Ukrainian President Vladimir Green accused Russian forces of attacking kindergartens on Friday in an attempt to overthrow his regime.
Zelensky, 44, spoke on Friday as he continued to defend his country and regime from Russian forces for the third day in a row.
“What kind of war is being waged against Ukrainian children in kindergartens?” Who are they?’
Zelensky, a former actor, uses some of the rhetoric the Russians have used to justify their invasion.
“Are they also neo-Nazis from kindergartens?” Or are these NATO soldiers putting Russia in danger? he asked.
He was speaking after it was reported that a kindergarten and orphanage had been attacked in the town of Okhtyrka, a small town in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Russian forces of attacking kindergartens on Friday in an attempt to overthrow his regime
A child on a swing in front of a residential building damaged by a rocket
Photos of the attack were shared by a Ukrainian lawmaker, who wrote: “In the town of Okhtyrka, Russian rockets hit a kindergarten and a bomb shelter. Among the dead and wounded are children. What else do the Russian fascists have to do to wake up NATO and defend Ukraine ?! ‘
Two adults are shown, apparently lying in puddles of blood, and others are crouching next to him.
This came after a hospital bombing that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called “beyond evil.”
“Think about it: Putin started a massive aggressive war in Europe during a still-raging pandemic,” he added.
Video showing the aftermath of a shelling of a kindergarten in Okhtyrka in eastern Ukraine
Residential building damaged by a rocket
– A man clears debris in a damaged residential building on Kosice Street, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kiev, where a military projectile is believed to have struck, on February 25, 2022.
UkraineRussia’s armed forces took part in a fierce battle for Kiev on Friday night, with footage on social media showing explosions near a metro station in the capital’s western center next to the zoo; the battle for control of the TPP in the north continues; and numerous reports suggesting fierce fighting 20 miles south, near a vital air base.
In Kiev, footage shared on social media shows a bombing near the Beresteiska metro station in the western part of the city, which is close to the zoo.
More than 50 explosions and heavy machine gun fire have been reported in the Shulyavka district, near the Brest metro station and the zoo, according to The Kyiv Independent.
A bridge near the metro was reportedly blown up. It is unclear whether the blast was caused by artillery or Ukrainian forces intending to halt Russia’s offensive.
The area is under the control of the 101st Separate Security Brigade of the General Staff.
Terrified residents posted videos of their apartments with flashes of light and gunshots. A video shared on social media shows a residential building glowing with red lights, which some speculate is targeting bombers or snipers. Others said the lights should warn the military not to bomb them.
The northern suburb of Troyeschina was also under prolonged attack for another night as Russia tried to wrest control of a thermal power plant on the banks of the Dnieper River. Unconfirmed reports suggest dozens of Russians have been arrested.
By 5:30 a.m. in Kiev (22:30 east), Ukraine’s armed forces say the offensive from the west has been repulsed.
But a CNN team in Kiev reported the sounds of heavy gunfire and what looked like anti-aircraft fire.
The Ukrainian government announced earlier Friday night that it had shot down two Russian military transport planes with paratroopers on the outskirts of Kiev.
The first IL-76 crashed near Vasilkov, 20 miles south of Kiev, the Ukrainian military said.
The second IL-76 was shot down near the White Church, 50 miles south of the capital, Nesta said.
The fate of those on board was unclear. The planes – medium-range military transport aircraft, which first went into service in 1974 – can hold 150-225 fully equipped soldiers and are used to launch paratroopers into combat operations and supplies.
The town of Vasilkov seems to be a hotbed of heavy fighting in the south at 3 o’clock in the morning local time (20 o’clock east).
Nesta, a local media network, reported that Russians “dressed in Ukrainian National Police uniforms” attacked a checkpoint near Vasilkov, shooting at Ukrainian soldiers.
“Immediately after that, a group of Russian soldiers entered by truck. There is a tough fight going on, “the website said.
New satellite images show the build-up of troops in the north, in Belarus.
The photos show approximately 150 transport helicopters and ground forces 20 miles from the Belarusian-Ukrainian border in southern Belarus.
Shortly after the first military transport plane was shot down, Ukraine’s State Special Communications Agency announced that Ukraine’s air defenses had shot down a Russian short-range support aircraft and helicopter in Donbas.
A S-300 surface-to-air missile system destroyed a Russian Sukhoi Su-25 and an unspecified helicopter at midnight, they said.
Currently, the Russian Air Force has about 250 Su-25s of all variants and they are considered a staple in Russian assault regiments.
Opposition to the massacre in Ukraine is growing in Russia.
Communist MP Mikhail Matveev said: “I think the war should be stopped immediately.
“When I voted for the recognition of DNR / LNR, I voted for peace, not war.
Russia to become a shield so that Donbass is not bombed, but not Kiev to be bombed.
The offensive came shortly after the Ukrainian president warned that the Russians intended to take Kiev overnight, urging their compatriots to oppose the expected attack as Western authorities say the city appears surrounded.
Vladimir Greenaddressing the nation from a secret place in the capital, he had a terrible warning about his hostile and defiant people on Friday night.
“Russia will try its best to break our resistance,” he said in a video posted on social media.
“Tonight the enemy will begin to storm us.” We have to resist them! ‘
Smoke and flames are seen rising above Victory Avenue in Kiev in the western part of the city, near the zoo, in the early hours of Saturday morning
The Ukrainian armed forces tweeted in the early hours of Saturday that the attack from the west, near the city zoo, had been suppressed, saying: “Russian war criminals attacked one of the military units in Kiev on Victory Avenue. Attack repelled “
Kiev was on fire in the early hours of Saturday
Significant explosions were observed from the Beresteiska metro station in western Kiev
Zelenski said Chernigov, Simi, Kharkiv, Donbass and the south could also be attacked.
“Tonight will be difficult, very difficult. But the morning will come, “he said, according to The Kyiv Independent.
The 44-year-old man mentioned the Russian shelling of a kindergarten in Ukraine, which killed at least one child and wounded more, saying: “What kind of war is this? Were these children neo-Nazis? Or were they NATO soldiers?
Vitali Klitschko, the former world heavyweight boxing champion and now mayor of Kiev, said his city was facing a “difficult night”.