinary Russians realise ‘how little he cares for them … [his] days as president will surely be numbered and so too will those of the kleptocratic elite that surround him,’ he wrote. 

‘He’ll lose power and he won’t get to choose his successor.’

There have been fresh questions raised about Putin’s mental state, including whether Covid-19 has fueled his paranoia after claims emerged the isolated president spent time ‘stewing in his own fears’ after ‘withdrawing into himself’ during the pandemic.

A total of 4,000 Russians have now been arrested at anti-war protests in recent days, according to independent monitoring group OVD-Info, with a demonstration outside the Kremlin today near the site where opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down. 

This morning, footage shared on social media showed Putin’s army trucks rolling through Kharkiv – a city of 1.41 million people – which sits in Eastern Ukraine close to the border with Russia.

Soldiers were also seen marching on foot, with a very dramatic clip showing Russians slowly advancing along a road before running and firing their guns as Ukrainians opened fire on them.

Another clip shared online shows an army vehicle said to belong to the Russians ablaze, with locals saying it had been torched by Ukrainians seeking to defend their city.  Meanwhile, the UK’s Ministry of Defence released its latest intelligence update, saying there had been an ‘intensive’ exchange of rocket artillery in the city, followed by ‘heavy fighting’ between Ukrainian and Russian forces. It said fighting in the capital Kyiv had been ‘less intense’ than previous nights. 

On another sensational day in the conflict, the EU unveiled a new package of sanctions against Putin‘s regime, closing off its airspace to all Russian planes and banning Kremlin propaganda outlets Russia Today and Sputnik. 

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced the new measures in a press conference this afternoon, which will include funding the purchase and delivery of weapons to Ukraine. 

Ms von der Leyen said this was the first time the EU had done this for a country under attack. 

She said: ‘We are shutting down the EU’s airspace for all Russian aircraft, including the private jets of oligarchs.

‘Second, in another unprecedented step, we will ban, in the EU, the Kremlin’s media machine.

‘The state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik, as well as their subsidiaries, will no longer be able to spread their lies to support Putin’s lies.’ 

The breach of Ukraine’s defences came hours after Russia was dealt a significant blow when a column of Chechen special forces sent to assassinate Ukrainian President Zelensky were blown up by locals just two days into their mission. 

Among the Chechens said to have been wiped out was general Magomed Tushaev. He was commander of the 141th motorized national guard brigade – Chechen head of state Ramzan Kadyrov’s elite force.

Tushaev had also been pictured with Kadyrov, in a measure of his importance to the Chechen regime, which shot to notoriety in the west for hunting down, torturing and killing gay men.    

It came as Ramzan Kadyrov, the warlord leader of the Chechen Republic, complained Russia’s tactics had been ‘too sluggish’ as he appeared to pave the way for a further escalation of violence against Ukraine. 

He said the Ukrainians were ‘armed to the teeth with new weaponry and ammunition, and new generation heavy artillery’ and that he is ‘hoping they will come to their senses’ and surrender. 

He then asked Putin to ‘give all special forces the order to finish off the Nazis and terrorists’ in the country. The idea that Russia is ‘de-Nazifying’ Ukraine is a common propaganda line spouted by Kremlin allies. 

The armed group – famed for their barbaric violence and human rights abuses – are said to have been obliterated after their convoy of 56 tanks was blown to smithereens near Hostomel, just northeast of Kyiv, by Ukrainian missile fire on the second day of the Chechens’ deployment. It is unclear how many died – but the number is likely to run into the hundreds. 

Their deaths were reported by The Kyiv Independent news outlet as officials in Kyiv revealed that they’d managed to maintain control of Ukraine’s capital city throughout combat on Saturday night and into Sunday morning.

First Deputy Chairman of Kyiv City State Administration Mykola Povoroznyk said: ‘The situation in Kyiv is calm, the capital is fully controlled by the Ukrainian army and the terror defence. At night there were several clashes with sabotage group.’ 

But Russian forces were seen entering Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv on Sunday morning. Footage shared on social media showed Russian tanks and trucks rolling through the city, which sits in eastern Ukraine, close to the Russian border, with gunshots also heard ringing out.

Other videos shared online showed Russian troops walking in to the city of 1.419 million people on foot, as well as an army truck said to be Russian consumed by flames. 

Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko, meanwhile, said their airforce had shot down a missile aimed at the capital Kyiv, by a plane that flew in from Russian ally Belarus.

But while fighting raged in the north, Russian forces said they had successfully blocked Kherson and Berdyansk in the south, effectively opening up a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean peninsula – which it annexed in 2014.

The reported killings of the Chechen assassination squad are a crushing psychological blow for Putin’s stalled efforts to conquer Ukraine. The Russian premiere had dispatched the group to capture or kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, knowing full well that the fighters’ brutal reputation would strike further fear into the hearts of besieged Ukrainians. 

Each fighter had been given a deck of cards complete with photos of Ukrainian officials they’d been told to target. 

But Zelensky remains standing, and has become a global hero for his brave dispatches from the front line – while his would-be assassins’ reported killings have brought huge disgrace and widespread grief to Chechnya. 

Putin is said to be growing increasingly angry by his stalled efforts to conquer Ukraine. His fire and manpower vastly outnumbers that of Ukraine, and it is widely believed that Russia will eventually conquer its neighbor.  

Yesterday, the head of Britain’s MI6 Secret Intelligence Service said he believes Russia’s war in Ukraine will prove ‘unwinnable’ because Putin will never attain political victory over the country’s people.

Richard Moore, the chief of MI6, wrote how a report suggesting the autocrat’s forces will ultimately fail in Ukraine because it underestimated its neighbour’s military strength and fierce determination ‘makes sense to me’.

The article Moore, 58, was reacting to was penned by Lawrence Freedman, the Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College London.

In the article titled ‘A Reckless Gamble’, Professor Freedman said Putin had ‘become obsessed with Ukraine, and prone to outrageous theories which appear as pretexts for war but may also reflect his views.’

He wrote that victory for Moscow does not come in the form of a successful invasion that overthrows Ukraine’s government, but with winning over the people of Ukraine.

This, the professor writes, is something Russia does not have the strength for.

‘Even if the government loses control of the capital and is forced to flee, and the command systems for Ukrainian forces start to break down, that does not mean that Russia has won the war,’ he wrote.

In an unusual move for the chief of MI6, Moore shared the article with his over 130,000 Twitter followers, writing: ‘Fascinating. Makes sense to me.’

In a rebuke of Putin’s human rights record, Moore also wrote around the same time in a separate tweet: ‘With the tragedy and destruction unfolding so distressingly in Ukraine, we should remember the values and hard-won freedoms that distinguish us from Putin, none more than LGBT+ rights.’

Moore’s endorsement of the article came as other intelligence sources claimed Putin’s war with Ukraine is not going to plan due to Kremlin ‘overconfidence’, poor tactical planning, and ‘shock’ at the fierce resistance put up by brave Ukrainians fighting for their nation’s survival.

Dramatic video on Saturday showed a destroyed Russian convoy with Z-markings near Kherson in the south of the country on the third day of fighting after Ukraine’s army held control of Kyiv and last night successfully repelled Russian advances on the capital.

In addition to the video of the destroyed convoy, another video purportedly showed the destruction of a 20-vehicle Russia military column in Kharkiv.

Images of the carnage is the snow – from which it is suspected there were no survivors – appear to show Putin’s invasion suffering brutal losses. 

Kyiv’s defence ministry has so far put Russia’s losses at around 2,800 troops, 80 tanks, 516 armoured vehicles, and 10 airplanes and seven helicopters so far.

The Russian army has now been ordered to broaden its advance ‘from all directions’, with Kyiv residents braced Saturday for another night sheltering underground, as Russian troops closed in on the capital and skirmishes were reported on the outskirts. 

However, a senior US defence officials claimed Russia is facing more resistance than Moscow anticipated in its invasion of Ukraine, and appears to have lost some of its momentum.  

Professor Freedman’s article backed this theory. He wrote: ‘Despite the superiority of Russian forces they made less progress than might have been expected on the first day of the war when they had the advantages of tactical surprise and potentially overwhelming numbers.

‘The Ukrainians demonstrated a spirited resistance and imposed casualties on the invaders,’ he added.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military is asking people to remove the names of streets, cities and villages from road signs in their regions in order to ‘confuse and disorient the enemy’. In a tweet, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said: ‘We will do everything possible to clear Ukraine of the Russian occupier as soon as possible!’. 

