Received

Russian forces have launched co-ordinated missile and artillery attacks on Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, where gunfire erupted near government buildings in the city centre, military officials say.

Ukrainian authorities have urged citizens to help defend Kyiv from advancing Russian forces who invaded on Thursday in the worst European security crisis in decades.

But even as the fighting grew more intense, the Russian and Ukrainian governments signalled an openness to negotiations, offering the first glimmer of hope for diplomacy since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion.

Artillery shells exploded in Kyiv, a witness said.

Ukrainian officials said Russian forces fired cruise missiles from the Black Sea at the cities of Sumy, Poltava and Mariupol.

There was also heavy fighting near the southern city of Mariupol, they said.

"The fate of Ukraine is being decided right now," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday in a video address posted to his Telegram channel.

The air force command earlier reported heavy fighting near an air base at Vasylkiv, southwest of the capital, which it said was under attack from Russian paratroopers.

It said one of its fighters had shot down a Russian transport plane. Reuters could not independently verify the claims.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the president's office, said the situation in Kyiv and its outskirts was under control.

"There are cases of sabotage and reconnaissance groups working in the city, police and self-defence forces are working efficiently against them," Podolyak said.

Kyiv residents were urged by the defence ministry to make petrol bombs to repel the invaders.

Some families cowered in shelters and hundreds of thousands have left their homes to find safety, according to a UN aid official.

Ukraine said more than 1000 Russian soldiers had been killed. Russia did not release casualty figures. Zelenskiy said late on Thursday 137 soldiers and civilians been killed with hundreds wounded.

After weeks of warnings from Western leaders, Putin unleashed a three-pronged invasion of Ukraine from the north, east and south on Thursday, in an attack that threatened to upend Europe's post-Cold War order.

"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."

Putin has cited the need to "denazify" Ukraine's leadership as one of his main reasons for invasion, accusing it of genocide against Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv and its Western allies dismiss the accusations as baseless propaganda.

Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence in 1991 at the fall of the Soviet Union and Kyiv is hoping to join NATO and the EU - aspirations that infuriate Moscow.

Putin says Ukraine, a democratic nation of 44 million people, is an illegitimate state carved out of Russia, a view Ukrainians see as aimed at erasing their more than thousand-year history.

Western countries have announced a barrage of sanctions against Russia, including blacklisting its banks and banning technology exports. But they have stopped short of forcing it out of the SWIFT system for international bank payments.

The United States imposed sanctions on Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The European Union and Britain earlier froze any assets Putin and Lavrov held in their territory. Canada took similar steps.

But amid the chaos of war came a ray of hope.

A spokesman for Zelenskiy said Ukraine and Russia would consult in coming hours on a time and place for talks.

The Kremlin said earlier it offered to meet in the Belarusian capital Minsk after Ukraine expressed a willingness to discuss declaring itself a neutral country while Ukraine had proposed Warsaw as the venue.

That, according to Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov, resulted in a "pause" in contacts.

"Ukraine was and remains ready to talk about a ceasefire and peace," Zelenskiy's spokesman, Sergii Nykyforov, said in a Facebook post.

"We agreed to the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation."

But US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Russia's offer was an attempt to conduct diplomacy "at the barrel of a gun" and Putin's military must stop bombing Ukraine if it is serious about negotiations.

At the United Nations, Russia vetoed a draft Security Council resolution that would have deplored its invasion, while China abstained, which Western countries took as proof of Russia's isolation.

The United Arab Emirates and India also abstained while the remaining 11 members voted in favour.

The White House asked Congress for $US6.4 billion in security and humanitarian aid for the crisis, officials said, and President Biden instructed the US State Department to release $US350 million in military aid.

© RAW 2022

Russian forces have pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, with artillery and cruise missiles for a third day, with the nation's Interfax news agency claiming they have captured the southeastern city of Melitopol.

Ukrainian officials were not immediately available to comment on the fate of Melitopol.

Britain's armed forces minister James Heappey cast doubt on the report, saying the city of some 150,000 people was still in Ukrainian hands.

