Russians close in on Kyiv but meet strong resistance

Ukrainians take shelter

Russian assaults on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv have been met with fierce resistance, as the Ukrainian military says it 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.

In a new video, President Volodymyr Zelensky said: "We won't lay down our arms. We will defend our state."

The city government confirmed ongoing fighting and urged people to stay home.

According to a report by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, city officials 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.

In his self-shot video, Mr Zelensky could be seen walking around Kyiv's government district in an apparent effort to dispel rumours he had called on the army to surrender to Russian troops.

"There's a lot of fake information online that I'm calling on our army to lay down arms, and that there's evacuation," he said against a backdrop of Kyiv's Gorodetsky House.

"I'm here. We won't lay down our arms. We will defend our state."

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, said a missile had hit a block of flats in the city, posting a picture on Facebook showing at least four apartments destroyed.

Earlier 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.

'We must persevere'

President 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.

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.

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. – BBC News