A sign over a part of the Boryspil highway triumphantly declared: ‘Russian warship, go f**k yourself!’, in reference to the killing of a small group of Ukrainian border guards stationed at Snake Island off the coast of Ukraine after they refused to surrender to Kremlin forces.

Riho Terras has claimed that Putin is ‘raging’ at his war not going to plan. He said Russia is fast running out of money and weapons, and will have to enter negotiations with Volodymyr Zelensky’s government if Kyiv holds off the Russians for 10 days.

Russia’s tyrant has allegedly convened a meeting with the oligarchs in a bunker in the Ural Mountains, at which it is claimed that he furiously vented that he thought the war would be ‘easy’ and ‘everything would be done in one to four days’. 

Citing Ukrainian intelligence sources, Terras claimed that the war is costing Russia around £15billion-per-day, and that they have rockets for three to four days at most, which they are using sparingly.

He claimed that Putin’s plan has relied on panicking the country, firing missiles at residential buildings ‘at random’ to ‘intimidate’ the Ukrainians, trigger mass army desertions, national surrender, and Zelensky’s flight from the country. Terras also alleged that Russian special operations have been near Kyiv since February 18, and had planned to swiftly seize the capital and install a puppet regime.   

‘The Russians are in shock of the fierce resistance they have encountered. The Ukrainians must avoid panic! … Ukraine must stay strong and we must provide assistance!’, he wrote on Twitter.

However, in a worrying sign for Ukraine, video from Russia’s Western border with Ukraine showed TOS-1 heavy flamethrower tanks moving towards its neighbour. The tanks are capable of firing high-power thermobaric weapons – dubbed the ‘father of all bombs’.

In Russian, ‘TOS’ stands for ‘heavy flame thrower’. However, what the TOS-1 launches is perhaps even more frightening – fuel-air explosives (FAE) that cause a ‘wall of napalm’. As the bomb explodes, it scatters dust that ignites when it meets oxygen, causing the very air around it to appear as if it is bursting into flames.  

Russia’s Interfax news agency claimed Moscow had captured the southeastern city of Melitopol. Ukrainian officials were not immediately available to comment on the fate of Melitopol. If the Interfax report about Melitopol, which cited Russia’s defence ministry, is confirmed, it would be the first significant population centre that the Kremlin has seized.

However, Britain’s armed forces minister James Heappey cast doubt on the report, saying the city of some 150,000 people was still in Ukrainian hands and that fighting in the capital was so far confined to ‘very isolated pockets of Russian special forces and paratroopers’ and that ‘the main armoured columns approaching Kyiv are still some way off’.

The Ukrainian health minister said 198 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the Russian offensive. Viktor Lyashko said there were three children among those killed.

His statement was unclear whether the casualties included military and civilians. He said another 1,115 people, including 33 children, were wounded in the Russian invasion.

It was later reported that a further 19 civilians were killed in shelling in Ukraine’s east, while two were reported killed in a strike on a tower block early on Saturday – bringing the civilian death toll to 219.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov claimed Saturday that since the start of Moscow’s attack, its military had hit 821 Ukrainian military facilities, 87 tanks and other targets.

Konashenkov didn’t say how many Ukrainian troops were killed and didn’t mention any casualties on the Russian side. Neither his claims nor Ukraine’s allegations that its forces killed thousands of Kremlin troops could be independently verified. 

HOW IS PUTIN’S WAR NOT GOING TO PLAN?

MONEY

According to Ukrainian intelligence sources, Putin’s war with Ukraine is costing the Russian economy around £15billion-per-day alone – meaning the Kremlin will have spent around £45billion by the end of today in fighting Ukraine.

Writing on Twitter, Terras claimed that Russia would be forced to enter negotiations with Ukraine if Kyiv can hold off the Kremlin’s advance for 10 days, by which point Russia will have spent around £150billion.

Though it is widely believed that the Russian dictator will have factored Western sanctions into his calculations, the combined effect of punitive measures on Russia’s banking system will further squeeze its economy.

The United States, Britain, Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union unveiled more sanctions on Moscow on top of penalties earlier this week, including a move by Germany to halt a gas pipeline from Russia.

President Joe Biden delivered further measures to target Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors, while the EU unveiled its own new package including financial, energy and technological sanctions.

WEAPONS AND RESOURCES

Citing Ukrainian intelligence, Terras also claimed that Russia has rockets for ‘three to four days at most’ which they use ‘sparingly’.

