Fighting erupts on streets of Kyiv, as Russian forces continue assault on Ukraine

Street fighting has erupted in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as Russian forces continue their steady advancement into the city, Ukrainian officials reports, while urging residents to take shelter in safe houses created for them.

A Ministry of Defence official said the street fighting took a different dimension as dawn broke in Kyiv on Saturday, but it was not immediately clear how far the Russian soldiers had advanced, and though Ukrainian officials reported success in fending off the assaults, fighting persisted near the capital.

Saturday marked the third day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine through land, sea and air as ordered by President Vladimir Putin, in what has turned out to be Russia’s biggest military deployment since World War II.

So far, civilian casualty has been put at 198 deaths with 1,115 wounded, I including 33 children, according to the Ministry of Health.

The street clashes, according to a military official, followed Russian strikes that pummelled bridges, schools and apartment buildings overnight.

An adviser to the Interior minister, Anton Herashchenko, told journalists that a missile that struck a residential building in Kyiv on Saturday morning did not kill anyone, adding that Russia was lying about not shelling civilian infrastructure.

Read also: Russia strikes Ukraine’s military bases with cruise missiles as conflict enters day 3

According to the adviser, at least 40 such sites had been hit and Russian troops were shelling civilian sites from Friday night.

“It was an extraordinarily awful night. Missiles just raining down on Kyiv, ballistic missiles shuddering the city and relentless bombardments by the air force of the Russian Federation,” he said.

“The trauma, the pain is just so immeasurable, very hard to narrate what has been happening.”

He added that there was fighting across the country, but in the capital “the force of the conflict has reached a seismic level.

“Civilians have been seeking refuge in underground shelters. Officials have been urgeing residents to take shelter, to stay away from windows and to take precautions to avoid flying debris or bullets. Kyiv’s critical infrastructure and the metro are working and checkpoints had been set up around Kyiv.”

Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also urged Ukrainian citizens to defend the country and said that weapons would be given to everyone coming forward.

By Saturday morning, some 18,000 guns with ammunition have been distributed to reservists in the Kyiv region alone since Thursday, Ukrainian authorities said.

The defence ministry has also told Kyiv residents to make petrol bombs to repel the Russian attacks.

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