Ukraine leader pledges to stay put as Russia troops approach Kyiv | Al Jazeera

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has promised to stay in Kyiv as his troops battle Russian military advancing towards the capital in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.

Russia launched its invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday following a declaration of war by President Vladimir Putin. An estimated 100,000 people fled as explosions and gunfire rocked major cities. Zelenskyy said 137 people were killed on the first day of the attack.


The United States and Ukrainian officials say Russia aims to capture Kyiv and topple the government, which Putin regards as a US puppet. Russian troops seized the former nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, some 90 km (56 miles) north of Kyiv, as they advanced along the shortest route to the capital from Belarus to the north.

“[The] enemy has marked me down as the number one target,” Zelenskyy warned in a video message on Friday as heavy fighting was reported on multiple fronts. “My family is the number two target. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state.”

“I will stay in the capital. My family is also in Ukraine.”