"All of Russia's day one objectives ... and even Melitopol, which the Russians are claiming to have taken but we can't see anything to substantiate that, are all still in Ukrainian hands," he told BBC radio.

Western intelligence sources say Russian forces have encountered far stronger Ukrainian resistance than they had expected and this was significantly slowing their advances since their invasion began on Thursday.

If the Interfax report about Melitopol, which cited Russia's defence ministry, is confirmed, it would be the first significant population centre the Russians have seized.

At least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been killed and 1115 people wounded so far in Russia's invasion, Interfax quoted Ukraine's Health Ministry as saying. It was unclear whether the numbers comprised only civilian casualties.

Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko said 35 people, including two children, were wounded during overnight fighting in the city.

Klitschko said there was currently no major Russian military presence in Kyiv, although he added saboteur groups were active. The metro system is acting as a shelter for residents and trains have stopped running, he said.

There were signs of panic in Kyiv city centre.

Reuters reporters saw Ukrainian soldiers with guns and a group of women running along the street. Nearby, Ukrainian soldiers forced a man in civilian clothes to lie down on the pavement.

Earlier, Kyiv authorities said a missile hit a residential building, and a witness said another hit an area near the airport. There was no immediate word on casualties.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in a video message from outside his Kyiv office, remained defiant.

"We will not put down weapons, we will defend our state," he said.

Zelenskiy earlier signalled a readiness to discuss a ceasefire and peace talks, as did the Kremlin, but tentative diplomatic contacts have so far produced no results.

Ukraine has evacuated its embassy staff in Moscow to Latvia, the Baltic country's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians were arriving at the country's western borders with Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. At Medyka in southern Poland, refugees described a 30km line at the border.

An adviser to Ukraine's Interior Ministry, Anton Herashchenko, said at least 40 civilian infrastructure sites had been hit. Moscow says it is taking care not to strike civilian areas.

The mayor of Chernihiv, 150km northeast of Kyiv, told citizens: "We need to prepare for street combat. Those of you who know and understand what I am talking about, prepare the petrol bombs."

Fighting was also underway on Saturday morning in the northeastern city of Sumy, the municipal administration said, urging residents to stay at home.

Ignoring weeks of warnings from Western leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded from the north, east and south, an attack that threatens to upend Europe's post-Cold War order.

Putin said he had to eliminate what he called a serious threat to his country from its smaller neighbour and he cited the need to "denazify" Ukraine's leadership, accusing it of genocide against Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv and its Western allies dismiss the accusations as baseless propaganda.

Western countries have announced a barrage of sanctions on Russia, including blacklisting its banks and banning technology exports. But they have stopped short of forcing it out of the SWIFT system for international bank payments.

France will provide defensive military equipment to Ukraine, its army spokesman said on Saturday, while the Czech government said it was sending weapons and ammunition.

At the United Nations on Friday, Russia vetoed a draft Security Council resolution deploring its invasion, while China abstained, which Western countries took as proof of Russia's isolation.

The United Arab Emirates and India also abstained while the remaining 11 members voted in favour.

The White House asked Congress for $US6.4 billion in security and humanitarian aid for the crisis, officials said, while President Joe Biden instructed the State Department to release $US350 million in military aid.

Russia's defence ministry said their forces used air- and ship-based cruise missiles to carry out overnight strikes on military targets in Ukraine, Interfax said.

It said Russian troops had hit hundreds of military infrastructure targets and destroyed several aircraft and dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles.

Ukraine's air force command earlier said one of its fighters had shot down a Russian transport plane. Reuters could not independently verify the claim.

Ukraine said more than 1000 Russian soldiers had been killed. Russia did not release casualty figures.

Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence at the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and Kyiv hopes to join NATO and the EU - aspirations that infuriate Moscow.

Putin says Ukraine, a democratic nation of 44 million people, is an illegitimate state carved out of Russia, a view Ukrainians see as aimed at erasing their more than thousand-year history.

