February 25, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

There has been no direct communication between the US and Russian militaries to avoid any potential miscalculations in and around Ukraine, according to two US officials. 

But as Russia continues their invasion, the US military would like to talk to the Russians about the feasibility of setting up a communications channel to notify each other of some potential air operations — especially with the two militaries within fairly close proximity.

The US has forces in Poland, while Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine.

The US is still formulating what it might want to propose. Right now, no alliance or US aircraft are flying over Ukraine. But officials envision a potential need for such a mechanism in the coming days and weeks, and it could take various forms. One could be an air exclusion or “no fly” zone to allow humanitarian aid into Ukraine, but it’s unclear how that could be enforced.

Some background: The US Defense Secretary and the Joint Chiefs Chairman have spoken with their Russian counterparts in recent weeks, but not since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to public readouts provided by their offices. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last spoke with Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu on Feb. 18. The two also spoke one week earlier. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley last spoke to the Chief of Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov on Feb. 11.

Ukrainian armed forces have reported heavy fighting around Vasylkiv, a city located about 18 miles south of the country’s capital, Kyiv.

Russian forces are also advancing toward Kyiv from both the north and the east.

Vasylkiv is located about 18 miles south of Kyiv.

A view over the city of Kyiv early Saturday morning.

A series of explosions were just heard on the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv.

It’s slightly past 2 a.m. local time in Ukraine right now.

The exact nature and location of the detonations are not yet clear.

The Biden administration on Friday announced sanctions against more Russian officials beyond Russian President Vladimir Putin and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov.

The officials — members of Russia’s National Security Council — include Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, according to a US Treasury Department statement.

The White House had announced earlier Friday plans to impose sanctions on Putin, making him the highest-profile target in the effort to impose costs on the Russian economy and Putin’s inner circle.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a late-night message on Friday outlining the situation in his country as Russian forces continue to advance on the capital city of Kyiv.

If you’re just reading in now, here are the key lines from the video message:

The latest map of eastern Europe shows increased road traffic along Ukraine’s western border.

Amid the invasion from Russia, Ukrainians are seeking refuge in neighboring nations. Moldova, Belarus and Georgia don’t require visas for Ukrainian passport holders, and many other countries in the region don’t require a visa for at least 30 days.

On the map below, increased road traffic is represented by orange circles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his video message Friday evening that Russian forces have attacked “civilian infrastructure,” including kindergartens.

Addressing the people of Russia while speaking Russian, Zelensky said, “There is nothing that could possibly explain why the kindergartens and civilian infrastructure are being shelled. “

He continued: “What kind of war is this against the Ukrainian children? Who are they? Are they also neo-Nazis? Or are they NATO soldiers that imposed a threat to Russia?”

Zelensky’s remarks come after Russian President Vladimir Putin made baseless claims about Ukrainians to his security council on Friday. Putin frequently repeats the baseless and inaccurate claim that the democratically elected Ukrainian government is a “Nazi” or “fascist” regime. 

Zelensky went on to say that “many” cities are under attack and pleaded with Ukrainian citizens “to be very careful.”

“Please help each other, especially the elderly, the lonely, those who need your support,” he said. “In case of any danger, please go to the shelters.”

Celebrity chef and global humanitarian José Andrés has responded to the Russian invasion in Ukraine, pledging to provide meals along the country’s western border through his organization World Central Kitchen.

Andrés posted on his personal Twitter account, saying in part:

In 2021, Andrés was a recipient of Jeff Bezos’ Courage and Civility Award, an honor which came with $100 million.

Now Andrés has earmarked some of those funds for Ukraine, saying “In addition to your donations…I am committing support from the Bezos award to Ukraine.”

Here is Andrés’ tweet:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to host and help mediate negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel told CNN.

Korniychuk said Jerusalem is preferable to Minsk where previous talks took place because Belarus is a close ally of Russia, and Ukraine does not “believe in the legitimacy” of Belarus’ current leader Alexander Lukashenko.

“(We) definitely need to change the venue and we believe Jerusalem could be a good place for that,” Korniychuk said.

As for the Israeli response to the request, Korniychuk said they “neither agree or deny it, they’re considering it, and that’s a positive sign.”

A spokesperson for Bennett would not comment further beyond the official read out issued about the call, which made no mention of the mediation request.

The request was first reported by Israeli channel Kan 11.

This post has been updated.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian forces are closing in on Kyiv, advancing on the capital from the north and the east.

In his late-night video message Friday, Zelensky told Ukrainians:

Zelensky added, “unfortunately, we also suffer losses. Ukrainians resist the Russian aggression heroically. This aggression cannot be justified, so the occupiers have to come up with more absurd accusations to say at least something.”

After taking an airbase just north of the city on Thursday, Russian forces are now close to the capital of Kyiv. They are also advancing along two routes from the north and at least one from the east.

Russia has used its veto power to block a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning its invasion of Ukraine. 

The vote was 11 in favor, one against, and three abstentions. China, which has declined to criticize Russia’s attack, was among the abstentions at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York City on Friday. 

Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, is currently serving as this month’s council president. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that he talked with a number of world leaders, and agreed to “more help” amid Russia’s invasion.

Zelensky specifically said he talked with President Biden as well as the French, German and Dutch leaders.

“And I’ve agreed on more help, more support, considerable support. I thank all the leaders and especially the President Biden,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed his country Friday night, saying, “This night will be very difficult, and the enemy will use all available forces to break the resistance of Ukrainians.”

Zelensky advised that “we have to stand ground,” adding, “the fate of Ukraine is being decided right now.”

As part of his late-night message, Zelensky told Ukrainians:

Zelensky went on to say that Ukraine is, “also fighting on the diplomatic frontline.”

“It’s easier to count who out of the world leaders I haven’t spoken yet,” he said.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday a set of sanctions on Russia, which include imposing sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, his chief of staff, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. 

“Additionally, I am confirming Canada’s support to remove Russia from the SWIFT payment system, a critical part of the global banking system,” he added. 

Excluding Russian banks from SWIFT, a high security network that connect thousands of financial institutions around the world, “would make it even more difficult for President Putin to finance his brutalities,” according to Trudeau. 

“Canada is also announcing that we will levy additional sanctions on Belarus and its leaders for abetting President Putin’s invasion of a free and sovereign nation,” he said. 

According to Trudeau, these sanctions will target 57 people and are in addition to the “dozens of existing strong sanctions already leveled against Alexander Lukashenko’s regime for their repeated, systematic human rights violations and decades of oppression of their own people.”

All this comes after Russia’s assault on Ukraine, which began on Thursday and has spread across the country. Russian forces have attacked by land, sea, and air, and are currently battling for control of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

The locally employed Ukrainian staff of the US embassy in Kyiv sent a letter to the US State Department Thursday asking for “immediate answer and action” on issues such as evacuating the country and securing visas to the US “as there is no safe place in Ukraine anymore.”

The letter — sent on behalf of hundreds of locally employed staff and seen by CNN — said staff had not received adequate answers or communication from the State Department. 

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Friday the department had received the message and was exploring options to support the staff, and said they had “already taken some important steps.”

As the threat of a Russian invasion loomed, the State Department drew down the number of US employees at the embassy in the Ukrainian capital to only a small team. That team was then relocated to Lviv, a city in the west of the country, and has now been moved to Poland in the wake of the Russian attack.

But the Ukrainian staff were not included in those moves, and the sense of neglect suggested in the letter resembles that felt by locally employed staff of the US Embassy in Afghanistan. As Kabul fell to the Taliban and the US all diplomats and forces from the country, Afghans who had worked for the Embassy were left to make their own perilous journey to the airport to be evacuated.

Earlier this week, ahead of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine, Germany halted certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Completed in September, the Nord Stream 2 is a 750-mile pipeline that could deliver 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

However, the pipeline may also serve as the centerpiece to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

By halting the project, the West has signified it’s ready to target Russia’s energy industry, even if it comes at a cost.

To further understand the significance of this decision — and what specifically the Nord Stream 2 project was aiming to accomplish — watch the following TikTok video from CNN’s Bianca Nobilo.

There will be an all-senators classified briefing on the Russia invasion of Ukraine at 7:15 p.m. ET Monday, according to a Senate aide.

Who will give the briefing is to be announced.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby conducts a news briefing at the Pentagon on Friday, February 25, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia.

The US is “going to provide additional security assistance” to Ukraine, but “how it will be done is still being worked out,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said Friday.

“We’re very actively engaged in those efforts, to help them better defend themselves through both lethal and non-lethal assistance,” Kirby said during a press briefing at the Pentagon.

He added that he hasn’t detailed every shipment of aid to Ukraine that the US has made because of the security situation.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on Friday, February 25, 2022.

The State Department has been in touch with US citizens still in Ukraine, the White House says, but the administration is standing by President Joe Biden’s comments that he would not send troops in to help evacuate them.  

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the US has “been in touch from the State Department with every American we can reach.”

She directed reporters to the State Department for more specifics. 

Psaki also reiterated that the US has been “warning for months now about the dire circumstances developing in Ukraine, and conveying very directly to American citizens they should leave.”

The Motherland Monument is pictured at dawn Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday, February 25, 2022.

The Russian Federation’s objective in Ukraine is to “secure control of the population and change the regime,” UK Chief of Defense Intelligence, Sir Jim Hockenhull, said Friday in a statement issued by Downing Street. 

The British intelligence official also noted that Russia “continues to conduct strikes across Ukraine” with a “concerted series of strikes” launched on the country’s capital, Kyiv, overnight Thursday into Friday. 

“Multiple Rocket Launchers have been employed in Chernihiv and Kharkiv,” Hockenhull continued. 

“Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to offer strong resistance, focusing on the defence of key cities throughout Ukraine,” he added. 

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington on Wednesday, February 23, 2022.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Friday downplayed Moscow’s claims that it is willing to engage in diplomatic discussions with Kyiv, saying that diplomacy cannot succeed as Russia attacks Ukraine.

“It is our belief that Moscow has sought to engage in the pretense of diplomacy,” Price said at a State Department briefing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov seen in this June 16, 2021 file photo in Geneva, Switzerland.

The US will join the European Union in directly sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, the White House confirmed on Friday.

CNN’s Phil Mattingly and Jeremy Herb reported earlier Friday the US was planning to impose sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin according to two people familiar with the decision.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the decision came following a phone call between President Biden and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Asked what changed between Friday and Thursday, when Biden announced a new round of sanctions that did not include Putin, Psaki said the option had “been under consideration and on the table for some time.” 

“The President’s strong view and strong principle from the beginning of this conflict, and even before I should say, has been to take actions and steps in alignment with our European partners, and this is certainly evidence of that,” Psaki said.

The Russian leader will become the highest-profile target in the effort to impose costs on the Russian economy and Putin’s inner circle in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additional Russian officials are likely to be included, one of the people said.

The European Union and United Kingdom also announced they would introduce sanctions targeting Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday. 

More background: The decision to target Putin directly across Western allies marks the most personal escalation of a sweeping effort to respond to Russia’s actions through economic penalties. While it’s unclear the extent of the direct effect — officials have long said Putin’s finances are opaque and difficult to track — the symbolism of targeting the Russian leader is clear.

President Joe Biden takes questions after making a statement about Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, 2022, at the White House in Washington, D.C.

President Biden said that he and NATO allies discussed “our shared commitment to collective defense and Transatlantic security” when they met virtually Friday afternoon.

“As President Putin threatens the very foundations of international peace and security, NATO is once again demonstrating that it stands for freedom and democracy,” the President said in a statement.

Biden again pledged the US would defend NATO territory.

Immediately after the summit, Biden said he met with Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky and “commended the brave actions of the Ukrainian people who were fighting to defend their country.”

“I also conveyed ongoing economic, humanitarian, and security support being provided by the United States as well as our continued efforts to rally other countries to provide similar assistance,” Biden wrote.

In a statement on Friday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) officially ended Russia’s accession process to become a member. The process had already been postponed in 2014, following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

The council of OECD also requested that any project funded by Russia be terminated, and released a statement on its website condemning the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Ninety-two members of the Chernobyl power plant operational personnel are being held hostage by Russian forces, Ukrainian ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova said during a press conference in Washington, DC, on Friday.

