Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, is the scene on Friday of heavy fighting between invading Russian forces and the army, which Vladimir Putin called to seize power.
On the second day of the invasion ordered by the Russian president, which has caused the flight of more than 50,000 Ukrainians from the country, according to the UN and more than 100 dead, according to Kiev, the European Union announced new sanctions, still unspecified, against Putin himself and his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
But Putin seems determined to continue his offensive and bring about regime change in Ukraine; On Friday, he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government a “gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”
Read: Russia and Ukraine: What Russian military action reveals about Putin’s plans
“Take power into your hands. It seems to me that it will be easier to negotiate between you and me,” Putin told the Ukrainian army in an intervention on Russian television.
Earlier in the day, Lavrov said his country is open to negotiating if Ukraine “lays down its arms.”
Putin is willing to send a delegation to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, a country allied with Russia, to conduct negotiations with Ukraine, his spokesman said.
For the moment, the Ukrainian army is resisting the onslaught of the invading forces, which on Friday entered neighborhoods in northern Kiev.
In the residential neighbourhood of Oblon, AFP saw a dead man on the pavement and ambulances helping a person, trapped in a vehicle crushed by an armoured vehicle.
Local residents said they saw two bodies that looked like Russian soldiers, but AFP could not confirm this information.
Ghost town
At dawn, Kiev recorded two loud explosions, AFP journalists said. “Horrible russian missile fire on Kiev,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. According to official sources, there were three wounded in the attack.
“They said the civilians weren’t targeted, but it’s another of their lies … Tonight, they started bombing civilian neighborhoods. This reminds us of (the Nazi offensive of) 1941,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video posted on social media.
After the flight of many inhabitants on Thursday, and subjected to a curfew, the capital, of three million inhabitants, has the appearance of a ghost town.
Ukrainian troops also said they are fighting Russian armored units in Dymer and Ivankiv, 45 and 80 kilometers north of Kiev.
On Thursday, the Russian military took control of the area of the Chernobyl power plant, still contaminated by radioactivity from the 1986 nuclear accident.
Zelensky highlighted “the heroism” of the Ukrainians and assured that his troops “do everything possible” to defend the country.
“Russia will have to talk to us sooner or later. The way we can end the fighting and stop the invasion. The sooner this conversation takes place, the smaller the losses, even for Russia,” he said.
“Free from oppression”
According to Western military sources, Kiev is Putin’s main target to “behead the Ukrainian government” and install a pro-Moscow executive.
Lavrov reiterated that the invasion aims to “liberate” Ukrainians “from oppression,” implying that they want to overthrow the current government.
The aim is to “demilitarize and denazify Ukraine so that, freed from this oppression, Ukrainians can freely choose their future,” he said.
Russia accuses Ukraine of committing a “genocide” of the Russian-speaking population of the east of the country, without providing any evidence in this regard.
Putin had been deploying more than 150,000 troops on the border with Ukraine for several weeks. On Monday, he recognized the independence of pro-Russian separatist territories of eastern Ukraine and Russian deputies paved the way for a military operation.
Since Putin launched his offensive, nearly 100,000 people have fled their homes and thousands have sought refuge abroad, the UN said. The first Ukrainian refugees went mainly to Poland and Moldova.
“My life has completely changed in half a day. But it’s very good to know that we have a place to go,” said Iryna, a 42-year-old woman who spent the night with dozens of compatriots at the Przemysl train station in Poland, near the Ukrainian border.
In eastern Ukraine, heavy fighting filled civilians with fear and anger.
“I will never, under any conditions, surrender to Putin. Better to die,” said Olena Kurilo, a 52-year-old teacher, her face covered in bandages, in Chugnev, a city in eastern Ukraine that was bombed.
More sanctions
The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other allies such as Japan and Canada decreed sanctions. against Moscow on Thursday.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced restrictions on exports to And imports from Russia, as well as sanctions against Russian banks and tycoons.
After a summit of its leaders, the EU also announced measures against the financial sector, energy, transport, exports and visa restrictions.
But this was not considered sufficient by Zelensky, who called for more European punitive measures, especially around the Swift system of international banking transactions, from which Russia was not excluded for the time being.
France and Germany announced on Friday another package of sanctions against “russia’s top leaders,” including Putin.
France even said it was in favor of excluding Russia from the Swift system, a move Germany is resisting for now for fear of a shortage of Russian gas.
Moscow vowed to respond to those measures. Around the same time the Russian air regulator banned all aircraft linked to the United Kingdom from entering its airspace, after sanctions imposed by London on the Russian airline Aeroflot.
The IAG airline group, parent company of British Airways and Iberia, announced the cancellation of its flights to Moscow and the diversion of its routes that fly over Russia.
The response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine was also felt in the sport and UEFA decided to withdraw from St. Petersburg the organization of the final of the Champions League, on May 28, to be held in Paris.
In addition, Formula One cancelled the celebration of the Russian Grand Prix, which was part of the 2022 calendar of the category.
Russian isolation is growing across the board. Eurovision said Friday that it closed the doors of the popular European song contest to representatives of the invading country.
– Vote in the Security Council-
On the diplomatic front, the United States and Albania asked to vote Friday night in the U.N. Security Council on a draft resolution condemning the invasion and calling for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops, but the initiative will clash with Moscow’s right of veto in that instance.
In a conversation with Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping asked him to “negotiate” with Ukraine.
Pope Francis also intervened and met with the Russian ambassador to the Vatican to express “his concern”
The war sparked demonstrations around the world, in which thousands of people criticized Putin’s decision. There were even protests in Russia, where police detained more than 1,800 people, according to the UN.
On Friday, Zelensky called on the Russians to continue protesting against this offensive. “You listened to us and believe us. Fight for us, fight the war,” he said.
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