KYIV, Ukraine (AP) —Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, has resigned. On Saturday, Ukrainian defensive troops put up a valiant fight, halting the progress of the Russian military, which was closing in on Kyiv, the capital. European countries and the United States rushed aid to Ukraine, including more ammunition and weaponry, as well as a new round of tough sanctions aimed at further isolating Russia from the global financial system.
Men, women, and children were terrified and sought refuge inside or underground, while the authorities imposed a 39-hour curfew to keep people off the streets. Over 150,000 Ukrainians have fled to Poland, Moldova, and other neighboring nations, with the UN warning that the figure might rise to 4 million if the violence continues.
On Saturday, the US committed an extra $350 million in military supplies to Ukraine, including anti-tank weaponry, body armor, and small guns, to bolster Ukraine’s capacity to hold out. Germany claimed it would provide missiles and anti-tank weaponry to the beleaguered country and would block Russian jets from flying through its airspace.
The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have decided to exclude “selected” Russian banks from the SWIFT global financial messaging system, which transports money between over 11,000 banks and other financial institutions across the world. They also agreed that Russia’s central bank would face “restrictive measures.”
The actions were announced in tandem as part of a fresh wave of financial restrictions aimed at punishing Moscow for its invasion.
It was unknown how much land Russian soldiers had taken over. “The speed of the Russian advance has momentarily slowed,” the British Ministry of Defense warned, “presumably as a result of acute logistical challenges and heavy Ukrainian opposition.”
More than half of the Russian combat force stationed around Ukraine’s borders has entered the nation, according to a senior US defence official, and Moscow has forced to commit more fuel supply and other support troops inside Ukraine than expected. Further information were not provided by the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal US assessments.
Even as Zelenskyy urged his fellow Ukrainians to join the battle, it was hard to tell how effective Ukraine had been in halting Russian progress. A curfew in Kyiv that was supposed to extend until Monday morning ordered everyone indoors, however the capital’s relative calm was sometimes interrupted by gunshots.
Small Russian soldiers appeared to be attempting to clear a route for the larger forces on the outskirts of the city. Small units of Russian troops were reported within Kyiv, but the majority of Russian forces were 19 miles (30 kilometres) outside the city centre as of Saturday afternoon, according to Britain and the United States.
Since the invasion began Thursday with air and missile attacks and Russian forces entering Ukraine from the north, east, and south, bridges, schools, and residential districts have been attacked.
198 people, including three children, were killed and over 1,000 others were wounded in Europe’s deadliest land combat since World War II, according to Ukraine’s health minister. It was unclear if the estimates accounted for both military and civilian deaths.
On Kyiv, a missile struck a high-rise apartment building near one of the city’s two passenger airports in the southwestern fringes, creating a jagged crater of damaged flats spanning many stories. Six individuals were hurt, according to a rescue worker.