Because the power plant personnel are being held hostage, they are not able to work in shifts and follow the strict regulations that the power plant requires, she said.

The responsibility of the power plant now “relies on Russian forces and Russian army,” Markarova said. Ukraine is reaching out to all nuclear regulators and other countries to alert them to the situation at Chernobyl, she added.

The White House on Thursday condemned Russia for taking hostage civilian staff of the Chernobyl power facilities in northern Ukraine and demanded their immediate release. 

The Biden administration believes that Russia will threaten to kill the families of Ukrainian soldiers if they do not surrender, a US official said on Friday amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The State Department did not immediately respond when asked why the US believes that this is what the Russians will do. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has recently warned of the possibility of widespread human rights abuses against the Ukrainian people carried out by Russia.

“All evidence suggests that Russia intends to encircle and threaten Kyiv, and we believe Moscow has developed plans to inflict widespread human rights abuses – and potentially worse – on the Ukrainian people,” he said on Thursday. 

Ukraine’s foreign minister echoed US concerns about the possibility of forthcoming human rights abuses on Friday. Citing intelligence, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said there could be Russian false flag operations that would erroneously cast the Ukrainians as the aggressors.

“According to intelligence, Russia plans a massive false flag operation to  ‘dehumanize’ Ukrainians and accuse Ukraine of alleged inhuman actions. Don’t trust fakes. Ukraine defends its land in a just and defensive war. Unlike Russia, we don’t target kindergartens and civilians,” Kuleba tweeted. 

The US official also said the Kremlin is carrying out a disinformation campaign to suggest a large number of Ukrainian troops have already surrendered to Russian forces. 

“We commend the Ukrainian people for showing strength and determination in response to an unprovoked attack by a significantly larger military,” the official said, adding “We are concerned, however, that Russia plans to discourage them and induce surrender through disinformation. Our information indicates Russia is creating a disinformation campaign by publicizing false reports about the widespread surrender of Ukrainian troops.”

On Thursday President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 137 people were killed during the first day of Russia’s invasion, but he said that they died a “heroic death” and that they did not surrender. 

Martin Griffiths, OCHA's under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, speaks at a press conference in Geneva in 2021.

The United Nations humanitarian presence will remain in Ukraine and will work to expand and scale up their operations, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)’s Martin Griffiths said Friday. 

Griffiths said that this year alone, the UN and its partners have delivered about 150 tons of assistance to the Donbas region. He noted that UN staff are “bunkered down at the moment,” but said they continue to expand efforts. 

The expansion is accompanied by the establishment of an inter-agency operations center in Geneva, where Griffiths said he will be heading this weekend. He recalled UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ Thursday announcement of $20 million in humanitarian aid and said the funds would help support emergency operations along the contact line in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. 

He underscored the importance of allowing for safe access to UN workers in the region. 

The UN humanitarian chief also said they are currently facilitating the temporary relocation of nonessential UN staff and eligible family members within Ukraine for the purpose of their security and safety. 

“There are no plans at the moment to relocate our staff outside the country, but we’ll continue, obviously, to evaluate the developing security situation,” Griffiths said.

People wait on the platform of a train station in Kyiv on February 25.

The Ukrainian Railway Company has on Friday announced a number of special evacuation trains running from Kyiv to the western parts of Ukraine.

The extra trains are departing from Kyiv’s main rail and suburban station.

The company announced the added trains will be for Rakhiv, Uzhhorod, Truskavets, Vorokhta, Kovel, Chernivtsi and Lviv.

Here are some details the company provided about these evacuation trains:

The company has asked those traveling on the special trains to not disclose their locations and not to be surprised if emergency lighting is used. 

“The less the train looks like a garland, the safer the journey,” it added.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that NATO will “do what it takes” to defend all its allies, including Ukraine, and “every inch of NATO territory,” confirming that the NATO Response Force (NRF) had been activated for the first time in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. 

“This goes far beyond Ukraine — this is about how Russia is actually challenging and contesting core values of our security, and demanding that NATO should withdraw all forces and infrastructure from almost half of our members,” Stoltenberg said. 

The activation of the response troops does not mean that any US or NATO troops will go into Ukraine, which is not a member of the alliance. US President Joe Biden has been clear that US troops are deploying to eastern Europe to help bolster NATO countries nervous about Russia’s aggressive actions, and they will not be fighting in Ukraine.

Speaking during a press briefing following a rare meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government in Brussels, Stoltenberg clarified that while the US, Canada and European allies have “deployed thousands of more troops” to the eastern part of the alliance, NATO is not deploying the entire response force. 

“We have over 100 jets at high alert, operating in over 30 different locations and over 120 ships from the high north to the Mediterranean,” Stoltenberg said. “We activated the defense plans yesterday, and now elements of this force are being deployed.”

According to Stoltenberg, the size of the NATO Response Force has “tripled since 2014 to roughly 40,000 troops.”

“I am not saying we are deploying the whole thing, I’m saying we are deploying elements,” he reiterated.

The United States is planning to impose sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as Friday, according to two sources familiar with the decision.

The Russian leader will become the highest profile target in the effort to impose costs on the Russian economy and Putin’s inner circle in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Additional Russian officials are likely to be included, one of the sources said.

The US action follows reports the European Union plans to target Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with sanctions.

US President Joe Biden has said sanctioning Putin has been an option under consideration, telling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Thursday it was “on the table.”

People take shelter in the basement of a building in Kyiv on February 25.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that Russian troops were “very close to the capital” and predicted “a difficult night” for the city.

“The situation now is threatening for Kyiv, no exaggeration. The night and the morning will be difficult,” Klitschko said in the address posted on his Telegram channel on Friday. 

He added that Kyiv hospitals were operating in wartime mode and said checkpoints have been installed at the main entrances to the city and near strategic facilities in the capital. 

“We are doing this to protect Kyiv,” he said, adding “I thank the people of the city for their willingness to defend the capital and the country, along with other units of the Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies.”

CNN earlier reported that US intelligence officials are concerned that Kyiv could fall under Russian control within days, according to two sources familiar with the latest intelligence.

Poland has shipped a convoy with ammunition to Ukraine, according to the country’s Minister of Defense Mariusz Błaszczak, making it the first publicly acknowledged shipment of military aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.

“A convoy of ammunition we are donating to Ukraine has already reached our neighbors. We stand by the Ukrainians, and show solidarity against Russian aggression,” he said in a tweet.

The tweet neither described the sort of ammunition Poland sent the Ukrainians nor the amount. 

European aviation regulators are doubling the size of the warning zone around Ukraine, fearing “mid-range missiles penetrating into controlled airspace.”

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has expanded its warning for airlines and other civilian operators from 100 nautical miles to 200 nautical miles of the Ukrainian border with Russia. 

EASA said the expanded area now factors in the “risk posed by the threat of missile launches to and from Ukraine.”

The threat is real: In 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a surface-to-air missile, killing nearly 300 people. Western officials and a Dutch-led investigation said Russian President Vladimir Putin bears responsibility for the incident, but Putin denied it. 

Poland and the Czech Republic will close airspace for Russian airlines following Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday that he is drawing up legislation that will lead “to the closure of airspace for Russian airlines.” 

The Czech Republic’s Minister of Transport Martin Kupka said the country will stop operations of all Russian carriers on its territory starting tomorrow. “As of midnight today, we are stopping the operation of all Russian air carriers on Czech territory,” he said on Twitter.

Yesterday, the United Kingdom announced it is banning civilian Russian aircraft from its airspace.

Russia President Vladimir Putin is seen in his office during a virtual meeting with members of his security council on February 25.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been very clear about his basic goals in invading Ukraine: He wants to disarm the country, sever its ties to the NATO military alliance and end the Ukrainian people’s aspirations of joining the West.

While guessing exactly how he plans to execute that plan is a different matter, history can serve as a guide for understanding Putin’s possible endgames.

Crimea annexation 2.0

If Russian forces are able to capture Ukraine’s port city of Odessa, it’s possible to imagine a land bridge extending all the way across southern Ukraine, potentially even linking Transnistria — a separatist enclave in Moldova, where Russian troops are stationed — to Odessa, Crimea and southern and eastern Ukraine.

A partitioned Ukraine

If Putin has partition in mind, Galician Ukraine and the city of Lviv — close to the Polish border — could potentially be a part of a sort of rump Ukrainian state, while Russia focuses its attentions on the east of the country.

A pro-Russian state

Western intelligence officials warn that Russia is planning to topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government, replacing it with a puppet regime. Putin has suggested he sees the current democratically elected government in Ukraine as illegitimate, and lamented the ousting of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. Ukraine does have other politicians who might be eager to fill the ranks of a pro-Russian government, installed possibly by force.

An uneasy occupation

Russia says it doesn’t want to be an occupier, but it’s easy to imagine a scenario where Russia tries to impose its form of heavy-handed rule on Ukraine. That would be hard pill for Ukrainians to swallow as they have free press, freewheeling local politics and a tradition of street protest. In the Russian political system, genuine opposition protests are largely banned, or very difficult to organize.

A violent occupation

Putin has had no problem backing violent local strongmen with scant regard for human rights. His own political rise began with the pacification of Chechnya, a breakaway republic in Russia’s north Caucasus.

A republic of fear

Russia has a fearsome domestic security apparatus that jails and persecutes dissidents and keeps potentially troublesome opponents out of politics. Ukrainians living in Crimea — which was occupied by Russia in 2014 and annexed after a referendum widely seen as a sham — experienced first-hand what it’s like to live in a state where the FSB, Russia’s state security service, is all-powerful.

You can read the full analysis here.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov holds a meeting in Moscow on February 25.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday he will introduce new sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “imminently” on top of sanctions the United Kingdom announced yesterday.

A readout of Johnson’s call with NATO leaders published on the UK government’s website read that Johnson urged them “to take immediate action against SWIFT to inflict maximum pain on President Putin and his regime.”

SWIFT is a high-security messaging network that connects thousands of financial institutions around the world.

The UK PM told the group that “a catastrophe was engulfing Ukraine,” and that “President Putin was engaging in a revanchist mission to over-turn post-Cold War order.”

Johnson said that Putin’s “ambitions might not stop there” and that the Russian attack on Ukraine was “a Euro-Atlantic crisis with global consequences.”

“The Prime Minister added that the world must make certain President Putin would fail in this act of aggression. Ukraine was showing strong resistance. He added that there could no normalization of relations with Russia after this act,” the Downing Street statement read.

“The UK stood ready for any further request from NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe to go further with military support to NATO from UK Armed Forces,” Johnson told NATO leaders, per the statement.

The European Union has added Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to its sanction list, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said in a press conference on Friday following the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.

“This is the final outcome of the discussion that was not finished yesterday at the European Council and has been decided today by the ambassadors and the Ministers,” Borrell said.

“So President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov are in the list of sanctioned people together with the remaining members the Duma who are supporting this aggression,” he added.

Borrell said that the only world leaders who were sanctioned by the European Union are Syrian President Assad and Belarusian President Lukashenko.

“And now Putin,” he added.

US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about sanctions and defense assistance on Friday.

The White House confirmed that the meeting ran from 11:52 a.m. to 12:32 p.m. ET.

The Ukrainian President shared details of the meeting via his official Twitter account, saying:

The conversation comes after Zelensky, who is still in Kyiv, delivered a speech overnight saying Ukraine was “alone in defending our country.” 

“Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of joining NATO? Honestly, everyone is afraid,” Zelensky said. Today I asked 27 European leaders if Ukraine will be in NATO, asked straight up. Everyone is afraid, not responding, but we are not afraid.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg delivers opening remarks from NATO headquarters in Brussels during a virtual summit of NATO heads of state and government on February 25.

Following an extraordinary virtual summit of NATO heads of state and government on Friday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged Russia again to stop the attack on Ukraine.

“We call on Russia to stop this senseless war, immediately cease its assaults, withdraw all of its forces from Ukraine and turn back to the path of dialogue and turn away from aggression,” he said in a press conference adding that “the Kremlin’s objectives are not limited to Ukraine.”