He added: ‘They lack weapons, the Tula and 2 Rotenberg plants can’t physically fulfil the orders for weapons. Rifles and ammo are the most they can do.

‘The next Russian weapons can be produced in 3-4 months – if even that. They have no raw materials. What was previously supplied mainly from Slovenia, Finland and Germany is now cut off.

‘If Ukraine manages to hold the Russians off for 10 days, then the Russians will have to enter negotiations. Because they have no money, weapons, or resources’.

OVERCONFIDENCE

Terras also claimed that at a meeting of the oligarchs in his lair in the Urals, Putin was ‘furious’ and ranted about how he thought the war would be ‘easily’ won in ‘one to four days’.

He continued: ‘Russia’s whole plan relies on panic – that the civilians and armed forces surrender and Zelensky flees.

‘They expect Kharkiv to surrender first so the other cities would follow suit to avoid bloodshed. The Russians are in shock of the fierce resistance they have encountered’.

WHAT’S THE STATE OF PLAY TODAY?

HELICOPTERS, JETS AND PLANES

The mayor of a city south of the Ukrainian capital claimed that the country’s military has fended off a Russian attempt to take control of a military air base.

Natalia Balansynovych, the mayor of Vasylkiv, about 25 miles south of Kyiv, said on Saturday that Russian airborne forces landed near the city overnight and tried to seize the base. She said fierce fighting also raged on Vasylkiv’s central street.

She said that Ukrainian forces repelled the Russian attacks, and that the situation is now calm. Balansynovych claimed there were heavy casualties, but didn’t give any numbers.

At around 3am on Saturday, fighting between Russia and Ukraine broke out at Vasylkiv, which is home to a Cold War-era base.

Ukraine’s military claimed a Russian IL-76 military transporter planer was brought down, reportedly with 150 paratroopers on board. Sources in the city then claimed that Russian soldiers, allegedly dressed as Ukrainian police, ambushed a checkpoint.

Heavy fighting ensued in Vasylkiv, as Putin’s forces tried to gain a foothold in the south from which to launch their attack on Kyiv.

At around 4am, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry claimed ‘two enemy targets were shot down’ – identifying them as a Russian SU-25 helicopter and a military bomber – near the separatist zone in the east.

At around 4am, a second Russian military transport plane was shot down near Bila Tserkva, 50 miles south of Kyiv, according to two American officials with direct knowledge of conditions on the ground in Ukraine. The Russian military did not comment on either plane.

Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) denied a report earlier on Saturday that Russian helicopters had landed in the Lviv region, a development that would have signalled a widening of the theatre of Moscow’s invasion.

The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, said Russia had landed three helicopters near the city of Brody in the western Lviv region and that Ukrainian forces had repelled the attack.

The SBU said the information was false and that no such landing had taken place. It said a Ukrainian helicopter had done a reconnaissance flight in the area.

‘We ask residents to remain calm!’, the SBU said in a statement posted on Facebook.

Sadovyi’s office declined to comment and the SBU declined further comment. The Lviv regional administration said that footage circulating on social media of a helicopter firing rockets in the Lviv region was Ukrainian, not Russian.

GROUND FORCES

Earlier, small arms fire and explosions were heard in the capital’s northern district Obolonsky as what appeared to be an advance party of Russia’s invasion force left a trail of destruction.

Ukrainian forces reported fighting with Russian armoured units in two locations between 40-80 kilometres north of Kyiv.

Ukraine’s military claimed Russia had ‘attacked one of the military units on Victory Avenue in Kyiv’ but that the assault had been ‘repulsed’. It also reported another incident northwest of the capital.

Kyiv said 137 people, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed during the fighting, and claimed that 2,800 Russian service personnel have died.

An adviser to Ukraine’s president says that fighting is raging in the capital and in the country’s south, and that the Ukrainian military is successfully fending off Russian assaults.

Russian forces were also focusing on the country’s south, where intense fighting is underway in Kherson just north of Crimea, and in the Black Sea ports of Mykolaiv, Odesa and around Mariupol, it was claimed. 

Mykhailo Podolyak said that Russia considers it a priority to seize the south, but it has failed to make any significant gains.

Britain claimed that Russian forces have not captured the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol and armoured columns advancing on the capital Kyiv have been held up by Ukrainian resistance.

