Fierce resistance slows Putin’s advance in Ukraine
Russian president orders attacks on all fronts as dogged opposition means invaders have to bypass key cities
‘The Ukrainians are fighting heroically, and in some places with great success. They are putting up a very brave fight’
RUSSIA’S invasion of Ukraine is “not going the way President Putin wants – very far from it”, Boris Johnson said last night as the Kremlin ordered its forces to “advance from all directions”.
The Prime Minister praised Ukrainians for “putting up a very brave fight”, adding: “We’ve got to do everything we can to change the odds they face.”
Last night, in a telephone call with Mr Zelensky, Mr Johnson said: “Congratulations on your incredible act of heroism, staying in Kyiv and rallying your people.”
The Prime Minister and Ukrainian president “expressed their mutual concern about the role Belarus is playing as a conduit for President Putin’s violence”, No10 said.
In a television interview, Mr Johnson said: “Let us be in no doubt that things are not going the way President Putin wants – very far from it.
“The Ukrainians are fighting heroically, and in some places with great success. They are putting up a very brave fight. It is a very brave country with very grim days ahead. We’ve got to do everything we can to change the odds they face, to help them, and that’s why we’re sending humanitarian, financial and military supplies.”
His intervention came as James Heappey, the Armed Forces minister, writes in The Sunday Telegraph today that, after three days of intense fighting, Russia was “well behind its planned timeline” and claims that the Kremlin’s troops have made a series of strategic errors by leaving “well-armed and welltrained Ukrainians to the rear of the Russian front line”.
Vladimir Putin’s troops were having to bypass “key cities” because of the chaos caused by “dogged Ukrainian resistance”, Mr Heappey says.
Yesterday, the Ukrainian health ministry said at least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, had been killed in the invasion, with street fighting breaking out as Russian troops stormed towards Kyiv. But some Russian units got lost and others ran out of fuel, as the effectiveness of the resistance appeared to hamper Mr Putin’s plans for a lightning invasion and takeover of Kyiv. Ukraine claimed that 3,500 Russian soldiers had been killed or injured.
As Volodymyr Zelensky, the country’s president, promised that Ukrainians would “fight as long as it takes to liberate the country”, Mr Heappey said that early successes by the defending forces had “emboldened the population at large” – evidenced by images of hundreds of civilian volunteers collecting rifles to play their part in the resistance.
Yesterday, European countries continued to rally to Ukraine’s defence, with Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, last night joining leaders offering lethal military aid to Ukraine.
Dropping Germany’s previous refusal to send weapons abroad, Mr Scholz said the country’s army would dispatch 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger class surface-to-air missiles “as quickly as possible” to aid Mr Zelensky’s efforts to defend Ukraine.
In other developments yesterday:
Mr Zelensky declared that “the antiwar coalition is working”, as the West sent millions of pounds worth of new weapons, and called for Ukraine to be urgently allowed to join the EU
Russia was facing a ban on some banks’ use of the Swift global payments system, as Germany backed “targeted” action amid mounting support for the country to be ejected from the mechanism altogether
Mr Putin’s troops used cluster munitions – banned by an international treaty that Russia refused to sign – on targets reportedly including a blood bank in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine
A Russian thermobaric rocket launcher was spotted by a US film crew in Russia near the Ukrainian border, just a day after Western officials warned of their serious concern that Mr Putin would use the weapons to cause mass civilian casualties
Hospitals in Russia and Belarus received orders to allocate staff for a deployment, in a sign that the Kremlin was preparing for an influx of casualties
Chechnya’s firebrand leader claimed that Chechen forces have seized a military facility in Ukraine
Tory MPs and former military chiefs lined up to call for increased defence
spending, to prepare for any attempt by Mr Putin to invade Nato allies.
Last night, Buckingham Palace postponed a diplomatic reception due to be hosted by the Queen on Wednesday.
Yesterday, a combination of poor planning and ineffective coordination appeared to leave many Russian troops bogged down, only three days into the invasion. Many units were operating without the protection of air cover.
Mr Putin’s plan still seems to be to target Kyiv, encircle the battle-hardened Ukrainian units in the Donbas to prevent their reinforcement of the capital and to screen the west of the country to cut off re-supply routes.
However, casualty numbers are thought to be higher than Russia had expected with hundreds of tanks and other armoured vehicles destroyed.
Two Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military transport planes were shot down, according to US officials, and there were reports of invading tanks and armoured vehicles running out of fuel.
The Ministry of Defence said Russian forces had continued their advance on Kyiv with the bulk of their forces now 18 miles from the centre of the city. However, the MoD noted that Russia had yet to gain control of the airspace over Ukraine.
Russian soldiers tried to bypass the northern city of Chernihiv, 90 miles north-east of Kyiv, in order to attack the capital. They were attempting to find a route to Kyiv’s eastern suburbs but were “rebuffed” by the Ukrainian army, according to the Ukrainian military sources.
Yesterday, Mikhail Matveyev, a member of the State Duma – the lower house of the Russian parliament – called on the Kremlin to stop the invasion. Andrey Kortunov, an adviser to the Russian foreign ministry, said many officials were “devastated to see what is happening.”
Mr Heappey, a former Army major, adds: “The effectiveness of the Ukrainian resistance comes down to one thing – the grit and determination of the Ukrainian people to stand their ground.
They still face much more violence and destruction with almost the complete might of the Russian armed forces bearing down on them, but their early success has emboldened the population at large.
“Recruitment centres are now drawing long queues of volunteers wanting to stand up for their country’s freedom. President Putin will have seen this too – if he manages to win the first combat phase, a protracted, bloody, and committed resistance campaign awaits.”
In Kyiv yesterday, tower blocks were pulverised by tank shells and civilians were manning trenches to repel the invading forces. A Russian column on the highway linking Kyiv to Lviv was destroyed.
Ukrainian citizens tried to block Russian tanks from advancing with their own bodies. In the town of Bakhmach men threw themselves into the paths of vehicles with their arms in the air.
In Kharkiv, Russian troops were using tanks, multiple launch rocket systems and cluster munitions against Ukrainian defences, including in densely populated civilian areas.