He warned that the alliance is facing a new normal in European security.

“Russia has demanded legally binding agreements to renounce further NATO enlargement and to remove troops and infrastructure from allies that joined after 1997,” he added.

Stoltenberg also warned that “the world will hold Russia and Belarus accountable for their actions — Russia as the aggressor, Belarus as the enabler.”

US soldiers arrive at Adazi Military Base in Adazi, Latvia on February 25. 

For the first time ever, the NATO Response Force has been activated as a defensive measure in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Tod Wolters activated the multinational force consisting of land, air, sea and special operations forces from the allies that can deploy quickly in support of the NATO alliance.

The activation of the response troops does not mean that any US or NATO troops will go into Ukraine, which is not a member of the alliance. US President Joe Biden has been clear that US troops are deploying to eastern Europe to help bolster NATO countries nervous about Russia’s aggressive actions, and they will not be fighting in Ukraine.

Wolters called it a “historic moment” in his statement.

The force has not yet deployed but are on standby.

CNN reported early Friday that air raid sirens have been going off in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, which is less than 50 miles from the border of Poland, a NATO member.

The United States announced Thursday that 7,000 US troops will be deployed to Europe. President Biden said he’d authorized “the deployment of ground and air forces already stationed in Europe,” to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. He also said he’d authorized “additional US force capabilities” be sent to Germany as part of NATO’s response, including some forces that had been placed on standby several weeks ago.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated the importance of respecting Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron’s diplomatic adviser on Friday, according to a statement from the Élysée Palace.

“[Wang] welcomed France’s action in favor of dialogue between Ukraine and Russia,” according to the statement. 

Emmanuel Bonne, Macron’s diplomatic adviser, told Wang that it was Russia that decided to launch an invasion despite France’s efforts to avoid war. Bonne reiterated that Russia should stop its military operations immediately, according to the statement.

Wang called for easing of tensions and to “put an end to civilian casualties by resuming negotiations.” 

Earlier, China continued to refrain from acknowledging Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dodging more than 30 questions in its Ministry of Foreign Affairs daily briefing on Friday about Russia’s aggression and the current situation in Ukraine. 

“All countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected” and “the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be jointly upheld,” foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin repeatedly responded to reporters, sticking closely to statements made from China in previous days.

Wang also reiterated that China “understands Russia’s legitimate concerns on security issues,” and echoed calls for parties to “exercise restraint and avoid further escalation of the situation.”

CNN’s Beijing bureau contributed to this post.

Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a room before a meeting with members of his security council in Moscow on February 25.

As the situation continues to unfold in Ukraine and Russian troops advance on the capital, Kyiv, Russia President Vladimir Putin called on Ukraine’s armed forces to overthrow their government in remarks to his security council Friday.

“Do not let Banderites [Ukrainian nationalists] and neo-Nazis use your children, wives and old people as human shields,” Putin said in remarks aired on Russian state television.

He went on to urge Ukraine’s armed forces to “take power into your own hands.”

Putin frequently repeats the baseless and inaccurate claim that the democratically elected Ukrainian government is a “Nazi” or “fascist” regime. The language has been roundly condemned internationally, especially considering that President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish.

Asked by CNN at a news conference Friday what Moscow’s plans were for the leadership of Ukraine as Russian forces advance on Kyiv, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov replied, “Nobody is going to attack the people of Ukraine.”

Where things stand: For now, Ukraine’s democratically elected government remains intact but Zelensky warned in a video address late Thursday that “enemy sabotage groups” had entered this city and he is their No. 1 target. “They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state,” he said.

In an address Friday morning, Zelensky said Ukrainians were “showing their true heroism” but that they were defending their country “alone.” The sanctions imposed on Russia by Western powers are “not enough to get these foreign troops off our soil,” he said.

CNN’s Matthew Chance, Tim Lister and Laura Smith-Spark also contributed reporting to this post.

The Russian Central Bank is increasing the supply of bills to ATMs after demand for cash increased in recent days. 

“All customer funds on bank accounts are fully preserved and available for any transactions,” the statement added.

On Thursday, Russian state news agency TASS reported that several banks had seen an increase in withdrawals – notably of foreign currency — following the Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine. 

The Russian stock market suffered massive losses and the country’s currency, the ruble, devaluated significantly after markets started reacting to news of the invasion. The markets have since recovered slightly.

NATO said that it is making “significant additional defensive deployments of forces” to the eastern part of the alliance, noting that while “deterrence and defense” measures are being deployed, NATO’s actions remain “preventive, proportionate and non-escalatory.”

“We have deployed defensive land and air forces in the eastern part of the Alliance, and maritime assets across the NATO area,” according to a statement released Friday.

The joint statement comes after a rare virtual summit of NATO Heads of State and Government on Friday, where members met to discuss what NATO has described as the “gravest threat to Euro-Atlantic security in decades.”

“We will continue to take all measures and decisions required to ensure the security and defense of all Allies,” the statement read, adding “we stand united to protect and defend all Allies. Freedom will always win over oppression.” 

The joint statement also outlined that NATO reaffirms its “unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Ukraine, and will continue to provide “political and practice support” to the Ukrainian government. 

A man checks his phone while walking down a street in Moscow in 2021.

The Russian government moved to restrict Facebook’s access to the country on Friday after Russia’s ministry of communications accused the social network of unlawful censorship.

In a statement, ministry officials said Facebook had committed human rights violations and “violated the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens” when the social network on Thursday allegedly clamped down on several Russian media outlets on its platform.

The list allegedly includes the official Facebook accounts of RIA Novosti, Zvezda TV, Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru, according to the statement.

CNN could not immediately verify the allegations. Facebook didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Russian statement said Facebook had violated Federal Law No. 272-FZ, a law that it said governs human rights and the rights of Russian citizens. 

“In accordance with the decision of the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding the social network Facebook, starting from February 25, 2022, Roskomnadzor, in accordance with the law, takes measures to partially restrict access,” the statement read.

The extent of the restrictions was not immediately clear, nor their impact on Facebook’s operations in Russia or that of Facebook’s parent, Meta. 

A general view of Minsk, Belarus, on February 18.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov gave more details Friday about a proposal floated earlier in the day for sending representatives to the Belarusian capital of Minsk to talk with Kyiv, claiming the Ukrainian side had countered with a proposal to meet in Warsaw and then dropped contact. 

“Putin immediately phoned President (Alexander) Lukashenko and agreed that the Belarusian side and the president would do everything to best organize the arrival of delegations and ensure their safety — this element is also important now — and the conditions for conducting these negotiations directly,” Peskov said in a phone call with reporters.

Peskov added: “After a short pause, the Ukrainians said that the Ukrainians wanted to go to Warsaw. And after that they took a pause and left the connection.” 

Prior to Peskov’s comments, Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych told CNN Friday that the Ukrainian government is “considering the proposal.” 

The Kremlin spokesperson claimed that the pause was accompanied by the deployment of multiple launch rocket systems in residential areas, including in Kyiv by “nationalist elements,” something Peskov said the Kremlin considered “extremely dangerous.”

More context: Peskov’s statement echoed a claim made earlier in the day by the Russian military, which said — without evidence — US military and intelligence advisers have instructed Ukrainian military leaders to place rocket artillery systems in residential areas to provoke return fire on local residents. 

The US has observed at least 200 total missile launches since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a senior US defense official told reporters Friday, adding that “some of these missiles we have assessed have impacted civilian residential areas.”

A Ukrainian man who lives in Poland said he will go back to fight for his country if the situation deteriorates.

Ukraine has banned all male citizens ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country, according to the State Border Guard Service.

Trains from Kyiv are delayed because there are delays with the IT systems, according to Polish authorities, McLean reported.

Cases of water and food are at the train station in anticipation of the refugees.

Yaryna Arieva and Sviatoslav Fursin spent their first day of marriage collecting their rifles to defend Ukraine.

Ukrainian citizens Yaryna Arieva and Sviatoslav Fursin got married just hours after Russia launched its invasion of their country. They spent their first day as a married couple collecting their rifles and getting ready to defend Ukraine.

It was supposed to be a May wedding, but the couple were no longer sure of what their future holds.

Ukrainian citizens Yaryna Arieva and Sviatoslav Fursin got married just hours after Russia launched its invasion of their country.

Arieva and Fursin have both signed up with the Territorial Defense Forces, a branch of Ukraine’s armed forces that is comprised mostly of volunteers. Once armed, the couple headed to the office of their political party, the European Solidarity.

“Right now, we are here and we are doing everything we can. So there is a lot of work to do, but still, I hope everything will be OK,” Arieva said, adding that some civilians who are not part of the defense force were also given rifles.

More than 50,000 Ukrainian refugees have left the country in less than 48 hours, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, who said the majority have gone to Poland and Moldova. 

The United Nations refugee agency estimated Thursday that tens of thousands will be displaced as Russia invades Ukraine. The agency is stepping up operations and capacity in Ukraine and neighboring countries as people start to flee.

Delta Air Lines is ending its partnership with Russian airline Aeroflot in response to the invasion of Ukraine. 

Delta did book passengers on some flights operated by the Russian national airline, but says it is ending its codeshare agreement effective immediately. The agreement allowed Delta to ticket its passengers on Aeroflot flights from Moscow and enabled Aeroflot to ticket its passengers on some Delta flights operated from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Los Angeles International Airport.  

“We have removed our code from Aeroflot-operated services beyond Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport and removed Aeroflot’s code from Delta-operated services from Los Angeles and New York-JFK,” said a statement from the airline. “Accommodations will be made for customers affected by these changes.”

Delta’s decision was first reported by Politico.

Aeroflot joined the SkyTeam Alliance in 2004, a partnership of 19 international airlines of which Delta is also a member. Delta said it does not operate flights to Ukraine or Russia.

Democrats in Congress are calling for the White House to take new steps to blunt the impact of soaring gasoline prices in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. 

“As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to cause volatility in the global oil market, we are writing to urge you to consider using all of the tools at your disposal to insulate Americans from rising gasoline prices,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to President Biden dated Thursday.  

The letter, signed by nine senators and one congressman, specifically cited an additional release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Biden said Thursday the United States stands ready to release more oil from America’s oil stockpile, if necessary. 

The lawmakers also encouraged the use of “diplomatic pressure” to persuade global oil producers to boost production and “restrictions on petroleum exports unless they will advance our national security goals and lower prices for consumers.” 

The national average price for regular gasoline climbed to $3.57 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA. That’s up by about 3 cents in just a day and 23 cents in a month. Gasoline prices move with a lag to oil.

Russia has “about a third of their combat power” in Ukraine out of the total amassed for invasion on Ukraine’s borders right now, a senior US defense official told reporters Friday.

“That does not mean that they will not commit more,” the official said. “I’m just giving you a snapshot of what we’re seeing right now.”

Read more about how Russia’s force compares to Ukraine’s troops here.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “gravely concerning” and emphasized the need for US coordination with NATO allies to “respond appropriately” to the attacks.

“I think what’s happening between Russia and Ukraine is gravely concerning to all of us who are watching it,” Tai told US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack during a United States Department of Agriculture event Friday.

Tai underscored how “we as a government stand with our NATO allies,” adding that “there is a lot of coordination that we need to do with those allies, but also within our own government and economy to look at appropriate responses to the Russian actions.”

This comes as concerns have grown over the potential impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on agricultural products worldwide. Russia is the world’s top exporter of wheat, and Ukraine is also a significant exporter of both wheat and corn.

Tai described Ukraine as an “agricultural powerhouse” Friday and noted to Vilsack that USDA and USTR are “going to have to work very closely to assess where the impacts are going to be, especially when it comes to agricultural trade.” 

The US will further need to determine “how our trade policies take into account the foreign policy needs but also our domestic economic needs to ensure that we can be the kind of trading partner that our allies need us to be and how we take care of our own,” Tai said.

The US has observed at least 200 total missile launches since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a senior US defense official told reporters Friday. 

The missiles being launched are a mix of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, the official said. The missiles are primarily being launched from ground and air, the official added.

The death toll of these missile launches is unknown by the US.

