U.S. says Kyiv 'could well be under siege' as Russian forces close in on Ukrainian capital

The latest:

• Explosions heard in Kyiv, as U.S. says capital could already be under siege.
  
• Ukrainian president orders 'full military mobilization'to counter attack.
  
• United Nations refugee agencyestimates 100,000 people have fled homes in Ukraine.
  
• U.S. President Joe Biden says NATO willmeet on Fridayto 'map out next steps on Russia,'as Prime Minster Justin Trudeausays Canada will impose stricter sanctions, prioritizeimmigration applications for Ukrainians who want to come to Canada.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed on Friday to stay in Kyiv as his troops battled Russian forces who were advancing toward the capital in the biggest attack on a European state since the Second World War.

Scores of Ukrainians, civilians and service members alike, were killed in the first full day of fighting, and Kyiv appeared to be increasingly threatened. Zelensky said the government had information that "subversive groups" were encroaching on the city, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Kyiv "could well be under siege."

Explosions were heard in the capital in the early hours of Friday and airraid sirens wailed over the city of threemillion people as Russia continued its assault.

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers on a phone call that Russian mechanized forces that entered from Belarus were about 32 kilometresfrom Kyiv, according to a person familiar with the call.

Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister, said Ukrainian forces downed an enemy aircraft over Kyiv in the early hours of Friday, which then crashed into a residential building and set it on fire. It was unclear whether the aircraft was manned.

Herashchenko wrote on instant messaging service Telegram that a nine-storey residential building was on fire.

He said the series of explosionswere the sounds of air defences firing at the aircraft.

A missile strike hit a Ukrainian border post in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhya, killing and wounding some guards, the border guard service said on Friday.

The region has no land border with Russia, which launched a military operation against Ukraine on Thursday, but is located on the coast of the Azov Sea which the neighbours share.

WATCH | Why Putin chose now to attack Ukraine:

Why did Putin attack Ukraine now?

3 years ago

Duration 1:29

International security expert Kimberly Marten explains why she doesn't buy Russian President Vladimir Putin's explanation for going into Ukraine and offers what she sees as more plausible reasons.

Russia launched its invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday following a declaration by President Vladimir Putin that he was launchinga "special military operation."An estimated 100,000 people fled as explosions and gunfire rocked major cities. Dozens have been reported killed.

One senior U.S. defence official described the day's assault as the first salvo in a likely multi-phase invasion aimed at seizing key population centres and "decapitating" Ukraine's government.

"[The]enemy has marked me down as the No. 1target," Zelensky warned in a video message. "My family is the No. 2target. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state."

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

• As Russia attacks Ukraine on multiple fronts, some fear Zelensky's government is the next target

After Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war in a pre-dawn televised address, explosions and gunfire were heard throughout the morning in Kyiv, a city of threemillion people.

By nightfall in Ukraine, a picture was emerging of fierce fighting across multiple fronts.

Zelensky said in that samevideo address that 137 "heroes," including 10 military officers, had been killed, and 316 people wounded. The dead included all border guards on the Zmiinyi Island in the Odesa region, which was taken over by Russians.

Zelenskysaiddespite Russia's claim it is attacking only military targets, civilian sites also have been struck.

"They're killing people and turning peaceful cities into military targets," he said."It's foul and will never be forgiven."

He saidPutin's aim was to destroy his stateandordereda full military mobilization that will last 90 days.

An adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office said Russian forces had captured the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, just 90 kilometresnorth of the capital.

There was also fighting at HostomelAirport, just outside Kyiv, where Russian paratroopers landed. A Ukrainian official later said the airfield had been recaptured, while a senior U.S. defence official said Russian forces were advancing closer to Kyiv.

Heavy exchanges of fire were also taking place in the regions near Sumy and Kharkiv in the northeast and Kherson and Odesa, home to Ukraine's most important seaport, in the south.

The highway heading west out of Kyiv was choked with traffic across five lanes as residents fled, fearful of bombardments while stuck in their cars.

WATCH | What it was like in Kyiv today:

The scene on the streets of Kyiv as attack continues

3 years ago

Duration 1:59

Freelance reporter Jessica Golloher describes what it was like on the streets of Kyiv Thursday, as the Russian attack on Ukraine continued and people fled the capital city.

