[Watch] Shocking videos emerge from Russia's bloody Ukraine invasion - The Horn News

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[Watch] Shocking videos emerge from Russia’s bloody Ukraine invasion

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Russian troops bore down on Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv on Friday, with gunfire and explosions resonating ever closer to the government quarter, in a shocking invasion that has fueled fears of a wider war in Europe and triggered worldwide efforts to make Russia halt the bloody war of conquest.

Amid growing casualties from the deadly warfare — including Russian shelling that sliced through the facade of a Kyiv apartment building, bridges, and schools — shocking videos emerged from the battlefield.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is allegedly seeking to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a puppet state, his boldest effort yet to redraw the world map and revive Moscow’s Cold War-era influence.

The U.S. and other global powers slapped more sanctions on Russia as the invasion reverberated through the world’s economy and energy supplies, threatening to further squeeze ordinary households. Critics said the Biden administration’s sanctions, which were previously promised to be the ‘mother of all sanctions’, did not go nearly far enough.

Day 2 of Russia’s invasion focused on the Ukrainian capital, where Associated Press reporters heard explosions starting before dawn and gunfire was reported in several areas. Ukrainian authorities used armored vehicles and snowplows to defend Kyiv and limit movement, and said Russian spies were seeking to infiltrate the city.

Russia’s military said it had seized a strategic airport outside Kyiv that allows it to quickly build up forces to take the capital. Ukrainian forces had retaken control of the airport from Russian paratroopers in a bloody fight Thursday.

Russia has claimed to have already cut Kyiv off from the west — the direction many of those escaping the invasion are heading in, with lines of cars snaking toward the Polish border.

An intense firefight broke out on a bridge across the Dneiper River dividing the eastern and western sides of Kyiv, with about 200 Ukrainian forces establishing defensive positions and taking shelter behind their armored vehicles and later under the bridge.

Ukrainian officials reported at least 137 deaths on the Ukrainian side and claimed hundreds on the Russian one. Russian authorities released no casualty figures, and it was not possible to verify the tolls.

U.N. officials reported 25 civilian deaths, mostly from shelling and airstrikes, and said that 100,000 people were believed to have left their homes and estimated up to 4 million could flee if the fighting escalates.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded with Russia’s government to hold talks, and with Western powers to act faster to cut off Russia’s economy and provide Ukraine military help.

“When bombs fall on Kyiv, it happens in Europe, not just in Ukraine,” he said. “When missiles kill our people, they kill all Europeans.”

Zelenskyy’s whereabouts were kept secret after he told European leaders that he was No. 1 on Russia’s list of targets.

He also offered to negotiate on one of Putin’s key demands: that Ukraine declare itself neutral and abandon its ambition of joining NATO. And the Kremlin responded that Russia was ready to send a delegation to Belarus to discuss that.

After denying for weeks he planned to invade, Putin launched a shocking invasion from three directions on Wednesday. U.S. authorities say the attack was totally unprovoked, and Western intelligence had predicted the Russian moves almost to the day.

The autocratic leader hasn’t said what his ultimate plans for Ukraine are. Lavrov gave a hint, saying Friday: “We want to allow the Ukrainian people to determine its own fate.” His spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia recognizes Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s president, but wouldn’t say how long the Russian military operation could last.

Ukrainians, meanwhile, had to abruptly adjust to life under fire, after Russian forces started moving into their country from three sides in an invasion telegraphed for weeks, as they massed an estimated 150,000 troops nearby.

In a Kyiv apartment building, residents woke to screaming, smoke, and flying dust. What the mayor identified as Russian shelling tore off part of the building and ignited a fire.

“What are you doing? What is this?” resident Yurii Zhyhanov asked — a question directed at Russian forces. Like countless other Ukrainians, he grabbed what belongings he could, took his mother, and set out to flee, car alarms wailing behind him.

Elsewhere in Kyiv, the body of a dead soldier lay on the ground near an underpass. Fragments of a downed aircraft smoked amid the brick homes of a residential area. Black plastic was draped over body parts found beside them. And people climbed out of bomb shelters, basements, and subways to face another day of upheaval.

The Ukrainian military on Friday reported significant fighting near Ivankiv, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Kyiv, as Russian forces apparently tried to advance on the capital from the north. Russian troops also entered the city of Sumy, near the border with Russia that sits on a highway leading to Kyiv from the east.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Kyiv “could well be under siege” in what U.S. officials believe is a brazen attempt by Putin to install his own regime.

With social media amplifying a torrent of military claims and counter-claims, it was difficult to determine exactly what was happening on the ground. Shocking videos of the brutal fighting have emerged online.

https://twitter.com/SlotarnetD/status/1497221158491537418

https://twitter.com/zekayasaygiduy/status/1497227880425828356

https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1497117468652982272

The unprovoked invasion, anticipated for weeks by the U.S. and Western allies, amounts to the largest ground war in Europe since World War II. After repeatedly denying plans to invade, the autocratic Putin launched his surprise attack on the country, which has increasingly tilted toward the democratic West and away from Moscow’s sway.

Zelenskyy, whose grasp on power was increasingly tenuous, appealed to global leaders for even more severe sanctions than the ones imposed by Western allies and for defense assistance.

“If you don’t help us now, if you fail to offer a powerful assistance to Ukraine, tomorrow the war will knock on your door,” said the leader, who cut diplomatic ties with Moscow, declared martial law, and ordered a full military mobilization that would last 90 days.

The Associated Press contributed to this article

About the Author

Stephen is a U.S. Army veteran with over a decade of combined experience in political commentary, economics, and news.