Photos: Kyiv After A Night Of Explosions And Street Fighting

Russian troops pressed towards Ukraine’s capital on the Saturday, after a night of explosions and also the street fighting that sent the Kyiv residents too seeking shelter underground. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused an American offer to evacuate, insisting that he would stay. The fight is here, he said. It was not immediately

An apartment building damaged by shelling in Kyiv

clear how far Russian troops had advanced. Ukrainian officials reported some success in fending off assaults, but also fighting persisted near the capital. Skirmishes reported on the edge of the city suggested that small Russian units were probing Ukrainian defences to clear a path for the main forces. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko

Firefighters extinguish a blaze in an apartment building damaged by shelling in the capital

also said a missile hit a high rise building on the city’s southwestern outskirts. He posted an image showing a gaping hole on one side of the building that ravaged apartments on several floors. There was no immediate word on casualties. Saturday’s street clashes followed two days of massive air and missile strikes that Russian

Ukrainian servicemen at the site of fighting with Russian troops in Kyiv

officials said targeted Ukrainian military facilities as their ground troops moved in from the north, east and south. The assault pummelled bridges, schools and then apartment buildings, and resulted in hundreds of casualties. The Ukraine’s health minister also reported on Saturday that 198 people have been killed and more

Ukrainian service members collect unexploded shells after fighting with Russians in the Ukrainian capital

than 1,000 others wounded since the Russian invasion started on Thursday. The Health Minister Viktor Liashko also said that the death toll included three children. His statement too did not make it clear whether the figures included both military personnel and civilians.

A soldier's helmet with a bullet hole near debris of burning military trucks in a street in Kyiv

Paramedics take cover as air-raid sirens sound, near an apartment building damaged by shelling in Kyiv

An ambulance parked near a barricade and Ukrainian armoured vehicles in a Kyiv street

Smoke rises after shelling on the capital