Ordinary Ukrainians have taken up arms and turned their capital into a ‘fortress’ in anticipation of a renewed Russian assault, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko has said.
Putin’s forces are poised to launch a blizzard of tank assaults, artillery fire and ground incursions as a massive deployment of armoured vehicles began manoeuvres to surround the city on Friday.
Volunteers spent the week lining Kyiv’s main thoroughfares with trenches and sand barricades, while reservists, conscripts and army regulars repositioned themselves for attacks on several fronts.
Speaking in a televised address to the nation the day before, Mr Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, revealed that half the city’s 4 million residents have fled.
He said: ‘Now a little less than 2 million inhabitants are in Kyiv. Every street, every house… is being fortified, the territorial defense is joining.
‘Even people who were never going to change their clothes, now are in uniform with machine guns in their hands.
‘These are musicians, and actors, representatives of different professions.’
‘The city stood and will stand,’ he added: ‘And people will not surrender the city, the enemy will not pass!’
Putin’s troops began assaulting Kyiv’s outskirts on Wednesday from the neighbouring city of Irpin, whose capture under a hail of missile fire earlier in the week killed at least eight civilians including two children.
On Thursday, another Russian attack tore through the eastern suburb of Brovary, although drone footage showed Ukrainian ambush repelling enemy tanks.
According to Ukraine, it resulted in the death top Russian commander Andrei Zakharov, who awarded Russia’s Order of Courage medal by Putin in 2016.
Ukrainian defence officials said Russia’s attempts to advance into Kyiv from a river dividing the city from Irpin had been foiled by counter-attacks, although an Interior Ministry spokesman said the night was ‘difficult’ for defending forces.
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Speaking to CNN later on Thursday, Mr Klitschko said he did not yet have the latest toll of Ukrainian casualties but estimated ‘thousands’ of people are likely to have been killed or injured in the ‘non-stop fighting’.
Russia’s most devastating offensive capabilities are thought to have been concentrated in the miles-long column of tanks which arrived outside Kyiv earlier in the week.
After days at a standstill, it has begun dispersing into strategic locations around the capital, bringing invading forces three miles closer according to US defence officials.
Meanwhile, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said Russian commanders had confirmed their first use of thermobaric vacuum bombs in the conflict.
The TOS-1A multiple rocket launcher, which creates an ultra-hot blast wave followed by an intense vacuum, was used to ‘devastating’ effect in the Chernihiv region, according to the latest British intelligence update.
Russian media claimed some 40 Ukrainian soldiers were killed by the weapon system, which fires 30 rockets in 15 seconds and causes death via massive damage to internal organs including the lungs.
International law does not prohibit the use of such weapons but says they cannot be used against military targets in a way that endangers civilians or causes unnecesary suffering.
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