Blinken said in television interviews that he was convinced that Russia was intent on overthrowing the Ukrainian government, telling CBS that Putin wants to "reconstitute the Soviet empire" and that Kyiv was already "under threat, and it could well be under siege."

Fearing a Russian attack on the capital city, thousands of people went deep underground as night fell, jamming Kyiv's subway stations.

The UNHigh Commission for Refugees said an estimated 100,000 Ukrainians had fled their homes and that several thousand crossed into neighbouring countries, mainly Romania and Moldova.

The day began with missiles raining down on Ukrainian targets and authorities reportingcolumns of troops pouring across Ukraine's borders from Russia to the east and Belarus to the north,and landing on the southern coast from the Black Sea and Azov Sea.

"Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself andwon't give up its freedom, no matter what Moscow thinks,"Zelensky said on Twitter.

Calling on Ukrainians to defend their country, he said arms would be given to anyone prepared to fight. He also urged Russians to take to the streets to protest against their government's actions.

"What we have heard today are not just missile blasts, fighting and the rumble of aircraft. This is the sound of a new Iron Curtain, which has come down and is closing Russia off from the civilized world," Zelensky said.

In his address, Putin said he had ordered "a special military operation" to protect people, including Russian citizens, subjected to "genocide" in Ukraine an accusation the West calls baseless propaganda.

"And for this we will strive for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine," Putin said.

After referring earlier in his speech to Russia's powerful nuclear arsenal, he also warned: "Whoever tries to hinder us ... should know that Russia's response will be immediate. And it will lead you to such consequences that you have never encountered in your history."

FrenchForeign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian later said Putin should understand that NATO was also a nuclear alliance.

WATCH |See some of the damage done in early attacks on Ukraine:

Raw video of attacks, aftermath in Ukraine

3 years ago

Duration 0:58

Video from Ukraine, where officials say Russian forces are striking from the north, east and south.

Biden, Trudeau toughen sanctions

U.S. President Joe Bidencalled the Russian action an"unprovoked and unjustified attack." Saying Putin "chose this war" during an afternoon briefing from the White House, he saidRussia "will bear the consequences" of new sanctions.

The sanctions target Russian banks, oligarchsand high-tech sectors, Biden said, with U.S. allies blockingassets of four large Russian banks, imposingexport controls and sanctioning oligarchs. He held offimposing some of the most severe sanctions, including cutting Russia out of the SWIFT payment system, which allows for the transferof money from bank to bank around the globe, or targeting Russia's energy sector.

Beyond sanctions, Biden said the U.S. will not send troops into Ukraine to fight the Russiansbut will deployadditional forces to Germany to bolster the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"NATO is more united and more determinedthan ever," he said."There's no doubt, no doubt, that the United States and every NATO ally will meet our Article 5 commitments, which says an attack on one is an attack on all."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, said Canada will also imposeadditional sanctions on Russia,targeting 58 people and entities connected to the country, including members of Russia's elite and their families, the paramilitary organization known as the Wagner Group and major Russian banks.

During a briefing from Ottawa, he said Canadawill be prioritizing immigration applications for Ukrainians who want to come to Canada and is launching a dedicated telephone line for anyone who has any urgent questions aboutthe process.

He also said Canada has arranged for the safe passage of any Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their families still in Ukraine through land borders with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova.

A resident of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city and the closest big city to the Russian border, said windows in the apartment blocks near him were shaking from constant blasts.

Blasts could be heard in the southeastern port of Mariupol, near a front line held by Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine. Local authorities said 26 people were being treated for wounds in hospital after an eastern district of the port was shelled, and "an attempt by Russian troops to break through" into the city was thwarted.

A Ukrainian armoured column headed along the road, with soldiers seated atop turrets smiling and flashing victory signs to passing cars, which honked their horns in support.

'We are going into hiding'

In the nearby townof Mangush and city of Berdyansk, people lined upthroughout the day for cash and gasoline. Civilians from Mariupol were seen packing bags.

"We are going into hiding," said a middle-aged woman in a grey sweater.