“I cannot tell you at this time what the casualties are, and I cannot tell you at this time whether those civilian residential areas were deliberately targeted. All I can tell you is we have seen that they have been impacted by some of these missiles,” the official said.

There is an “amphibious assault” underway on the Sea of Azov, located west of Mariupol in Ukraine, a senior US defense official told reporters on Friday.

Russians are now “putting potentially thousands of naval infantry ashore there,” the official said.

The official did not know exactly what these infantrymen are going to do in Ukraine, but the official said “the general assumption is they are going to move towards the northeast, towards Mariupol and the Donbas region.”

Russian forces advancing towards the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv are “meeting more resistance than they expected,” a senior US defense official told reporters on Friday. 

The official added, Russians “continue to try to move on Kyiv,” even though they are meeting Ukrainian resistance.

The Russian invasion of the country is continuing in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine and from the south towards the Ukrainian city of Kherson on the river, the official added. These are still the three main advances on the country that Russia began yesterday, the official said.

There have been “no additional airborne drops over the last 24 hours” in the Kharkiv area, the official said.  

The biggest change that the US is seeing is from the advance in the south, the official added. Russian forces are still moving towards Kherson on the river, but they are also splitting off some forces to go to the northeast “in the direction of Mariupol and the Donbas region,” the official said.

“The south towards Kherson on the river — we do assess that they continue to move in that direction. But we also think that — based on what we’re seeing in addition to moving from Crimea on an axis towards the northwest towards Kherson — they are also splitting off some forces to go to the northeast, sort of in the direction of Mariupol’ and the Donbas region,” the official said.

Here’s a map to understand the locations better:

A look at the locations where Ukraine is under Russian military assault

Video taken by a webcam shows a massive Russian military convoy moving in Nova Kakhovka, Ukraine, at a Dnieper River crossing.

In the video, dozens of military vehicles are seen alongside a railroad near one of the only two Dnieper River crossings. The convoy moves toward the bridge and then appears to double back and head west. 

In the video, an airstrike can also be seen in the distance. 

The two bridges at Nova Kakhovka — a railroad bridge and a vehicle bridge — are vital for the Russians, who have reportedly been trying to advance their frontline in the area and cross from the south bank,to the north bank of the Dnieper River. 

There are only two other Dnieper River crossings for over 100 miles: a bridge a Kherson — which a CNN team in the city says has been the site of intense clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces — and a railroad bridge just east of Kherson at Prydniprovs’ke. 

The webcam had been broadcasting the location of the Russian convoy for hours, showing the dozens and dozens of military vehicles moving around the bridges. But at 11:11 a.m. local time, the camera suddenly was forced downward so it could only view the ground directly beneath it. 

In frame, as the camera looks at the ground, are a number of Russian soldiers. 

Watch the video:

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01:40 - Source: cnn

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba briefs the media after a UN General Assembly meeting in New York on February 23.

In a telephone call on Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on his US counterpart Secretary of State Antony Blinken to urge “hesitant European” leaders to ban Russia from SWIFT, a high-security messaging network that connects thousands of financial institutions around the world.

The United States and European Union have so far held back from cutting Russia off from SWIFT after failing to agree on a step that some have called the “nuclear option.”

In a tweet shared after the call between Kuleba and Blinken, the Ukrainian foreign minister noted that the two also discussed the “further supply of defensive weapons to Ukraine.”

Russian defense ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov claimed Friday that Russian forces staged a “successful landing operation” to capture Hostomel airfield on the outskirts of Kyiv. 

“More than 200 Russian helicopters were involved in the operation,” according to the statement. “The success of the landing was ensured by the suppression of the entire air defense system in the landing area, the complete isolation of the combat area from the air and the active conduct of electronic warfare.”

Konashenkov claimed that Russian forces killed more than 200 of the opposing forces and that there were no casualties among in the Russian Armed Forces.

CNN could not immediately corroborate those claims, but a CNN team on the ground witnessed Russian airborne troops taking positions at the airfield Thursday. 

The Russian statement claimed — without evidence — that US military and intelligence advisers have instructed Ukrainian military leaders to place rocket artillery systems in residential areas to provoke return fire on local residents, echoing propaganda claims that the Russian military has made in Syria to counter allegations of civilian casualties caused by Russian strikes. 

“I appeal to Ukrainian citizens,” Konashenkov said. “Your nationalist leadership uses the same methods as the terrorists. They want to use you as a human shield. The Russian Armed Forces will not inflict any strikes on residential areas of the Ukrainian capital.”

More context: Two residential buildings in Kyiv suffered damage in the early hours of Friday, but it’s not clear if they were intentionally struck or hit by debris, or if anyone was injured.

Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Evgeny Yenin told CNN a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet was shot down over Kyiv. Photos tweeted by the emergency forces appear to show a fire at a two-story private house with debris from what appears to be a plane nearby. It is unclear if the house was hit by remnants of the jet.

Separately, images showed firefighters working to put out a blaze at an apartment building on the left bank of the city.

Hackers working for the Belarusian Ministry of Defense have sent a “mass” of phishing emails trying to compromise the private email accounts of Ukrainian military personnel and their associates, Ukrainian officials alleged Friday. 

It wasn’t immediately clear how successful the hacking attempts have been, but they could provide useful information to Belarusian intelligence services, and in turn Russian forces as they bear down on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. 

After breaching an email account, the hackers send additional malicious emails to the account’s contacts to propagate the hacking campaign, the Ukrainian government’s Computer Emergency Response Team said in a Facebook post.

Victor Zhora, a senior cybersecurity official at the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, told CNN that the aim of exposing the phishing campaign was to “prevent [it from having] a bigger impact.” Zhora said officials don’t know how successful the hacks have been yet. 

CNN has reached out to the Belarus’ Ministry of Defense for comment.

Belarus has played a key role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces crossed the Belarus-Ukraine border with support from Belarus, according to Ukrainian officials. The Biden administration has sanctioned nine Belarusian defense firms for their support of the invasion. 

The alleged Belarusian hacking group has had a long history of hack-and-leak operations targeting NATO members. An information operations group linked with the hackers planted a fake letter on the website of a Polish military academy that purported to denounce the presence of US troops in Poland, according to cybersecurity analysts. 

In November, US cybersecurity firm Mandiant linked the hacking group to the Belarusian government with “high confidence,” adding that the group has supported information operations in Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Germany.

As we left Mariupol for Zaporizhzhia, there were few people on the streets, no queues at ATMs and the last petrol station on the way out, wasn’t just running on fumes — it was out of gas completely.

We had used a hotel in Zaporizhzhia as a base for two weeks. So we stocked up there — put a hot meal in us — for our seven-hour drive to Kyiv.

The hotel staff where we had been staying were happy and chatty. They were people of sunny dispositions, doing honest jobs — even when the sky was lead grey.

But it was clear something had changed. One of the managers approached me and said, “Are you CNN?”

“Yes, is everything OK?” I replied.

“Yes, of course, we wanted to make sure you had a good stay. But also to tell you, did you hear about Chernobyl?” He went on to tell me that the Zaporizhzhia municipality has told him their water is already showing higher traces of radioactivity following the fighting and capture by Russian forces.

I said, we had heard, and I hoped the hotel has some water tanks in reserve — they do.

But at the front desk, a woman I had seen everyday didn’t greet me like she had done before. She was just looking at her computer with tears in her eyes.

But the most heart-wrenching moment came as our fixer, Olga Konovalova, said goodbye to her parents in the hotel lobby. They were hugging each other — her parents clearly loving and worried as she bravely covers what will undoubtedly be the defining moment in her life.

I felt bad for hovering and saying we need to leave. But I turned to her mother and said, “Everything will be OK.”

I uttered the heroic Ukrainian phrase, “Slava Ukraini” [Glory to Ukraine]. Usually, you reply raucously, “Geroyam Slava” [glory to the heroes], which she did … but that rousing phrase had a different feeling when a top lip quivers and a tear hits a cheek.

Russia has made “limited progress” in its attack on Ukraine Friday, according to the latest British defense intelligence update.

“Russian strikes and exchange of artillery fire continued throughout the night and into the morning,” it said, adding that they continue to see “no evidence of strikes in Lviv.”

Annalena Baerbock, German Foreign Minister, speaks to the media before the special meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council on February 25 in Brussels, Belgium.

The European Union will sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday.

“They are responsible for the fact that innocent people die in Ukraine, they are responsible for the fact that the international system is trampled upon and we as Europeans do not accept that.”

On Thursday, the EU announced a raft of sanctions against Russia which European Commission chief Ursula Von der Leyen said would increase Russia’s borrowing costs, raise inflation and “gradually erode Russia’s industrial base.”

Heavily armed Russian troops are pushing rapidly toward Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, and US officials are warning the city could fall within days.

The military capabilities of these two nations are so imbalanced that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky implored his Western allies overnight to do more than impose sanctions to get Russian troops off Ukrainian soil.

Here’s how the two country’s military capabilities stack up.

Defense spending

Just a look at the amount of money the two nations spend on defense gives an indication of the gap between the two. Ukraine spent $4.7 billion in 2021, just over a tenth of nuclear-armed Russia’s $45.8 billion, according to “The Military Balance” report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), published last week.

While the Russian government launched a drive in 2008 to modernize its military, after a brief war with Georgia laid bare equipment shortfalls, Ukraine’s weapons are still largely from the Soviet era. In its ambitions to join NATO, however, Ukraine has reorganized the structure of its armed forces, and has plans to re-equip its air force with Western combat aircraft by the mid-2030s. It also plans to improve its naval capability.

Manpower

Where Russia has 900,000 active personnel in its armed forces, and 2 million in reserve, Ukraine has 196,000 and 900,000 reservists. Ukraine on Wednesday began conscripting reservists aged 18-60, according to IISS.

In land forces alone, Russia has a twofold advantage, with 280,000 troops to Ukraine’s 125,600. And its air force is nearly five times as strong, with 165,000 to Ukraine’s 35,000.

But in terms of how many troops are in this particular operation, Yohann Michel, a research analyst who worked on the IISS report, said Russia had an estimated 200,000 personnel in and around Ukraine.

“That’s including around 60 battle groups. The situation is evolving rapidly and that number could change, but it’s very large, and that’s important. It’s one of the largest in eastern Europe that we’ve seen in years — in my lifetime,” Michel told CNN.

“Ukrainian numbers are more difficult because everything they have is now mobilized and they have called in reservists.”

Read more here.

There are reports of heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces around the city of Chernihiv, some 105 kilometers (about 65 miles) north of the capital of Kyiv.

Video from the city showed the regional headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine on fire. A witness contacted by CNN said it was still burning late Friday.

The Russian defense ministry has acknowledged fighting in the area, saying Russian forces “have completed the blockade of the city of Chernihiv,” essentially cutting it off.

Ukraine says its forces inflicted heavy losses on Russian columns around Chernihiv, destroying more than thirty tanks.

Earlier Friday, the chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said the Ukrainian military had managed to hold the defense and repel the breakthrough of Russian troops in Chernihiv.

Chernihiv is on the main route from Belarus to Kyiv.

The Russian ground assault targeting the Ukrainian capital is developing from three directions.

Two are northern routes from Belarus, but the Ukrainians say they have slowed the Russian advance from the north-west after destroying a bridge at Ivankiv.  

Another group of Russian armor has attacked Sumy in the northeast, which is also on a main road to Kyiv.  

As Russian troops advance, US intelligence officials are concerned that the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv could fall under Russian control within days, according to two sources familiar with the latest intelligence.

Officials believe Russia has been facing stiffer resistance from Ukrainian forces than it anticipated, according to the sources. Ukrainian officials have vowed to resist any occupation.

Here are some of the major moments leading to this point:

France will provide defensive equipment to Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a written speech to the country’s two legislative bodies Friday. The speech did not detail what the equipment would be.

Macron wrote that France will provide Ukraine with a “additional budgetary assistance of 300 million euros” and “will provide the defensive material they need.”

