Russian troops bore down on Ukraine’s capital Friday while the president grimly predicted that the conflict would soon intensify, and fears of wider war in Europe triggered new international efforts to make Moscow stop, including direct sanctions on President Vladimir Putin.
An army base in Kyiv has fought off an attack by Russian troops, said the Ukrainian military in a Facebook post on Saturday. The assault is said to have taken place on Peremohy (Victory) Avenue.
Amid reports of hundreds of casualties — including shelling that sliced through a Kyiv apartment building and pummeled bridges and schools — there also were growing signs that Russia may be seeking to overthrow Ukraine’s government, which U.S. officials have described as Putin’s ultimate objective. It would be his boldest effort yet to redraw the world map and revive Moscow’s Cold War-era influence.
On Friday evening witnesses reported hearing artillery rounds and intense gunfire from the western part of Kyiv, as families cowered in shelters and authorities told residents to prepare petrol bombs to defend Ukraine's capital. Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the Ukrainian military to overthrow leadership and negotiate peace.
"I once again appeal to the military personnel of the armed forces of Ukraine: do not allow neo-Nazis and (Ukrainian radical nationalists) to use your children, wives and elders as human shields," Putin said at a televised meeting with Russia's security council. "Take power into your own hands, it will be easier for us to reach agreement."
Russia vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution on Friday that would have deplored Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, while China and India abstained from the vote.
The conflict could drive up to 5 million people to flee abroad, U.N. aid agencies said on Friday, adding that at least 100,000 people are already uprooted in the country and fuel, cash and medical supplies are running low.
Kyiv residents are hiding in underground metro stations, in other cities residents, including tens of thousands of foreign students, packed into bunkers and basements to shelter from a barrage of shelling.
The U.S. and other global powers slapped ever-tougher sanctions on Russia as the invasion reverberated through the world’s economy and energy supplies, threatening to further hit ordinary households. U.N. officials said millions could flee Ukraine. Sports leagues moved to punish Russia and even the popular Eurovision song contest banned it from the May finals in Italy.
Through it all, Russia remained unbowed, vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that it stop attacking Ukraine and withdraw troops immediately. The veto was expected, but the U.S. and its supporters argued that the effort would highlight Moscow’s international isolation. The 11-1 vote, with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining, showed significant but not total opposition to Russia’s invasion of its smaller, militarily weaker neighbor.
The meeting exposed Russia-Ukraine frictions, including when Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya requested a moment of silence to pray for those killed and asked Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia to pray “for salvation.” Nebenzia retorted that the remembrance should include people who have died in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. Pro-Russian separatists there have been fighting the Ukrainian government, which Russia accuses of abuses. A moment of tense silence did ensue.
NATO, meanwhile, decided to send parts of the alliance’s response force to help protect its member nations in the east for the first time. NATO did not say how many troops would be deployed but added that it would involve land, sea and air power.