Initial reports of casualties were sporadic and unconfirmed. Ukraine reported at least eight people killed by Russian shelling and three border guards killed in the southern Kherson region.

WATCH |The CBC's Margaret Evans reports from the streets of Kyiv, while Briar Stewart details the situation in Russia from Rostov-on-Don:

CBC News on the ground in Ukraine and Russia

3 years ago

Duration 9:17

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine begins, the CBC's Margaret Evans reports from the streets of Kyiv, while Briar Stewart details the situation in Russia from Rostov-on-Don.

However, anadviser to Ukraine's president says about 40 people have been killed so far in the Russian attacks. Oleksii Arestovichsaid Thursday that several dozen people have been wounded. He didn't specify whether the casualties included civilians.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it had destroyed 83 land-based Ukrainian targets and achieved all of its goals, according to Interfax news agency.

The head of the United Nations refugee agency is warning of "devastating consequences" from Russia's military action in Ukraine and calling on neighbouring countries to keep their borders open for people fleeing the fighting.

In a televised declaration of war in the early hours, Putin said he had ordered "a special military operation" to protect people, including Russian citizens, subjected to "genocide" in Ukrainean accusation the West calls absurd propaganda.

The interactive features of this map will be active in future updates.

Almost all of the world but not China condemned the attack and threatened to hit Russian elites with in the words of the European Union president "massive and targeted sanctions."

Ukraine, a democratic country of 44 million people with more than 1,000 years of history, is Europe's biggest nationby area after Russia itself. It voted overwhelmingly for independence after the fall of the Soviet Unionand aims to join NATO and the European Union,aspirations that infuriate Moscow.

Putin, who denied for months that he was planning an invasion, has called Ukraine an artificial creation carved from Russia by its enemiesa characterization Ukrainians call shocking and false.

While many Ukrainians, particularly in the east, speak Russian as a native language, virtually all identify themselves as Ukrainian.

There was also some dissent in Russia. Police detained more than 1,700 people taking part in anti-war rallies in 54cities, and authorities threatened to block media reports carrying "false information."

'We're afraid of bombardments'

In Kyiv, some people who chose to stay stood in long lines outside banks and shops, hoping to withdraw money and stock up on supplies. But others packed bags and suitcases and looked for a way out of the city by bus, car or plane.

Queues of people waited to withdraw money and buy supplies of food and water in Kyiv. Traffic was jammed going west out of the city of three million people, toward the distant Polish border. Western countries have been preparing for the likelihood of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing an assault.

By mid-morning, traffic was at a standstill on the four-lane main road to the western city of Lviv. Cars stretched back for dozens of kilometres, Reuters witnesses said.

Oxana, stuck in a traffic jam with her three-year-old daughter in the back seat, said she was fleeing "because a war has started. Putin has attacked us."

"We're afraid of bombardments," she said. "Tell them: 'You can't do this.' This is so scary."

"Russia has attacked Ukraine," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenbergsaid at a briefing on Thursday, noting that Putin's invasion had "shattered" peace on the continent.

"This is a brutal act of war. Our thoughts are with the brave people of Ukraine."

"This hideous and barbarous venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament, announcing measures targeting banks, members of Putin's closest circle and super-rich Russians who enjoy high-rolling London lifestyles.

Britain will also ban the export of a wide range of high-tech products, including semiconductors, to Russia and prohibit the nation's flagship airline, Aeroflot, from landing at U.K. airports. The slate of sanctions comes days after Johnson was criticized for acting too cautiously in response to Russian aggression earlier this week.

WATCH |'This is a brutal act of war,' NATO chief says of Russian invasion:

'This is a brutal act of war,' NATO chief says of Russian invasion

3 years ago

Duration 5:17

Calling it a 'grave moment for the security of Europe,' NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine and called on the country to cease military action.

French President Emmanuel Macron saidFrance and its European allies did everything to try to head off the attack. He said that they will show "no weakness" in their response, noting thatsanctions will be "proportionate" to Russia's military operations, targeting its economy and its energy sector.

In a televised address on Thursday, Macron calledRussia's attacka "turning point in European history" and said that as a result, "there will be profound consequences for our continent and changes in our lives."

"We have tried everything to avoid this war, but it is here and we are ready," Macron said.