‘Kyiv will not fall’ vow defiant Ukrainians
Ukrainian deputy leader of Holos Party ‘convinced’ the capital will not be captured as 16,000 Middle Eastern volunteers brought in to strengthen Russian troops on frontline, reports
RUSSIA has reportedly tightened its grip around Kyiv along with increased strikes on cities across Ukraine – as president Vladimir Putin gave approval for up to 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East to be deployed to the frontline to boost his invasion.
Putin’s forces appeared to be trying to regroup and regain momentum yesterday, with expanded bombardment and a tightening of its hold on cities such as Mariupol, where civilians struggled to find food amid an intense 10-day-old siege.
However, Inna Sovsun, Ukrainian MP and deputy leader of the Holos Party, said she is “convinced” Kyiv will not be captured and residents insisted they will not surrender, amid reports Russia has moved to surround the Ukrainian capital.
Putin said there have been “certain positive developments” in talks with the Ukrainian government. He told Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko that negotiations were being held “almost on a daily basis”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had “reached a strategic turning point”.
He added: “It’s impossible to say how many days we will still need to free our land, but it is possible to say that we will do it.”
Mr Zelenskyy also said authorities were working on establishing 12 humanitarian corridors and trying to ensure food, medicine and other basics get to people across the country.
Western and Ukrainian officials have claimed Russian forces have struggled in the face of stiffer resistance and heavier losses than anticipated, along with supply and morale problems. So far, they have made the biggest advances on cities in the south and east while stalling in the north and around Kyiv.
At a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said 16,000 volunteers in the Middle East were ready to fight alongside Russian-backed forces and rebels in the breakaway Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
While Russian forces continued to launch air strikes in urban areas such as Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol, they also pounded targets away from the main battle zones.
Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russia used high-precision long-range weapons to put military airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-frankivsk in the west “out of action”.
The Lutsk strikes killed four Ukrainian servicemen and wounded six, Lutsk mayor Ihor Polishchuk said. In Ivano-frankivsk, residents were ordered into shelters in an air raid alert.
Russian air strikes also targeted for the first time the eastern city of Dnipro, a major industrial hub and Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, situated on the Dnieper River. Three strikes hit, killing at least one person, according to Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Heraschenko.
In another potentially ominous development, new satellite photos appeared to show the massive Russian convoy outside the Ukrainian capital had split up and fanned out.
Howitzers were towed into position to open fire, and armoured units were seen in towns near the Antonov Airport north of the city, according to Maxar Technologies, the company that produced the images.
The 40-mile line of tanks and other vehicles had massed outside Kyiv early last week. But its advance had appeared to stall amid reports of food and fuel shortages, muddy roads and attacks by Ukrainian troops with anti-tank missiles.
The purpose of the latest move was unclear, though Russia is widely expected eventually to try to encircle the capital.
The UK’S Ministry of Defence said that after making “limited progress”, Russian forces were trying to “re-set and re-posture” their troops, gearing up for operations against Kyiv.
But Nick Reynolds, a land warfare analyst at British defence think-tank Royal United Services Institute, said the move, in part, looked like an attempt by the troops to better protect themselves by dispersing. He said it may indicate the Russians are not ready to surround the city right away.
In the meantime, Russia is increasing bombardments and regrouping its forces on the ground.
“It’s ugly already, but it’s going to get worse,” Mr Reynolds said.
Repeated rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have taken place along the Belarus border, and the two countries’ foreign ministers held talks on Thursday with no apparent progress, while various third countries have also made attempts to broker a stop to the fighting.
A Western official said the fact negotiations are taking place so early in the fighting “might speak to Russian concerns” about the progress of the war.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian soldiers traversed snow-dusted fields and woods near Kyiv, rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers slung over their shoulders, in a video recorded by Radio Free Europe. Gunfire and explosions could be heard and, at one point, shots split the air nearby, and the soldiers dropped to the ground and returned fire.
In Syria, Russia backed the government in imposing long, brutal sieges of opposition-held cities, wreaking heavy destruction and causing widespread civilian casualties. That history, along with the siege of Mariupol, has raised fears of similar bloodshed in Ukraine.
Temperatures fell below freezing across most of Ukraine and were forecast to hit -13 Celsius (8F) in the eastern city of Kharkiv, which has come under heavy bombardment.
About 400 apartment buildings in Kharkiv lost heat, and Mayor Ihor Terekhov appealed to remaining residents to descend into underground shelters where blankets and hot food were being distributed.
The bombardment continued in Mariupol, where a strike on a maternity hospital this week sparked international outrage and war-crime allegations.
Repeated attempts to send in food and medicine and evacuate civilians from the city of 430,000 have been thwarted by continued attacks, and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk put the number of dead there at more than 1,300.
Kyiv resident Mykhailo, who did not wish to give his surname, said the city will not surrender and he is “praying for the best, but preparing for the worst”.
He said: “No-one is going to surrender. If they (Russia) continue, it’s going to be the same as Vietnam War for US or Afghanistan for USSR.”
Meanwhile, in Washington, President Joe Biden has announced the US will dramatically downgrade its trade status with Russia as punishment for its invasion and also ban imports of Russian seafood, alcohol and diamonds.
The move to revoke “most favoured nation” status for Russia was taken in coordination with the European Union and Group of Seven countries.
“The free world is coming together to confront Putin,” Mr Biden said.
It’s impossible to say how many days we will still need to free our land