France has not previously provided arms to Ukraine but has provided humanitarian aid and budgetary support.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed for citizens to take up arms against Russian troops and have been distributing guns and ammunition to reservists.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia is ready to send a delegation to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, for talks with Ukraine, Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti reported, which Ukraine said it is “considering.”

“As you know, today the President of Ukraine [Volodymyr] Zelensky announced his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine,” Peskov said, according to RIA. “Initially, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the purpose of the operation was to help the LPR and the DPR [Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, separatist statelets in eastern Ukraine recently recognized by Russia as independent], including through the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. And this, in fact, is an integral component of neutral status.” 

Putin has called for the “denazification” of Ukraine, language that has been roundly condemned internationally, especially considering that Zelensky is Jewish. 

Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych told CNN on Friday that the Ukrainian government is “considering the proposal” to hold talks with the Russian delegation in Minsk. 

In a separate video message issued soon after noon on Friday, Zelensky called for direct talks with Putin. 

This comes with Ukraine under significant pressure, as Russian forces appear to be closing in on Kyiv. They have entered the Obolon district in the north of the city, just a few miles from its center, according to the Ukrainian defense ministry.

Zelensky has not directly proposed neutral status but has signaled a willingness to discuss it, while insisting his country be provided security guarantees. 

In a video message Thursday, Zelensky said: “Today we heard from Moscow what they want to talk. They want to talk about Ukraine’s neutral status. I asked all the partners of the state if they are with us. They are with us, but they are not ready to take us into an alliance with them.” 

“We are not afraid to talk with Russia, we are not afraid to talk about everything, about security guarantees for our country. We are not afraid to talk about neutral status,” Zelensky added.

European Union leaders have been considering what some are calling the “nuclear option” of removing Russia from SWIFT, a high security network that connect thousands of financial institutions around the world, following the invasion of Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden said Thursday that removing Russia from SWIFT is not the direction the rest of Europe wants to go in at this moment, but noted that taking the nation out of the network is “always an option.”

“The sanctions that we’ve proposed on all their banks are of equal consequence, maybe more consequence than SWIFT,” Biden said, referring to the latest round of sanctions he announced today.

The Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday urged the West to ban Russia from SWIFT in a tweet. Earlier on Thursday, CNN reported that the EU was undecided as to whether to cut Russia off from SWIFT and that EU nations were split over the decision.

But what is SWIFT, and what could it mean for Russia? The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication was founded in 1973 to replace the telex and is now used by over 11,000 financial institutions to send secure messages and payment orders. With no globally accepted alternative, it is essential plumbing for global finance.

Removing Russia from SWIFT would make it nearly impossible for financial institutions to send money in or out of the country, delivering a sudden shock to Russian companies and their foreign customers — especially buyers of oil and gas exports denominated in US dollars.

SWIFT is based in Belgium and governed by a board consisting of 25 people, including Eddie Astanin, chairman of the management board at Russia’s Central Counterparty Clearing Centre. SWIFT, which describes itself as a “neutral utility,” is incorporated under Belgian law and must comply with EU regulations.

What happens if Russia is removed? There is precedent for removing a country from SWIFT.

SWIFT unplugged Iranian banks in 2012 after they were sanctioned by the European Union over the country’s nuclear program. Iran lost almost half of its oil export revenue and 30% of foreign trade following the disconnection, according to Shagina.

“SWIFT is a neutral global cooperative set up and operated for the collective benefit of its community,” the organization said in a statement in January. “Any decision to impose sanctions on countries or individual entities rests solely with the competent government bodies and applicable legislators,” it added.

It’s not clear how much support there is among US allies for taking similar action against Russia. The United States and Germany have the most to lose if Russia is disconnected, because their banks are the most frequent SWIFT users to communicate with Russian banks, according to Shagina.

The European Central Bank has warned lenders with significant exposure to Russia to prepare for sanctions against Moscow, according to the Financial Times. ECB officials have also asked banks how they would respond to scenarios including a move to prevent Russian banks accessing SWIFT.

Read more about SWIFT here.

CNN’s Kate Sullivan in Washington, DC, Niamh Kennedy in London and James Frater in Lviv contributed reporting to this post.

Russian Navy's Project 22160 Patrol Vessel Dmitriy Rogachev 375 sails through the Bosphorus Strait on the way to the Black Sea on February 16.

Turkey cannot stop the passage of warships through its straits leading to the Black Sea as Ukraine has requested, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper on Friday, referencing a clause in the Montreux Convention that allows vessels to return to their home base.

Ukraine appealed to Turkey to block Russian warships from passing through the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits. Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey is limited in its ability to do so.

“In the case of a war where Turkey is not a party, there are measures that can be taken regarding the countries that are parties in the war,” he said.

“If there is a demand for the ships of the warring countries to return to their bases, then it must be allowed,” he added, referring to Russia. 

More background: The Montreux Convention, signed in 1936, gives Turkey control over the passage of vessels through those two key straits. In peacetime, civilian vessels can pass freely, although there are certain restrictions on the passage of ships not belonging to Black Sea countries. 

Black Sea nations — which, along with Turkey, Russia, and Ukraine — also include Bulgaria, Georgia and Romania. 

Warships can navigate through the straits during peacetime, but under conditions that restrict aggregate tonnage depending on if they are or are not a Black Sea country and limits the duration of stay in the Black Sea for non-Black Sea nations. There are also limitations on the caliber of weapons they can carry, and Turkey needs to be notified of the request.

The US Embassy building in Kyiv remains empty on February 23 as the diplomatic staff were ordered to leave Ukraine.

In a security alert posted overnight, the US Embassy in Kyiv again called on US citizens in Ukraine to “depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options,” and said those who remain “should exercise increased caution due to the potential for active combat, crime, and civil unrest.”

“U.S. citizens remaining in Ukraine should carefully monitor government notices and local and international media outlets for information about changing security conditions and alerts to shelter in place,” the alert said.

It called the security situation in Ukraine “highly volatile,” warning that “conditions may deteriorate without warning,” and noted that “on February 24, Russia’s forces attacked major Ukrainian cities, and the Ukrainian government closed its airspace to commercial flights due to Russia’s military actions.”

There is no longer a diplomatic presence inside Ukraine. The small group of diplomats who had remained have been relocated from Lviv to Poland.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a new video message Friday morning, urging resistance to the Russian invasion and criticizing Ukraine’s allies for the second time in just a few hours.

“Russia was hit with sanctions yesterday, but these are not enough to get these foreign troops off our soil. Only through solidarity and determination can this be achieved.”

Zelensky added that the Ukrainian people are continuing to resist, “demonstrating real heroism. The enemy was stopped in most of the directions. There are fights going on … We will not tire.”

Zelensky opened his short address by saying it was the “second morning of the all-out war.”

“In the sky over Kyiv (this morning), there was bombing. There was a fire at a residential apartment building. Such attacks on our capital haven’t occurred since 1941.”

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a tweet Friday morning that three people were injured, one of whom is in critical condition “as a result of a wreckage from a rocket hitting residential building 7-A on Koshitsya Street.”

Ukrainians in the capital Kyiv huddled in air raid shelters Friday morning, as a battle for the city raged overhead and Ukrainian forces sought to hold back rapidly advancing Russian troops by blowing up a key bridge.

Last night, along with many others, Oleksiy Goncharenko went to Kyiv’s police headquarters. He was there to pick up his rifle.

Goncharenko is not — and has never been — a military man. He is a member of Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, and one of the many civilians who responded to the call by Ukrainian authorities to get ready to defend the country from the Russian invasion.

“I’m not a professional soldier at all, but I can try and I can do my best and I will do it if Russian forces enter Kyiv,” he told CNN. 

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that 18,000 guns with ammunition have been distributed to reservists in the Kyiv region alone since the Russian invasion began early Thursday. 

Goncharenko is not a reservist or a member of the volunteer Territorial Defence Forces. In fact, as a member of the parliament, he is not allowed to join the defense forces, according to the Ukrainian law.

Goncharenko with the rifle given to him by the Ukrainian authorities.

On Friday morning, Goncharenko packed a change of clothes, basic hygiene supplies, his documents, laptop and chargers and headed to the headquarters of his local defense battalion. He said volunteers as well as professional soldiers were assembling there. The professionals were in charge, making plans and telling them what to do. For now, the command is to stay put.

“We are probably the last reserves because, certainly, we are not very professional,” he said. “But part of our battalion, the most professional ones, they already engaged yesterday in the Hostomel Airport fightings,” he said. 

Goncharenko said he has two children — a 3-year-old and a 16-year-old son. His younger child has no idea about what is going on. The older one is, like everyone in this country right now, in shock. 

“It’s hard for him. But he tries to be a man,” he said.

A woman holds her daughter as they sit in a basement used as a bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 24.

The second day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began with the sound of explosions in Kyiv, the country’s capital.

It’s now mid-afternoon in the city. Here’s what you need to know.

A fight for Kyiv: CNN reporters heard blasts in the capital early Friday, after the Biden administration warned that Russian forces which entered Ukraine through the Belarus border are just 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the city.

Residents huddled into air raid shelters, as a Ukrainian official said cruise or ballistic missiles hit the city. There were reports of troops blowing up a bridge to stop an advance of Russian forces.

US intelligence officials are concerned that Kyiv could fall under Russian control within days, according to two sources familiar with the latest intelligence.

Ukraine boosts military: Some 18,000 guns with ammunition have been distributed to reservists in the Kyiv region alone since the invasion began early Thursday, according to Ukrainian authorities. 

The country has banned all male citizens from 18 to 60-years-old leaving the country as it mobilizes to fight Russia, according to the State Border Guard Service.

Death toll rises: Late Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that according to preliminary figures, 137 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the Russian attack began, and another 316 soldiers have been wounded. CNN has not been able to independently verify these figures. Early Friday, a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet was shot down over Kyiv. 

Presidential target: Zelensky said late Thursday that Russian sabotage groups have entered Kyiv, that he is “target number 1” — and his family is “target number 2.” He added he is staying in government quarters, and that Russia wanted to “destroy” the head of state.

Anti-war protests: Hundreds of people were arrested in cities across Russia for staging anti-war demonstrations on Thursday. Similar protests in support of Ukraine were held around the world, in New York, Paris, Berlin, London, and other international centers.

Sanctions: More financial measures have been unveiled across the West in response to Russia’s invasion, including by the EU and President Joe Biden. Russia was also stripped of this year’s Champions League final.

Here are the Ukrainian locations impacted by the Russian military assault

Cars burn after Russian military strike, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in central Kyiv, Ukraine October 10, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

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Related gallery Photos: Russia invades Ukraine

Moscow is ready to send representatives to the Belarusian capital of Minsk to talk with Kyiv, according to a readout from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti reported. 

Minsk was chosen as a platform for the conversation, the readout added.

Remember: This comes with Ukraine under significant pressure, as Russian forces appear to be closing in on Kyiv. They have entered the Obolon district in the north of the city, just a few miles from its center, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

Pope Francis met with Moscow’s ambassador to the Vatican at the Russian embassy on Friday to express his concerns about the invasion of Ukraine.

Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni told CNN the Pope went to express his “concern about the war” in Ukraine and met with the ambassador for over an hour and half.

The visit is considered to be an unusual occurrence and is not in keeping with normal protocols.

Refugees from Ukraine sit on a bus taking them to a temporary shelter after crossing the border from Shehyni in Ukraine to Medyka, Poland, on February 25.

Poland is seeing a large uptick in people crossing into the country from the Ukraine as people flee a Russian invasion, according to Stanisław Żaryn, spokesman for the minister of special services coordinator’s office. Żaryn said that over the last 24 hours, there has been “increased traffic on the border” and that “29,000 people passed through the border crossings from Ukraine.”

Speaking to Polish broadcaster Radio Plus, Żaryn said that about half of those crossing the border have said they are fleeing the war.

“These are people who must be considered as war refugees. These people will be accepted in Poland in accordance with all procedures,” he said.

Poland is preparing for a larger wave of refugees, with the Polish government getting ready to accommodate them by setting up reception centers near the border to help process those arriving from Ukraine.

A Eurofighter stands at the air base in Neuburg an der Donau, Germany on February 24. In response to the growing tensions, the Bundeswehr is preparing to transfer more Eurofighters to Romania to protect NATO's southeastern flank.

