Russia launches missile and artillery barrage on Ukrainian cities

Attacks follow thwarted Russian attempt to seize army base in Kiev

Ukrainian soldiers take position on a bridge in the city of Kiev, Ukraine. AP Photo

Ukrainian servicemen on guard along a bridge. Getty Images

Russia pressed its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital on Friday after unleashing air strikes on cities and military bases and sending in troops and tanks from three sides. AP Photo

Ukrainian soldiers take up defensive positions under a bridge. AP Photo

Ukrainian soldiers deployed in the city of Kiev. AP Photo

Soldiers in downtown Kiev. AP Photo

Ukrainian National Guard forces take positions in central Kiev. Reuters

Servicemen from the Ukrainian National Guard. Reuters

Ukraine's army is fighting invading Russian forces north of the capital. AFP

Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine

Russia launched co-ordinated missile and artillery attacks on Ukrainian cities on Saturday, including the capital, Kiev, as its invasion of Ukraine entered a third day.

Ukraine officials said Russian forces fired cruise missiles from the Black Sea at the cities of Sumy, Poltava and Mariupol, and there was heavy fighting near the southern city of Mariupol.

The Russian defence ministry said air and ship-based cruise missiles were used to attack military targets, and that its troops had captured the city of Melitopol in the south-east, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

Emergency services in Kiev said a residential building was hit. They posted a picture online of the tower block with a hole covering at least five floors blasted into the side and rubble strewn across the street below.

The authorities said the number of victims was "being specified" and that an evacuation was under way.

Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said the building was hit by a Russian missile.

The bombardment follows an an overnight attack by Russian troops on an army base in central Kiev that was repulsed, Ukraine's military said.

"Military criminals of Russia attacked one of the military units in Kiev on Victory Avenue. The attack has been fought back," the armed forces of Ukraine said in an English-language post on Facebook.

A Ukrainian soldier walks past the shell of a burnt military vehicle, on a street in Kiev. AP

A screengrab from CCTV footage shows a missile hitting a residential building in Kiev. Reuters

A man inspects a broken window, after shelling carried out by Russian troops in the Ukrainian capital. Reuters

Ukrainian soldiers take positions outside a military centre as two cars burn on a street in Kiev. AP

Medical specialists transport a woman, who was wounded in the shelling of an apartment building, to an ambulance, as her husband looks on. Reuters

A woman outside her apartment building after it was damaged by a rocket, in Kiev. AP

A Ukrainian police officer detains a driver on a street in Kiev. AP

A soldier's helmet with a bullet hole on a street in the Ukrainian capital. AP

Ukrainian soldiers walk by a damaged vehicle, at the site of fighting with Russian troops, in Kiev. Reuters

Ukrainian policemen move parrots to safety after a high-rise apartment block was damaged by shelling in Kiev. EPA

A screengrab from a video shows rescue workers carrying a person at the site of a damaged multi-storey residential building, south-west of the Ukrainian capital. Reuters

A building damaged by shelling carried out by Russian troops in Kiev. EPA

Helga Tarasova comforts her daughter Kira Shapovalova as they wait in an underground shelter during a bombing alert in Kiev. AFP

A man walks past a building damaged by a rocket attack in the Ukrainian capital. AP

Emergency services workers near an apartment building damaged by shelling in Kiev. Reuters

Ukrainian soldiers collect unexploded shells in the capital. AFP

An apartment building damaged by shelling in Kiev. Reuters

Debris of a burnt military truck on a street in Kiev. AP

Natali Sevriukova stands next to her home after a rocket attack in Kiev, Ukraine. AP

People on foot and in cars move to cross from Ukraine to Poland at the Korczowa-Krakovets border crossing following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP

Servicemen from the Ukrainian National Guard in central Kiev. Reuters

Ukrainian soldiers in downtown Kiev after Russian troops reached the outskirts of the capital. AP Photo

Police officers detain demonstrators in St. Petersburg, Russia. Hundreds of people gathered in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Thursday, protesting against Russia's attack on Ukraine. Similar protests took place in other Russian cities, and activists were also arrested. AP Photo

Hungarian troops in Vasarosnameny, close to the border with Ukraine, prepare to help refugees. AP Photo

Wrecked Russian army rocket launchers in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Reuters

The aftermath of a rocket attack in Kiev. AP Photo

A US Air Force jet refuels over Poland. Reuters

Devastation after shelling in Ukraine's Luhansk enclave. Reuters

The Royal Welsh Battlegroup from the UK makes its way to Estonia. Reuters

Firefighters tackle a blaze in a building in Kiev. AFP

The wreckage of an unidentified aircraft in a residential area in Kiev. Reuters

Smoke rises near the Ukrainian Defence Ministry in Kiev. Reuters

Russian military helicopters fly over the Ukrainian capital. AP

An anxious wait to board a train to leave Kiev as the attack loomed. AP Photo

Ukrainian servicemen on tanks in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. AP Photo

Ukraine troops said this destroyed armoured vehicle outside Kharkiv belonged to the Russian army. Reuters

Rescuers at the crash site after a Ukraine armed forces Antonov aircraft was shot down in Kiev, according to the Ukrainian authorities. Reuters

Ukrainian tanks that aim to repel an attack by the Russian military in the Luhansk enclave of Ukraine. AFP

A Ukrainian State Border Guard Service base is ablaze after heavy shelling near Kiev. Reuters

