Russian advances sparked fears the Ukrainian capital Kyiv could soon be encircled. (File)
The mayor of Ukraine Melitopol was kidnapped on Friday by Russian soldiers occupying the city, said President Volodymyr Zelensky, in the latest development in Moscow's invasion of its neighbour.
The war, continuing for over two weeks now, saw the Western allies stepping up sanctions against Russia as the US imposed a ban on Russian seafood, vodka and diamonds, and along with the European Union, banned exports of luxury goods to Russia.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden yet again ruled out any direct intervention in the Ukraine-Russia crisis and warned that such conflict pitting the NATO alliance against the Kremlin "is World War III".
Russia and Ukraine failed to make a breakthrough Thursday in their first top-level talks since Moscow's invasion two weeks ago, as Russian advances sparked fears the Ukrainian capital Kyiv could soon be encircled.
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Ukraine was at a turning point in the war with Russian forces appearing to be regroup for a possible assault on Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as the US imposed new sanctions on senior Kremlin officials and Russian oligarchs. With the Russian assault in its third week, Zelenskiy, who has rallied his people with a series of addresses from the capital Kyiv, said Ukraine had "already reached a strategic turning point". "It is impossible to say how many days we still have (ahead of us) to free Ukrainian land. But we can say we will do it," he said. "We are already moving towards our goal, our victory." (Reuters)
Air raid sirens were heard across most Ukrainian cities early on Saturday morning urging people to seek shelters, local media reported. Sirens were heard in the capital city of Kyiv, the western city of Lviv in Odessa, and Kharkiv, Cherkasy, as well as in the Sumy region in northeast of the country, a number of local Ukrainian media reported. Russian forces appeared to be regrouping on Friday for a possible assault on Kyiv, with satellite images showing them firing artillery as they closed in on the capital. (Reuters)
Russian forces inched towards Kyiv and pounded civilian areas in other Ukrainian cities Friday, drawing warnings of "unimaginable tragedy" as the US and the EU moved to tighten the economic noose around the Kremlin. Sixteen days after Moscow shocked the world by invading Ukraine, the United Nations and others said it may be committing war crimes in cities such as Mariupol, which for days now has been besieged by Vladimir Putin's forces. On Friday, officials in the southern port said more than 1,500 people had been killed during 12 days of attacks. (AFP)
The mayor of southern Ukraine's Melitopol was kidnapped on Friday by Russian soldiers occupying the city, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian officials said. "A group of 10 occupiers kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov," Ukraine's parliament said on Twitter. "He refused to cooperate with the enemy," it added. It said the mayor was seized when he was at the city's crisis centre dealing with supply issues. (AFP)
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