Germany’s Defense Ministry on Friday said it has expanded its support of NATO’s air-policing mission in Romania.

”We have already stepped up Air Policing in Romania to secure the airspace on NATO’s south eastern flank - to up to six Eurofighters by the end of March,” the defense ministry tweeted, adding ”in mixed operations with Italy they will perform armed protection flights as ‘Quick Reaction Alert.’”

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said that Germany intended to expand its support of the Romania mission and also to comply with further requests from the alliance.

Earlier this month, Germany sent three combat aircraft to participate in the NATO mission to protect Romanian airspace. Germany also recently deployed 350 additional troops to Lithuania as part of its NATO engagement — in addition to its 550 troops that are part of the German-led NATO combat unit.

A “counter-offensive” is underway in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, the Russian defense ministry’s spokesperson said Friday, claiming Ukrainian servicemembers had surrendered to Russian troops and pro-Russian separatists.

CNN could not immediately check the veracity of those claims.

“Groupings of troops of the DPR and LPR [the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics] continue counter-offensive operations against units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with fire support from the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” Igor Konashenkov said. “Troops of the DPR … advanced one more kilometer deep into the defense of the nationalist [Ukrainian] battalions in the Volnovakha direction.”

Konashenkov also claimed advances by Russian and separatist forces in the area of Stepovoye [Stepove] in the Luhansk region, and claimed without further evidence that 150 Ukrainian servicemembers had laid down their arms and surrendered in those operations.

Chernobyl taken: The Russian military also confirmed its airbone troops had taken control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Ukrainian officials on Thursday confirmed that Russian forces had overtaken and seized control of the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

Konashenkov said background radiation in the area of the nuclear power plant was “normal.” He claimed that the Chernobyl operation was organized so that “nationalist formations or other terrorist organizations will not be able to take advantage of the current situation in the country to organize a nuclear provocation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made baseless claims about Ukraine’s nuclear ambitions. The White House on Thursday condemned Russia for “holding staff of the Chernobyl facilities hostage.”

The structure of the New Safe Confinement (NSC) covering the 4th block of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which was destroyed during the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, is pictured on November 22, 2018.

Sanctions expected: The Russian government was expecting US and NATO allies to retaliate against the invasion of Ukraine with sanctions and says it will retaliate, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

“We were expecting it,” Peskov said. “Of course, responses will follow. The law of reciprocity will operate here.”

“But as to how symmetrical or asymmetrical they will be, it will depend on our analysis,” Peskov went on to say. “And our own interests. We will act solely on the basis of our own interests.”

The spokesman for the Kremlin also said he expects diplomatic relations with the global community to be fully restored, once there is widespread understanding of Russia’s motives.

“As soon as there is an understanding that this operation was necessary, an understanding of the inevitability of firm decisive actions on the part of Russia to ensure its security, one way or another, a period of normalization will come,” he said.

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaks with CNN from Kyiv on February 25.

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko — armed and surrounded by defense forces — spoke with CNN this morning from the streets of Kyiv, saying that Ukrainians are ready to defend their country.

“Everybody should understand, [Russian President] Putin declared a war not for Ukraine. Putin declared a war to the whole world,” he said.

He called the Russian president “simply mad.”

Poroshenko said his battalion is about two to three kilometers (about 1.5 miles) from the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.

He said Ukraine needs the West’s assistance, including sanctions, kicking Russia out of SWIFT — a high security messaging network that connects thousands of financial institutions around the world — and blocking Russian planes and ships in EU and NATO ports.

Poroshenko also thanked the United States and United Kingdom for providing defense weapons.

“This is important for us that we feel we are not alone, that you are together with us,” he said.

The former president said Putin will never capture Ukraine.

“No matter how many soldiers he kills, how many missiles he has, how many nuclear weapons he has, we Ukrainian[s] are free people with a great European future,” he said.  

Watch the interview:

In a new video message on Friday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky again called for direct talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Speaking in Russian, Zelensky said: “I would like to address the President of the Russian Federation once again. There is fighting all over Ukraine now. Let’s sit down at the negotiation table to stop the people’s deaths.”

Zelensky returned to the theme of international sanctions against Russia, which he wants to be much tougher.

Zelensky also made a direct appeal to the people of Europe. 

“Go out, go out on the squares. Demand the end of this war. It is your right. When bombs fall in Kyiv, this is happening in Europe and not just in Ukraine. When missiles kill our people it is killing of all, all Europeans.”

“Call your governments for Ukraine to receive more, more financial and military assistance. because this help is the help for you, for Europe.”

“This is not just Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is the beginning of the war in Europe,” he said.

Russia willing to negotiate, says Chinese state media: In a phone call Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin said Russia is “willing to conduct high-level negotiations” with Ukraine, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Putin said the US and NATO have “long ignored Russia’s reasonable security concerns and repeatedly reneged on their commitments,” and their “continuous advance of military deployment eastward” has “challenged Russia’s strategic bottom line,” CCTV reported.

Xi said that China “decides its position based on the merits of the Ukraine issue itself” and that China supports Russia and Ukraine resolving their issue through negotiation, the report added.

It also said “China is willing to work with all parties in the international community to advocate a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept.”

Residents shelter in a subway station.

Many Kyiv residents have fled their homes as the Russian army appears to be closing in on the Ukrainian capital.

Maryna, who lives in the city, has been sheltering in a subway station since Thursday.

“There are a lot of families with kids and animals here. We are not that far from [the district of] Obolon, where sabotage and reconnaissance forces recently landed. That’s why I’m here,” she told CNN in a message.

Maryna with her cat Hermes.

Maryna – who brought her cat Hermes to the shelter with her – marveled at how calm everyone there was. She said there was enough food and water for everyone and people were in good spirits.

“Children are playing ball, someone is sleeping, someone is reading the news. No panic. I rarely see such kind-hearted people that Ukrainians turn into in the face of danger,” she said.

Ferrari's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Jr steers his car during the second practice session for the Formula One Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom circuit in Sochi, Russia, on September 24, 2021.

Formula One announced on Friday it will not race in Russia this year, after the country launched an invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian Grand Prix, which joined the calendar in 2014, was scheduled for September 25 at Sochi’s Olympic Park, but F1 organizers said it was “impossible” to hold the race in the “current circumstances.”

Onlookers at a devastated apartment block in Kyiv after an airstrike on February 25.

The UN is “gravely concerned” about the situation in Ukraine, and is receiving increasing reports of civilian casualties, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani said Friday.

“Civilians are terrified of further escalation, with many attempting to flee their homes and others taking shelter where possible,” Shamdasani said, adding that “the military action by the Russian Federation clearly violates international law. It puts at risk countless lives and it must be immediately halted.”

The High Commissioner, she said, has stressed that “states that fail to take all reasonable measures to settle their international disputes by peaceful means fall short of complying with their obligation to protect the right to life.”

The UN Human Rights office said it is also “disturbed by the multiple arbitrary arrests of demonstrators in Russia who were protesting against war yesterday. We understand more than 1,800 protesters were arrested. It is unclear whether some have now been released,” Shamdasani said.

She added that detaining individuals for exercising their rights to freedom of expression or of peaceful assembly constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of liberty and called for the protesters’ immediate release.

A person is detained by police during an anti-war protest in Moscow, Russia, on February 24.

Some background: Ukraine has already seen thousands of casualties from the long-running conflict with Russia. War broke out in 2014 after Russian-backed rebels seized government buildings in towns and cities across eastern Ukraine. More than 14,000 people have died in the conflict in Donbas since 2014. Ukraine says 1.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes, with most staying in the areas of Donbas that remain under Ukrainian control and about 200,000 resettling in the wider Kyiv region.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting in Moscow on February 25.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that “nobody is going to attack the people of Ukraine,” despite the continuation of strikes by Russian forces on Friday, telling CNN that there will be “no strikes on civilian infrastructure.”

“I will stress: read what Putin said. No strikes on civilian infrastructure, no strikes on the personnel of the Ukrainian army, on their dormitories, or other places not connected to the military facilities. The statistics that we have confirm this,” Lavrov said.

“Nobody is going to somehow degrade the Ukrainian Armed Forces. We are talking about preventing Neo-Nazis and those promoting genocide from ruling this country,” he continued.

“The current regime in Kyiv is under two external control mechanisms. First, the West and the US. And second, neo-Nazis,” he said, repeating baseless claims that have been repeatedly rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

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A Russian military airfield near the Ukrainian border has been struck by at least one missile, according to geolocated social media video and images.

It’s unclear who carried out the attack: neither the Ukrainian nor Russian governments have commented.

The videos appears to show a long-range missile hitting the airfield and several fires in the runway, which is in Millerovo, Russia, about 10 miles from the Ukraine border.

Komsomolskaya Pravda, a local newspaper, reported that a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile hit the military facility on Friday 25, citing a source in the law enforcement agencies of the region. 

Another media outlet, the Rostov Gazeta, reported Millerovo was attacked by armed formations of the Ukrainian army. It also reported an unspecified number of wounded. 

Millerovo is part of the Southern Military District and it houses the 31st guards fighter aviation regiment which has two squadrons of Su-30SM.

People protest in front of the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, on February 24 against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

German lawmakers criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz for not cutting Russia off from the vital high-security payment network, SWIFT, in the European Union’s latest round of sanctions on Moscow.

German Parliament member Norbert Röttgen, from the Christian Democrats party, said on Twitter that cutting Russia from SWIFT is the ”sharpest sword” for sanctions, adding that: ”The SWIFT exclusion of Russia must not fail now because of Germany!”

This sentiment was shared with other German politicians. ”Russia must now be cut from SWIFT!” German Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht wrote on Twitter Thursday, adding ”If Germany prevents this key sanction, the way will be prepared for Putin to expand his war in #Europe.”

Germany is Russia’s biggest gas customer and has tried to keep the Nord Stream 2 pipeline out of global politics. On Tuesday, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz halted the Nord Stream 2 approval process over the Ukraine crisis.

Thousands protest: Meanwhile, thousands of people took to the streets of Berlin on Thursday night in a show of support for Ukraine, with many carrying Ukrainian flags, CNN’s team in the city reports.

Police said that around 2,500 people – among them some Ukrainian expatriates living in Germany – gathered at the Brandenburg Gate, which was lit in Ukraine’s national colors for a second night in a row.

Around 1,500 people also gathered outside Germany’s Chancellery.

Around 150 protesters also gathered outside the Russian Embassy, police said.

Crowds also gathered in other German cities including Potsdam, Leipzig and Munich in a show of support as Moscow began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine Thursday.

Police officers detain a demonstrator during a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Moscow on February 24.

The Russian government has said that people who are against the country’s invasion of Ukraine “do not have the right to organize protest actions” without seeking permission first.

“Under the law, without following the appropriate procedures, these citizens do not have the right to organize protest actions in order to express their point of view,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a conference call with foreign journalists. 

Hundreds of protesters were detained by police on Thursday during anti-war demonstrations, with Russian riot police dispersing people via loudspeakers in Moscow, according to CNN teams in the city.

Under Russian law, large demonstrations require protesters apply for a permit, which has to be submitted no more than 15 but no less than 10 days before the event. Heavy fines – and in some cases even prison time – can be imposed on those who protest without a permit.

Individuals are allowed to stage solo “single pickets,” but it is not unheard of for people to be detained for those as well.

“There are single pickets, but such… well, I would not say mass events… but events with the participation of a certain number of people - they are simply not allowed by law. And therefore, certain measures were taken against them,” Peskov added. 

Police officers detain a demonstrator during a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Moscow on February 24.

Peskov conceded that there are Russians who are against what the Kremlin continues to describe as a “special operation,” and that the government needs to “better explain [its motives] to these citizens.” He also suggested there are more Russians in favor of the invasion than against. 

“The President hears everyone’s opinion and understands the proportions of those who have a different point of view and those who are sympathetic to such necessary operations,” Peskov said.

China has continued to refrain from acknowledging Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dodging more than 30 questions in its foreign affairs daily briefing Friday about Russian aggression and the current situation in Ukraine.