© RAW 2022

The Russian and Ukrainian governments have signalled an openness to negotiations even as authorities in Kyiv urged citizens to help defend the capital from advancing Russian forces in the worst European security crisis in decades.

Ukraine and Russia will consult in coming hours on a time and place for talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's spokesman Sergii Nykyforov said on social media, offering the first glimmer of hope for diplomacy since the invasion began.

The Kremlin said earlier it offered to meet in the Belarusian capital Minsk after Ukraine expressed a willingness to discuss declaring itself a neutral country, but that Ukraine had proposed Warsaw as the venue. That, according to Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov, resulted in a "pause" in contacts.

"Ukraine was and remains ready to talk about a ceasefire and peace," Nykyforov said in a post on Facebook.

"We agreed to the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation."

But US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Russia's offer was an attempt to conduct diplomacy "at the barrel of a gun", and that President Vladimir Putin's military must stop bombing Ukraine if it was serious about negotiations.

The diplomatic overtures stood in stark contrast to events unfolding on the ground and Putin's harsh rhetoric against Ukrainian leaders, including a call for a coup by the country's military.

Kyiv residents were told by the defence ministry to make petrol bombs to repel the invaders, and on Friday evening witnesses reported hearing artillery rounds and intense gunfire from the western part of the city.

The sound of frequent artillery fire, apparently some distance from the city centre, continued in the early hours of Saturday.

Zelenskiy filmed himself with aides on the streets of the capital, vowing to defend Ukraine's independence.

"Tonight, they will launch an assault. All of us must understand what awaits us. We must withstand this night," he said in a video address posted to his Telegram channel.

"The fate of Ukraine is being decided right now."

Some families cowered in shelters after Kyiv was pounded on Thursday night by Russian missiles. Others tried desperately to get on packed trains headed west, some of the hundreds of thousands who have left their homes to find safety, according to the United Nations' aid chief.

After weeks of warnings from Western leaders, Putin unleashed a three-pronged invasion of Ukraine from the north, east and south on Thursday, in an attack that threatened to upend Europe's post-Cold War order.

"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 on Friday.

"Take power into your own hands."

Putin has cited the need to "denazify" Ukraine's leadership as one of his main reasons for invasion, accusing it of genocide against Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies dismiss the accusations as baseless propaganda.

The United States imposed sanctions on Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The European Union and Britain earlier froze any assets Putin and Lavrov held in their territory. Canada took similar steps.

In New York, Russia vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution that would have deplored Moscow's invasion, while China abstained, a move Western countries viewed as proof of Russia's isolation. The United Arab Emirates and India also abstained while the remaining 11 members voted in favour.

Britain's defence ministry said Russian armoured forces had opened a new route of advance towards the capital after failing to take Chernihiv.

Ukraine said more than 1000 Russian soldiers had been killed so far. Russia did not release casualty figures.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart and condemned reported civilian deaths, including those of Ukrainian children, in attacks around Kyiv, the State Department said.

United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said hundreds of thousands of people were on the move in Ukraine.

The White House asked Congress for $US6.4 billion ($A8.9 billion) in security and humanitarian aid for the crisis, officials said.

Ukraine has banned men of fighting age from leaving, and at borders with Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, those seen crossing by Reuters journalists were mostly women and children.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the coordinated decision to sanction Putin - something US President Joe Biden had avoided until now - was intended to send a clear message of allied unity.

Russia's foreign ministry said the new sanctions reflected the West's "absolute impotence," the RIA news agency reported.

Putin says Ukraine, a democratic nation of 44 million people, is an illegitimate state carved out of Russia, a view Ukrainians see as aimed at erasing their more than thousand-year history.

He says he does not plan a military occupation, only to disarm Ukraine and remove its leaders, but it is not clear how a pro-Russian leader could be installed unless Russian troops control much of the country.

Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence at the fall of the Soviet Union and Kyiv hopes to join NATO and the EU - aspirations that infuriate Moscow.

As air raid sirens wailed over Kyiv for a second day, some residents sheltered in underground metro stations.

© RAW 2022