Armed forces minister James Heappey said on Saturday it was the British assessment that Russia had so far failed to capture any of its day one targets for its invasion of Ukraine, which began on Thursday.

‘Even Melitopol, which the Russians are claiming to have taken but we can’t see anything to substantiate that, are all still in Ukrainian hands,’ Heappey told BBC radio.

‘The fighting … reported on the outskirts of Kyiv overnight, we understand to just be Russian special forces and pockets of paratroopers. The reality is that the armoured columns that were coming down from Belarus and the north that were going to encircle Kyiv are still some way north because they’ve been held up by this incredible Ukrainian resistance.’

Russian missiles pounded Kyiv on Friday, families cowered in shelters and authorities told residents to prepare Molotov cocktails to defend Ukraine’s capital from an assault that the mayor said had already begun with saboteurs in the city.

But an American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested a mixed picture for the Russian effort to press an offensive that Washington and Kyiv say is aimed at decapitating the government and installing a puppet regime.

‘We do assess that there is greater resistance by the Ukrainians than the Russians expected,’ the senior defence 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.’

Still, Russia has not yet mobilized the majority of its forces arrayed around Ukraine, the official said, assessing that just about one-third have now been ‘committed’ to its offensive.

Although most of the Russian targeting has been against Ukrainian military installations, some of the missiles have landed on civilian residential areas, the official said.

Ukraine’s military was putting up a fight, the official added.

‘They are fighting for the country,’ the official said, noting that Russia had yet to establish control of the airspace above Ukraine or used the extent of its electronic warfare capabilities. ‘In general, the Russians have lost a little bit of their momentum,’ the official said.

RUSSIA’S ACTIONS

Kyiv officials are warning residents that street fighting is underway against Russian forces, and they are urging people to seek shelter.

The warning issued Saturday advised residents to remain in shelters, to avoid going near windows or on balconies, and to take precautions against being hit by debris or bullets.

The Ukrainian military said a battle was underway near a military unit to the west of the city center.

A rescue worker says at least six civilians were injured by a rocket that hit a high-rise apartment building on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital.

Petro Prokopov, a firefighter who was taking part in rescue efforts, said the building on the southwestern edge of Kyiv near Zhuliany airport was hit between 16 and 21 floors on Saturday. He said at least six people were injured and apartments on two floors were gutted by fire. Emergency responders have evacuated 80 people. 

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted an image showing a gaping hole on one side of the apartment building.

AFP saw a dead man in civilian clothes lying sprawled on the pavement as nearby medics rushed to help another man whose car was crushed by an armoured vehicle.

Separately, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry said a Russian missile was shot down before dawn Saturday as it headed for the dam of the sprawling water reservoir that serves Kyiv.

‘If the dam is destroyed, the flooding will cause catastrophic casualties and losses – including flooding of residential areas of Kyiv and its suburbs,’ the ministry said.

COULD RUSSIA LOSE THE WAR?

Despite Western fears, American officials believe that Putin’s assault and attempted seizure of Kyiv has become bogged down.

While Russian special forces have reached the suburbs of Kyiv, the bulk of Moscow’s heavy armour is believed to be still more than 30 miles away from the capital.

Britain claimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been slowed by strong Ukrainian resistance.

Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said fighting in Kyiv was so far confined to ‘very isolated pockets of Russian special forces and paratroopers’. He added that ‘the main armored columns approaching Kyiv are still some way off’.

Heappey said: ‘It looks like the Russian plan is nowhere near running to schedule. I think that will be a great cause of concern for President Putin and rather points to the fact that there was a lot of hubris in the Russian plan and that he may be awfully advised.’

However, Western officials fear that Putin could resort to high-power thermobaric weapons – dubbed the ‘father of all bombs’ that vaporize bodies and crush internal organs – as brave Ukrainians resist his attempts to take control of Kyiv. 

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 US on Taliban in Afghanistan in 2017 weighed 21,600 pounds and left a crater more than 1,000ft wide after it exploded six feet above the ground.

Thermobaric weapons were developed by both the US and the Soviet Union in the 1960s. In 2007, Russia detonated the largest thermobaric weapon ever made, which created an explosion equivalent to 39.9 tons. The US version of the weapon reportedly costs over $16million each.

The official said: ‘My fear would be that if they don’t meet their timescale and objectives they would be indiscriminate in their use of violence.

‘They don’t adhere to the same principles of necessity and proportionality and rule of law that Western forces do.’

