Russian Invasion: Attacks Across Ukraine Leave At least 137 Dead, Over 1 Lakh Displaced
Kyiv, Feb 25: Invading Russian forces pressed deep into Ukraine forcing civilians to shelter on metro systems, with 100,000 people displaced.
Across Ukraine, at least 137 “heroes” were killed and 316 people injured after the first day of fighting, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, calling up conscripts and reservists nationwide to fight in a general mobilisation.
The United States moved to impose sanctions on Russian elites and banks, but stressed that US forces would not head to eastern Europe to fight in Ukraine, but would instead defend “every inch” of NATO territory.
President Zelensky said there was now a “new iron curtain” between Russia and the rest of the world, like in the Cold War.
Ukraine said Russian forces had seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, an area still heavily contaminated with radioactive material after a devastating 1986 accident, prompting the IAEA nuclear watchdog to call for “restraint”.
Witnesses told AFP that Russian paratroopers wrested control of the strategic Gostomel airfield, on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv, after swooping in with helicopters and jets from the direction of Belarus.
