Ukraine invasion: Russians close on Kyiv but meet strong resistanceon February 26, 2022 at 4:36 am

Russian assaults on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv have been met with fierce resistance, as the Ukrainian military says it has fought off several attacks.

The military said in a Facebook post early on Saturday that an army unit managed to repel Russian forces near its base on a major city street.

President Zelensky earlier warned Russia would try to “storm” Kyiv.

The city government confirmed there was fighting on the streets and urged people to stay at home.

According to a report by Interfax-Ukraine, it put out a statement asking people to stay in shelters and to stay away from windows if they were at home.

But Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council Oleksiy Danilov told Ukrainian news site Lb.ua that the army was “in control” of the situation.

“We are stopping the horde using all means available. The army servicemen and citizens are in control of Kyiv,” said Mr Danilov.

Early on Saturday, Ukraine’s air force command also reported heavy fighting near the Vasylkiv air base, southwest of Kyiv, adding that it was under attack by Russian paratroopers.

Separately it claimed one of its fighters had shot down a Russian transport plane. The BBC was unable to verify this.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier warned that Russia would try to “storm” Kyiv on Friday night.

“This night the enemy will be using all available means to break our resistance. This night they will launch an assault,” said Mr Zelensky.

“This night we must persevere. The fate of Ukraine is being decided right now… Our main goal is to finish this bloodbath.”

While Mr Zelensky acknowledged Russian forces had inflicted casualties, he maintained “the enemy has sustained very serious casualties”, too. The BBC cannot verify this claim.

Earlier on Friday, a spokesperson for Mr Zelensky said the country was prepared to hold ceasefire and peace talks with Russia immediately and were discussing a place and time to hold talks.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the Russian president and his top diplomat were “responsible for the deaths of innocent people in Ukraine, and for trampling on the international system”.

“We, as Europeans, do not accept that,” she said, after a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels.

As Russian troops close in on Kyiv, Ukraine has been pleading with the West for faster and tougher sanctions to punish Moscow for its attack.

Mr Zelensky urged Europe to impose harder sanctions on Moscow.

He wants leaders to cut off Russia from Swift – the system used for global business transactions.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also urged the West to block Russia from the payments system to “inflict maximum pain on President Putin and his regime”.

But the EU has so far opted not to cut off Russia from Swift – reportedly due to objections from some member states, including Germany and Italy.

However, Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said later on Friday that it would not veto proposals to ban Russia.

The EU’s latest round of sanctions also targets Russian elites and make it harder for its diplomats to travel.

Russia has responded with tit-for-tat measures against Western sanctions, banning British flights to and over its territory in retaliation to a UK ban on the Russian airline Aeroflot.