“All countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin repeatedly responded to reporters, sticking closely to statements made from China in previous days.

Wang also reiterated that China “understands Russia’s legitimate concerns on security issues,” and echoed calls for parties to “exercise restraint and avoid further escalation of the situation.”

China also responded to a veiled attack from US President Joe Biden on Thursday that any country that backed Russia would be “stained by association.”

Normal trade to continue: Wang also said China will continue its “normal trade cooperation” with Russia “in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit,” and condemned Western sanctions as “never the fundamental and effective way to solve problems.”

When asked whether China would veto the upcoming UN Security Council resolution condemning Moscow’s actions, Wang evaded the question, saying it “will handle relevant issues in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter on the basis of China’s consistent position,” and that it continues to “promote peace talks in its own way.”

Ukrainian soldiers take positions in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, February 25.

US intelligence officials are concerned that Kyiv could fall under Russian control within days, according to two sources familiar with the latest intelligence.

The sources said that the initial US assessment from before the invasion anticipated that the Ukrainian capital would be overrun within one to four days of a Russian attack remains the current expectation.

Russian forces have moved to within 20 miles of Kyiv, senior administration officials told lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday night.

Officials believe Russia has been facing stiffer resistance from Ukrainian forces than it anticipated, according to the sources. But the officials in that briefing to Capitol Hill declined to say whether they believed Kyiv would fall.

CNN previously reported that a senior US defense official said Thursday that Russia was “making a move on Kyiv.”

Western intelligence officials assess that Russia’s plan is to topple the government in Kyiv and install a Russia-friendly proxy government — but they don’t yet know whether Putin will seek to occupy and hold Ukrainian territory afterwards, one of the sources familiar with the intelligence told CNN.

Officials denounce occupation: Ukrainian officials have vowed to resist any occupation. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry on Friday tweeted at Russian troops entered the Obolon district north of Kyiv that citizens should “Make Molotov cocktails and take down the occupier.”

Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, told CNN Friday that if Russia were to capture Kyiv, the US should arm resistance fighters in the country.

“It certainly does impact our response about who we’re actually arming. At that point we have to make the realization that the Ukrainian military as we know it may be compromised and then I think we have to shift to actually supporting partisans and resistance fighters who are willing to take up the fight against Russia,” Gallego said.

Yuri Ivaniv, a 30-year-old veteran from the conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014, has returned to volunteer service once again to fight invading Russian troops.

Ivaniv told CNN his wife and child back home have emergency bags packed in case they have to flee to Poland.

But it’s a conflict he never anticipated. Asked if he expected to have to fight again after his service in 2014, he said: “No. Never. He’s just mad, you know … Putin.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on people to join the forces fighting Russia’s invasion.

“Our boys and girls, the defenders of Ukraine, held up against this invasion on the first day. Ukrainians are showing their true heroism. Like our ancestors before, they are charging into battle. Russia continues to expect that our forces will grow tired, but we will not tire,” Zelensky said in a video message on Friday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, on February 22.

Western and US intelligence officials are paying close attention for any signs of potential Russian activity in the western Balkans, according to a source familiar with the intelligence, although so far, they have seen nothing out of the ordinary.

Officials are also closely watching the Russian use of its military assets in Moldova in its campaign in Ukraine, where Russia backs the separatist republic of Transnistria.

The attention hints at lingering Western concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions could be greater than Ukraine.

In Ukraine, the source said, Western intelligence officials assess that Russia’s plan is to topple the government in Kyiv and install a Russia-friendly proxy government – but they don’t yet know whether Putin will seek to occupy and hold Ukrainian territory afterwards, the source said. 

A CNN team visited a bridge that crosses from Russian-held areas into Kherson, southern Ukraine. There had been fighting around it, with our team witnessing four large shell craters, 10 discarded Ukrainian armored vehicles and several dead, but the Ukrainians seems to have been able to push them back.

On Friday morning the team also witnessed low-flying jets. Russian forces are said to be just on the other side of the bridge in hidden positions. Meanwhile, civilians are still driving back and forth over the bridge.

CNN’s team is also hearing air raid sirens in Kherson Friday morning.

Some 18,000 guns with ammunition have been distributed to reservists in the Kyiv region alone since the Russian invasion began early Thursday, according to Ukrainian authorities. 

In a joint statement, defense minister Oleksiy Reznikov and Valeriy Zaluzhniy, chief of staff for the Armed Forces, said there were more arms coming.

“Soon we are to receive additional support with modern weapons and other resources from our partners,” they said.

Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered a general military mobilization. 

Zelensky said that “in order to ensure the defense of the state, maintaining combat and mobilization readiness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations,” a broad-based mobilization was ordered, including in the capital, Kyiv, and all Ukraine’s major cities.

This included a ban on all male citizens from 18- to 60-years-old leaving the country, according to the State Border Guard Service

The mobilization also instructed the “conscription of conscripts, reservists for military service, their delivery to military units and institutions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” and other state security services.

Head of the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin attends a news conference in Donetsk, Ukraine, on February 23.

The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said the region would need financial support from Moscow and suggested the possibility of even closer ties with Russia, in a live interview on Russia 24 Friday.

“Of course, the financial component here is quite serious and it will be difficult to do without Russia’s support, but this is only at the first stages,” Denis Pushilin said. “Considering that the DPR will reach the administrative borders in the long run, according to our calculations, [the need for financial aid] will only be for a short-term period.”

“And then we will not only reach self-sufficiency but will also be able to help other regions,” Pushilin concluded.

Some background: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the two controversial separatist-held regions, the DPR and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), Monday in a ceremony carried on state television. On Thursday, Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

Conflict first broke out in 2014 after Russian-backed rebels seized government buildings in towns and cities across eastern Ukraine. Intense fighting left portions of the Donbas region’s eastern Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts in the hands of Russian-backed separatists. Russia also annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in a move that sparked global condemnation.

The Ukrainian government in Kyiv asserts the two regions are in effect Russian-occupied. 

Casualties claimed: Pushilin went on to say Friday wasn’t a calm night for his forces.

“Unfortunately, I must admit that overnight there were wounded and dead among the military personnel [of separatist forces],” he said.

When asked when the military operation could be considered complete, Pushilin said: “As soon as we push back or destroy the weapons that are used to strike at our areas, then we can say that everything is completely safe on the territory of the DPR.”

He claimed several Ukrainian servicemen have been captured by the DPR forces.

CNN cannot independently verify the claims made by Pushilin of casualties inflicted on Ukraine.

Sirens rang out across Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv on Friday morning.

CNN witnessed a group of Ukrainian security forces leave the city police headquarters with weapons and ammunition – apparently heading towards the northern district of Obolon, where fighting has been reported.

What is happening in Kyiv? Ukrainians in the capital huddled in air raid shelters Friday morning, amid claims of troops blowing up a bridge to stop an advance of Russian forces.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Russian reconnaissance troops have entered Obolon, which is just a few miles from the city center.

Before dawn, explosions lit up the sky as Russia targeted the city with missile strikes, according to a Ukrainian government adviser. A CNN team reported hearing two large blasts in central Kyiv and a third loud explosion in the distance, followed by at least three more explosions to the southwest of the city a few hours later.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said airborne assault troops blew up a bridge over the Teteriv River at Ivankiv, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Kyiv, successfully preventing a Russian column of forces from advancing towards the capital.

Read more here:

Tanya, with her children Sasha and Masha, wait on line to buy train tickets at the central train station in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, February 24th, 2022. Photograph: Timothy Fadek / Redux

Related article The grim reality of war hits stunned Ukrainians

General view of the Stade de France on June 22, 2016, in Paris, France.

UEFA has moved its flagship soccer match, the Champions League final, from St. Petersburg to Paris, it announced Friday.

The decision to move the game out of Russia was made on Friday morning at an extraordinary meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee, held in response to “the grave escalation of the security situation in Europe.”

The game, on May 28, will now take place at the Stade de France, it said.

“UEFA wishes to express its thanks and appreciation to French Republic President Emmanuel Macron for his personal support and commitment to have European club football’s most prestigious game moved to France at a time of unparalleled crisis,” UEFA said in a statement.

“Together with the French government, UEFA will fully support multi-stakeholder efforts to ensure the provision of rescue for football players and their families in Ukraine who face dire human suffering, destruction and displacement,” it added.

The Russian and Ukrainian national teams will also play home games at neutral venues, the agency said.

Soccer in the spotlight: UEFA has come under pressure to go further in its response, with some calls across Europe to ban Russia from competitions and end its sponsorship deal with Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Wednesday that English teams should boycott May’s final – if they make it – as a result of Russia’s actions.

“If I was on an English team, I would boycott it,” Truss told British radio station LBC. “I would personally not want to be playing in a football match in St. Petersburg given what the Putin regime is doing.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to “take Ukraine off the map of nations,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday.

In response, the minister told radio station France Inter that European sanctions announced in the last 24 hours are designed to “asphyxiate the functioning of Russia, to strangle the functioning of Russia.”

Putin, Le Drian said, “chose a massive offensive – he has decided to take Ukraine off the map of nations.”

The minister said that French sanctions against Russia that are yet to be announced by President Emmanuel Macron “will be drastic and strong – that means freezing their means, freezing their check books, that means no longer being able to have economic activities in France.”

Asked why restrictions on Russia’s access to the SWIFT banking system were not included in sanctions so far, Le Drian said, “because we had to go quickly.”

The minister said that European leaders had received Ukrainian requests for military, financial and humanitarian aid, which he said they were following up on. 

“They have requested a whole list of [military] equipment that we are studying,” he said. 

Le Drian said that the security of the Ukrainian president is “a central element of what’s going on now,” following comments from Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia was targeting him and his family. 

The minister said that “it’s important that [Zelensky] remains in his post” and that France was ready to help “if necessary”. 

Today “is not the same thing as the Cold War,” Le Drian said. “Now there’s war at the heart of Europe.”

Ukraine’s military chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said Friday that the country’s army was successfully resisting Russian forces advancing from the north. 

Zaluzhnyi said Ukrainian forces had been able to repel the breakthrough of Russian troops in the Chernihiv area north of the capital, Kyiv.

However, it appears Russian forces are consolidating their positions to the northwest of Kyiv after taking the airbase at Hostomel on Thursday.

Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defense, Anna Malyar, tweeted Friday about a “possible invasion of the occupiers in Vorzel and surrounding settlements,” which is about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Kyiv.

Malyar added that Russian troops had seized two Ukrainian army vehicles, had put on Ukrainian army uniforms and were trying to advance on Kyiv.

Monuments around the world have been lit up in the yellow and blue colors of the Ukrainian flag in solidarity with Ukraine following the beginning of Russia’s invasion on Thursday.

In Brussels, the Cinquantenaire Park was illuminated during an emergency European Union summit on the Russia-Ukraine crisis in the Belgian capital on Thursday. Following the meeting, EU leaders unveiled a tranche of sanctions against Russia.

The Colisseum, one of Rome’s most recognizable landmarks, was also lit up in Ukrainian colors on Thursday.

Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station was lit up in yellow and blue on Friday in a show of support for Ukraine. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called Russia’s invasion “brutal” and “unprovoked,” on Thursday, while announcing new sanctions against Moscow.

Meanwhile, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra received a long, standing ovation when they played the Czech and Ukrainian anthems before their concert in Prague on Thursday. It is likely that many in the audience lived through the 1968 Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Friday that Russia intends to take the whole of Ukraine, but that it has failed to deliver its main objectives.

On her official Twitter account, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss described the Russian invasion as “barbaric.”

“Putin’s assault on Ukraine is barbaric, unjustified and shows a callous disregard for human life. We will continue to hold Putin to account and remain steadfast in our support,” Truss tweeted, reiterating the United Kingdom’s solidarity with Ukraine.

The International Criminal Court reminded the world on Friday that it is watching Ukraine, and could investigate any “acts of genocide” and “war crimes” seen there.

“My office will continue to closely monitor the situation in Ukraine,” he added. “In the independent and impartial exercise of its mandate, the Office remains fully committed to the prevention of atrocity crimes and to ensuring that anyone responsible for such crimes is held accountable.”

