They wanted to capture our capital and install their puppets ... we broke their plan
Defiant Zelensky stands and fights
in
UKRAINE’S brave leader Volodymyr Zelensky issued a rallying cry as his troops halted bloodthirsty dictator Vladimir Putin’s drive to conquer Kyiv.
Russian artillery pounded the capital and other cities with cruise missiles but military experts believe the Red Army has underestimated the strength of the Ukrainian forces.
They kept control of the capital despite the shelling of apartment blocks and a kindergarten.
Video showed a destroyed Russian convoy with Z markings, near Kherson in the south. Another clip purportedly showed a 20-vehicle Russian military column in Kharkiv being destroyed.
Kyiv’s defence ministry has so far put Russia’s losses at around 3,500 soldiers, 80 tanks, 516 armoured vehicles, 10 aircraft and seven helicopters.
Ukraine said 198 citizens, including three children have been killed.
President Zelensky shot a video of himself in the capital’s government district and said: “The occupiers wanted to block the centre of our state and put their puppets here – we broke their plan. We won’t lay down our arms. We will defend our state.”
Tank
One Ukrainian civilian was filmed kneeling in front of a tank yesterday, in a desperate attempt to stop a column of Russian machinery heading for Kyiv.
In the footage, filmed in the town of Bakhmach, north east of the capital, a woman said: “Oh God he’s climbing on top of the tank.
“They’re begging them to stop. He literally threw himself in front of the wheels.” Men aged 18 to 60 have been told to stay and fight but many others have also pledged to defend their homeland.
Footage emerged of women making Molotov cocktails in the city of Dnipro.
One told journalists: “We are good at cooking, it’s just the same thing.”
And Lvivbased Pravda
Brewery had become a production centre for the hand-made weapons. In a church basement bomb shelter in the city, 530 miles from the capital, nation’s mood when he said: “Putin will never win.
“It is impossible for him to conquer the spirit of the Ukrainian people.”
Rita said: “Too many innocent people are dying. We have been in this bomb shelter three times today.
“At first 5am, and then a few hours ago and then this one. It is frightening. It really must end.”
Yuri Shevchuk, who is 49 and has lived in the area for more than 20 years, was surveying the damage with an air of incomprehension.
“I don’t know how to explain my feelings,” he said. “It’s the first time in my life to see such damage, in my city and in peacetime.” Neighbouring
Poland threw its weight behind the resistance by refusing to play Russia in a World Cup play off game next month.
Soldiers
Across Ukraine almost 20,000 ordinary people now have been given guns in the fight. As we travelled around Lviv yesterday we were stopped at numerous checkpoints. Some were manned by soldiers with tanks.
Ukraine is calling for more help from the global community.
Former world heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko, whose older brother Vitali is now mayor of Kyiv, urged people across the world to help Ukraine to “stop Russian aggression”. “I’m adthe dressing the entire world to stop this war which Russia has started. There is no time to wait because it is going to bleed into a humanitarian catastrophe. You need to act now. ”
Crack Chechen fighters have been deployed to Ukraine but Red Army commanders are said to be frustrated by the slow progress.
They have complained they had not been given enough fuel to reach their targets. Tanks and military vehicles were seen stranded in remote areas while locals taunted Russian troops.
Meanwhile it emerged Germany had approved the delivery of 400 rocketpropelled grenades from the Netherlands to Ukraine. Ukraine’s
youngest parliamentarian, Sviatoslav Yurash, 26, was armed with an AK47 and on the streets of Kyiv yesterday. He has never used a weapon before.
He told the Sunday People: “For our nation, this is a struggle for our very existence. We don’t have a choice here. We must stay, we must fight.”
Inna Sovsun, deputy leader of the pro European party Holos, told BBC Breakfast yesterday she was armed
and would also remain in the capital.
She said: “I did receive a weapon. I am not trained to use it.
“I am a political scientist who was elected to parliament. If someone said this even three days ago, I wouldn’t have believed them.
“But I do have a gun, and if the situation comes to that, I will have to use it. I am not surrendering, I will join the fight.” She moved viewers to tears when she revealed her 61-year-old dad, who has mobility problems, had returned to Kyiv after evacuating her mum.
Sirens
She said: “He says, ‘I’m coming back to defend Kyiv’.
“I said, ‘Dad you have weak knees, you can hardly walk’.
“He told me something that, again, made me cry.
“He said, ‘Well, I can crawl’.”
Kira Rudyk, the leader of the Voice party, said she hadd also been given a gun. She explained: “I have never used a gun in my life and even two days ago I would call you crazy if you implied I could ever use it. But after spending time in a bomb shelter, after hearing sirens eight times in two days, after seeing your family hiding under the stairs, you just have to do something.
“I am learning how to shoot. I don’t plan to evacuate, I don’t want to flee.
“We have to fight Russian soldiers on our soil.”
feedback@people.co.uk Voice of Sunday People: P14
Reporting team: Andy Lines, Nigel Nelson, Patrick Hill, Jack Clover, Dan Warburton, Sean Rayment, John Siddle, Amy Sharpe, Phil Cardy, Geraldine Mckelvie, Kelly Jenkins.