Damaged radar at a Ukrainian military plant outside Mariupol. Officials in Kiev say Russian troops have rolled into the country from the north, east and south. AP Photo

Firefighters attend a blaze after bombing in the eastern Ukrainian town of Chuguiv, as Russian armed forces appeared to be bombarding Ukraine from several directions. AFP

A traffic jam in Kiev, with many Ukrainians leaving their capital after Russian troops entered. EPA

The Border Service of Ukraine released CCTV footage purporting to show Russian military vehicles passing a checkpoint to drive into Crimea. AP

A man picks up fragments of military materiel on the street after an apparent Russian strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP

Workers load the debris of a rocket on to a lorry in the aftermath of Russian shelling in Kiev. AP

Emergency staff treat an injured man after bombing in Chuguiv. AFP

An American woman in distress after crossing the border to flee the violence in Ukraine, in Medyka, Poland. Reuters

People take shelter in a Kiev subway station, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised a military operation in eastern Ukraine. Reuters

People in a rush near Kiev-Pasazhyrskyi railway station in the Ukrainian capital. AFP

A Flightradar24.com screengrab shows a dearth of civilian aircraft in Ukrainian airspace after the Russian invasion. AP

The aftermath of bombing in Chuguiv. AFP

A Ukrainian rocket launcher vehicle prepares for action. Reuters

Cars are driven across a field to leave the city of Kharkiv. Reuters

People chant, carry placards and wave Ukrainian flags as they gather in Sydney, to demonstrate against Russian attacks on its neighbour. AP

People with many of their belongings packed take shelter in a Metro station in Kiev. AFP

Emergency services at the scene of an explosion at a military unit building in Kiev. EPA

A Kiev resident sweeps up debris after Russian shelling. AP

The first 40 soldiers of the 173rd US Army Airborne Brigade step off a military plane in Latvia. EPA

More damage from shelling in Kiev. AP

People wait at a bus station to travel to western parts of Ukraine, after violence in the east. Reuters

A woman carries her cats in a quest for a safe haven. AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds an urgent government meeting in Kiev to discuss the next step. AFP

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and foreign policy chief Josep Borrell give a joint statement in Brussels, updating the press about the situation in Ukraine. EPA

People survey the damage after bombing in Chuguiv. AFP

A building on fire in Chuguiv. AFP

Citing a threat to Russia’s security, President Vladimir Putin on Thursday sent Russian forces into Ukraine in a military operation that killed scores of people and forced more than 50,000 to flee Ukraine in just 48 hours.

A UN Security Council resolution calling on Russia to withdraw its troops was vetoed by Moscow on Friday.

Heavy, frequent artillery shelling and intense gunfire was heard away from Kiev’s city centre in the early hours of Saturday, witnesses said, hours after President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian assault on Kiev was imminent.

"The fate of Ukraine is being decided right now," Mr Zelenskyy said in a video posted on his Telegram channel on Friday. "Tonight, they will launch an assault. All of us must understand what awaits us. We must withstand this night."

He released another video on Saturday morning to deny reports that he had asked the military to lay down arms.

"We will not lay down the weapons. We will defend our state because our weapon is our truth," he said.

Ukraine’s air force command reported heavy fighting near an air base at Vasylkiv, south-west of the capital, which it said was under attack from Russian paratroopers.

It also said one of its fighters had shot down a Russian transport plane.

Moscow said on Friday it had captured the Hostomel airfield north-west of the capital – a potential staging post for an assault on Kiev that has been fought over since Russian paratroopers landed there in the first hours of the war.

A picture of what was happening on the ground across Ukraine – the largest country in Europe after Russia – was slow to emerge.

Mr Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter that there had been heavy fighting with deaths at the entrance to the eastern cities of Chernihiv and Melitopol, as well as at Hostomel.

Witnesses said they heard explosions and gunfire near the airport in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, close to Russia's border. Ukraine's military said Russian troops had been stopped with heavy losses near the northeastern city of Konotop.

Britain's defence ministry said Russian armoured forces had opened a new route of advance towards the capital after failing to take Chernihiv.

Ukraine said more than 1,000 Russian soldiers had been killed. Russia did not release casualty figures. Mr Zelenskyy said late on Thursday that 137 soldiers and civilians had been killed in the fighting, with hundreds wounded.

An assessment of the military situation by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based nonprofit, said Russia had fallen short of its objectives in the first two days of the invasion.

“Poorly planned and organised Russian military operations along Ukraine’s northern border have been less successful than those emanating from Crimea so far,” ISW said in a situation update late on Friday.

“Determined and well-organised Ukrainian resistance around Kiev and Kharkiv has also played an important role in preventing the Russian military from advancing with the speed and success for which it had reportedly planned.”

However, Russia will probably defeat Ukrainian regular military forces and secure their territorial objectives at some point in the coming days or weeks if Mr Putin continues the offensive, it said.

The invasion followed months of Russian military build-up along Ukraine's borders. Mr Putin refused to pull back his forces unless Nato scrapped plans to induct Ukraine as a member and reduced its presence in eastern Europe. The western military alliance rejected the demands.

Western allies have offered military assistance to Ukraine, while Nato has beefed up its forces in neighbouring member countries.

US President Joe Biden on Friday signed a memorandum directing the Department of Defence to provide up to $600 million in “immediate military assistance” to Ukraine.

Agencies contributed to this report