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) severed its diplomatic ties with Russia on Friday in protest at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

A bomb shelter at the Kyiv metro’s Polytechnic Institute station was briefly inaccessible to people on Thursday night, the city’s Deputy Mayor Kostiantyn Usov said in a statement on Facebook. 

Usov described being unable to immediately access the station, which has been serving as a safe place for people to congregate. 

“I had to knock for about five to seven minutes, loudly enough,” he said. 

Across Kyiv, red arrows painted on walls indicate the locations of the nearest bomb shelters. The city first put them up after war broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014, but they were recently repainted.

The deputy mayor said police decided to close the door following a number of incidents. People who knocked and presented their identification documents were allowed to enter.

Usov asked Kyiv’s residents to report any similar incidents. 

Kyiv’s metro system — which has three lines and more than 50 stations — houses a number of bomb shelters, with red arrows painted on walls throughout the city pointing to the nearest one. 

Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko speaks to CNN from Ukraine on February 25 as aircraft fly overhead.

Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko was urging the international community to give assistance on Friday when she was interrupted by the sound of jets flying overhead.

“If this continues at the level it is happening now, these air strikes happening, the tanks rolling in, Ukraine will not be able to stand for long against such a massive Russian aggression, and we need assistance,” she told CNN from Kyiv. She added that more sanctions are needed, as well as more weapons in Ukraine and the closure of the country’s airspace.

She paused for a while, glancing out of her window off camera. “I’m sorry … as we speak, there were several planes flying in the direction of the city. And we know from the President’s address just several minutes ago that air strikes are to begin right about now,” she said, with a rumbling noise in the background.

She added that despite the fear, she also felt faith “in the Ukrainian army and in the Ukrainian people.”

“People here are brave and are not up to giving up their country,” she said. “We do not want to live under somebody’s rule, whoever it is. We are a free people. We have fought for our freedom. Our men and women have died for this freedom.”

A person carries a banner during an anti-war protest, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, in Moscow, Russia February 24. The banner reads "No to war. Freedom to political prisoners".

In his video message to the Ukrainian people early Friday morning, President Volodymyr Zelensky said “sooner or later, Russia will have to talk to us about ending this military operation, about ending this invasion, and the sooner this conversation begins, the less Russia’s losses will be.”

Zelensky also welcomed protests in Russia against the invasion.

On Thursday, anti-war protesters held small demonstrations across Russia, according to independent media and monitoring organizations — even as they faced arrest and police threatened to disperse crowds by physical force.

Russia bars demonstrations without a permit, but Russians may stage individual, single-person protests.

As of Thursday evening Moscow time, at least 1,237 people had been detained in at least 44 cities across Russia, independent monitoring group OVD-Info reported. 

The sun rises over Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on Friday amid Russia's invasion of its former Soviet neighbor.

Ukrainians are waking up on Friday morning to the realization that the previous day was not just a bad dream. Their country is being invaded by Russia, their capital city targeted by strikes. 

A number of loud bangs rang through Kyiv at daybreak and air raid sirens repeatedly sounded on the deserted streets. 

An apartment building on the left bank of the city was ablaze overnight after apparently being hit by debris. 

An apartment building was on fire in Kiev Friday after apparently being hit by debris.

In another incident, a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet was shot down over the capital. Pictures from the emergency services showed a two-story home on fire after fragments of a plane fell on it, although it was unclear if they were from the Su-27 jet.

While an overnight curfew officially lifted at 7 a.m., the city remained eerily quiet with many residents choosing to stay inside. Many others have already escaped Kyiv — the roads heading west of the capital were jam-packed on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the country’s airborne assault troops blew up a bridge over the Teteriv River at Ivankiv, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Kyiv, in an effort to prevent a column of Russian forces from advancing toward the capital.

While the ministry said the Russian advance was stopped, the information will provide little comfort to the residents sheltering in place in Kyiv.

A Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet was shot down over the capital, Kyiv, early Friday, according to Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Evgeny Yenin.

Photos tweeted by the Ukrainian emergency forces appear to show a fire at a two-story house after fragments of a plane fell on it. It’s unclear if those are the remnants of the Su-27 jet.

Photos tweeted by the Ukrainian emergency forces appear to show a fire at a private home after fragments of a plane fell on it. It's unclear if those are the remnants of the Su-27 jet.

As morning arrived in Ukraine on Friday, residents in some cities awoke to the sounds of air raid sirens and explosions.

In the capital, Kyiv, CNN teams on the ground reported hearing blasts during the early hours, then again as dawn broke.

Reporters in both Kyiv and Lviv, located in the west of the country, said they heard air raid sirens continue for several minutes.

CNN teams did not see incoming fire.

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Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says airborne assault troops have blown up a bridge over the Teteriv River at Ivankiv, located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Kyiv, in an effort to prevent a Russian column of forces from advancing toward the capital.

The ministry said the Russian advance was stopped.

Earlier Friday morning, top US officials estimated that Russian forces which entered Ukraine through the Belarus border were only about 32 kilometers (20 miles) from the capital.

Punishing sanctions were never going to stop Russian missiles, tanks and bombs. But the Biden administration hopes they offer an early edge in the first showdown of a new and dangerous 21st century coda to the Cold War.

Hours after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, the US drew battle lines for what is sure to be a bitter standoff with the Kremlin likely to last at least until President Joe Biden or Russian President Vladimir Putin leaves power.

Harsh sanctions: The US leader vowed on Thursday to make Putin a “pariah” by isolating Russian banks, punishing his rich cronies, supporting Ukrainians and containing the Kremlin’s attempt to roll back the outcome of the last generational Washington-Moscow struggle, which brought democracy to Eastern Europe.

While Russia seeks to clamp down on Ukraine, biting sanctions are sure to trigger a reaction that will escalate the confrontation between the Russian leader and the West.

Referring to the impact of economic warfare, James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, told CNN: “I rather doubt Putin will sit still for that,” predicting he could seek to inflict pain on the US, for instance, with cyberattacks.

The Ukrainian people: A third factor will also dictate this first chapter of the new US-Russia showdown — the capacity of the Ukrainian people to resist invasion, a possible occupation and what could turn out to be puppet pro-Moscow leaders.

A related question of whether the United States should send arms to support a rebellion against Moscow is about to become a hot political issue in Washington.

Read the full analysis:

Related article Analysis: Biden wages first showdown of new Cold War-style duel with Russia

An audio clip has emerged of what appears to be an exchange between Ukrainian soldiers on an island in the Black Sea and an officer of the Russian Navy.

All the soldiers — who were defending Snake Island — are reported to have been killed, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

At some point on Thursday, a Russian warship approached the island. 

The alleged response from a Ukrainian soldier: “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.”

Listen to the exchange:

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CNN teams in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western city of Lviv heard air sirens sounding for several minutes on Friday morning about 7 a.m. local time (12 a.m. ET). 

The sirens could be heard across the two cities. 

CNN teams did not see incoming fire.

Early Friday morning, before dawn broke, CNN reporters in Kyiv heard loud blasts in the capital.

The sun has risen over Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on Friday after a night punctuated by the sound of explosions following Russia’s invasion of the country on Thursday.

Here’s the latest:

A frame from a video taken from social media shows an explosion over Kyiv on Friday.

Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, was targeted with missile fire before dawn Friday, according to a Ukrainian government adviser, as Russia continued its military assault on the country.

A CNN team on the ground reported hearing two large blasts in central Kyiv and a third loud explosion in the distance. Images showed a apartment block on fire, but the cause of the fire is unclear.

Ukraine’s deputy interior minister has attributed an explosion over Kyiv to a Ukrainian anti-missile system shooting down a Russian missile. CNN has not been able to verify the assessment.

Just a day earlier, Russian forces entered by land, sea and air, prompting a barrage of international condemnation and sanctions amid questions about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s wider ambitions for the country.

Read more here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remains a “prime target for Russian aggression,” US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday evening amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room,” Price said Zelensky “does, in many ways, represent — even personify — the democratic aspirations and ambitions of Ukraine — of the Ukrainian people.”

The Ukrainian President and his team “are going to make decisions in the coming hours, in the coming days, based on what’s in the best interest of them, what’s in the best interest of Ukrainian people, what’s in the best interest of the Ukrainian state,” Price added.

Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine earlier Thursday, sending troops into the ex-Soviet nation from three fronts and firing missiles on several locations near the capital, Kyiv, in a broad attack that has drawn deep condemnation from world leaders.

At dawn, troops and armor crossed into eastern Ukraine from the Russian border, as well as from Belarus in the north and from Russia-annexed Crimea to the south.

Read more:

Related article Ukrainian President remains 'a prime target for Russian aggression,' State Department says

President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled harsh new sanctions on Russia meant to punish the country for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, calling out Russian President Vladimir Putin for his aggression even as he acknowledged it would take time for the new measures to alter Putin’s behavior.

The new sanctions include export blocks on technology, a centerpiece of Biden’s approach that he said would severely limit Russia’s ability to advance its military and aerospace sector. He also applied sanctions on Russian banks and “corrupt billionaires” and their families who are close to the Kremlin.

Biden insisted his threat to directly sanction Putin remains “on the table” and is “not a bluff,” but he didn’t answer when asked why he hasn’t directly sanctioned the Russian President yet.

Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins what could stop Putin if sanctions can’t, Biden responded, “I didn’t say sanctions couldn’t stop him.”

The new sanctions targets are not limited to Russia. The US also went after individuals in Belarus, including the country’s defense minister, for that country’s role in facilitating the Russian attack.

And Biden announced a new deployment of ground and air forces to NATO’s eastern flank, even as he reiterated US troops would not engage in direct conflict in Ukraine.

Read more:

President Joe Biden speaks about the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Related article Biden to unleash additional sanctions on Russia now that Ukraine assault is underway

Eight years after a pro-European protest movement toppled a Kremlin-backed president in Kyiv and Russia fomented a grinding war in the country’s east, people in Ukraine have been on tenterhooks wondering what Russian President Vladimir Putin might do next.

Their worst nightmare began to unfold as dawn broke on Thursday, after Putin declared the start of a “special military operation” in Ukraine. As he spoke, people in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and other parts of the country woke to the sound of large explosions and air raid sirens. In disbelief, they turned on their TVs and radios to hear news that an invasion had begun, with Russian troops breaching borders to the north and south.

A large boom at 6 a.m. shook Yana and Sergii Lysenko from sleep in their Kyiv home. At first, Yana thought her husband was mistaken, it couldn’t be an attack, and told him to go back to sleep. Then they heard another blast.

After hearing from friends that traffic had clogged roads out of the capital, the couple decided at first to remain at home with their 3-year-old daughter, packing their bags just in case.

“We are a bit in shock and trying to stay calm, not to show anything to our child,” Sergii added.

By the afternoon, Yana and Sergii had decided to leave their Kyiv home. They jumped into the car and started heading west to Ternopil, a town 300 miles west of Kyiv, about 120 miles from the Polish border.

Read more:

Tanya, with her children Sasha and Masha, wait on line to buy train tickets at the central train station in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, February 24th, 2022. Photograph: Timothy Fadek / Redux

Related article The grim reality of war hits stunned Ukrainians

Actor and filmmaker Sean Penn is in Ukraine, attending press conferences and meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky as Russia begins its invasion of the Eastern European country.

Ukraine’s Office of the President said Penn came to Kyiv to “tell the world the truth about Russia’s invasion of our country,” according to a translated Facebook post from the office, along with a photo of Penn attending a news conference led by a presidential adviser.

Zelensky, who was a professional actor before launching his political career, also shared a video of a meeting he had with Penn in an Instagram story.

Variety reported that Penn flew to the country to complete a documentary on the Russian invasion with Vice Studios. When reached for comment, a representative for Vice Media Group told CNN that the documentary is a “Vice Studios production in association with VICE World News and Endeavor Content” but would not confirm Penn’s involvement in the project.

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Actor and director Sean Penn attends a press briefing at the Presidential Office in Kyiv, Ukraine February 24, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.

Related article Sean Penn is in Ukraine, working on a documentary | CNN