Ukraine’s SECOND Tiananmen moment: Local man climbs on top of Russian tank before kneeling on the ground in bid to stop military convoy as Putin’s men face fierce fight back on the streets

Another brave Ukrainian local has been captured on video trying to single-highhandedly block the advance of a Russian military convoy – in scenes reminiscent of Tiananmen Square’s ‘tank man’ blocking Chinese forces in 1989.

The footage emerged as Moscow’s forces continued their illegal invasion of the country, where Ukrainian soldiers and citizens alike are putting up a fierce resistance against Vladimir Putin’s invading army.

Video of the brave face-off showed a column of Russian tanks passing through a junction in a Ukrainian town.

As the hulking vehicles rumbled through, one man decided to take a stand, heroically climbing on to the front of one of the tanks. It continued forward a few meters, but then came to a halt, blocking the route of those following.

Once the tank was no longer moving, the man can be seen climbing down from the tank and kneeling in the middle of the road, blocking the progress of the Russian convoy.

Recognising the futility of the man’s protest, onlookers are seen trying to drag the man away from the tank.

However, defiant in his protest, the man continues to hold on to the front of the tank.

The incident came after a similar confrontation went viral on Friday, which saw another man bravely walk into the middle of the road and into the path of another column of Russian military vehicles passing through Ukraine.

The footage, thought to have been filmed in the south of the country close to Crimea, shows the man bravely waving down the convoy in an attempt to block its path.

Some military vehicles in the procession swerve around the man, but others are shown stopping for him, bringing those behind them to a complete stop as well. 

The man has since been dubbed ‘Tank Man’ on social media, and while his identity is now known, his bravery quickly drew praise from others inspired by his protest which has become emblematic of Ukraine’s resistance.

Cargo ship ‘belonging to Russian bank that is pivotal’ to country’s defence sector and among those targeted by UK government sanctions against Moscow is SEIZED in the English Channel

A cargo ship bound for St. Petersburg was intercepted in the English Channel early on Saturday as the latest trade sanctions begin to hit at the Russian economy.

The 416ft commercial boat named the ‘Baltic Leader’ is understood to belong to Promsvyazbank, one of the five major Russian banks which were hit with crippling EU sanctions this week, and was seized in the English Channel early on Saturday morning.

Promsvyazbank was named in the House of Commons as one of five Russian state-owned financial institutions that would be hit with sanctions.

Meanwhile, a US Treasury document said ‘Baltic Leader’ was owned by Promsvyazbank, which was described as ‘systemically important’ to Russia’s defence industry.

Maritime officers have been given the power to intercept and seize vessels suspected of contravening EU-backed sanctions of Russia in the wake of the Ukrainian invasion.  

In what is understood  to be the first instance of Russian assets being frozen while in transit, the boat was intercepted by customs officials near Honfleur, in Normandy, after departing from the French city of Rouen.

French authorities said the ship, which has been loaded with cars, belonged to a company suspected of violating trade sanctions linked to the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

‘Baltic Leader’ had arrived in the French city of Rouen on February 19 and spent almost six days docked there until departing on Friday night. 

The vessel had been expected to reach St. Petersburg on Thursday, March 3. 

Captain Véronique Magnin, regional communication officer for the maritime prefecture, said the ship was then diverted to the French port of Boulogne-sur-Mer between 3 and 4am (2/3am GMT) and that ongoing checks were being carried out by customs officials. 

Those aboard ‘Baltic Leader’ are said to be co-operating with the investigation. The process could take up to 48 hours. 

Captain Magnin said the boat is ‘strongly suspected of being linked to Russian interests targeted by the sanctions’.

‘Baltic Leader’, a Ro-Ro Cargo vessel built 22 years ago, had been expected to dock in St. Petersburg on March 6. The ship sails under the flag of Russia.  

One official was quoted by the BBC saying: ‘It has been taken to the French port after a request by the French government because it is suspected of belonging to a company targeted by EU sanctions against Moscow. 

‘French boarder forces are currently investigating the cargo ship. Crew aboard the ‘Baltic Leader’ has been cooperating with French authorities.’

The Russian embassy in France is said to be ‘seeking explanations’ from French authorities behind the seizure of one of its cargo ships.

A spokesperson in Paris told the Russian TASS news agency the boat’s captain had called the embassy, which had then contacted French officials.