21:00 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts have agreed to send parts of the organization's response force to help protect allies in the east following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking after chairing a NATO summit in Brussels, Stoltenberg said the leaders decided to send parts of the NATO Response Force and elements of a quickly deployed spearhead unit. He did not say how many troops would be deployed, but confirmed that the move would involve land, sea and air power.
The NRF can number up to 40,000 troops, but Stoltenberg said that NATO would not be deploying the entire force. Parts of a force known in NATO jargon as the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), which is currently led by France, will also be sent.
20:20 Ukrainian President Zelensky told reporters under dark outside the presidential residence in the capital Kyiv: "I have not and will not leave the country."
Zelensky's defiant words come as Ukrainian forces continue on Friday night to hold off pressing Russian troops only tens of kilometres outside the capital on the second day of the Russian invasion.
20:10 Russia's media regulator said Friday it was limiting access to Facebook, accusing the US tech giant of censorship and of violating the rights of Russian citizens.
"In accordance with a decision from the General Prosecutor with regard to the social network Facebook, from February 25, Roskomnadzor is adopting measures to partially restrict access," to Facebook, media regulator Roskomnadzor said in a statement, without elaborating.
20:00 Egyptian citizens in Ukraine’s southern city of Odessa can return to Egypt through Romania, while those in western Ukrainian cities should head to the Polish border, the Egyptian embassy in Kyiv said on Friday.
However, the embassy advised citizens in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv or eastern cities to stay at home or in shelters currently.
Hundreds of Egyptian expats living or studying in Ukraine are waiting to be evacuated from the country soon, Ali Farouk, the head of Egyptian community in Ukraine, said in an interview with Ahram Online on Thursday.
Around 6,000 Egyptian nationals live in Ukraine, with the majority being students, Khaled Mohamed, the head of the Youth Committee of the Egyptian Community in Ukraine, said in a phone interview with TEN TV satellite channel on Wednesday.
All you need to know about Russia-Ukraine crisis’ impacts on Egypt
19:45 The International Olympic Committee (IOC) urged sports bodies Friday to cancel or move all events they plan to hold in Russia and Belarus, and stop using the countries' flags and national anthems.
The request from the Olympic body came after UEFA moved the Champions League final from St. Petersburg to suburban Paris, and after the governing body of skiing and Formula One pulled upcoming races from Russia.
Volleyball, shooting and hockey all have world championships scheduled to be held in Russia. Hockey is a favorite sport of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his home city of St. Petersburg is scheduled to host the worlds in May 2023.
18:45 The Ukrainian armed forces announced that they had inflicted heavy losses on the Russian side.
The Defence Ministry said 2,800 Russian soldiers were "missing".
It was not clear whether the Russian soldiers were killed, injured or captured.
The ministry also estimated the destruction of about 80 tanks, more than 500 other military vehicles, 10 fighters and seven helicopters.
Reserve soldiers of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces look at a vehicle containing the unseen bodies of Russian serviceman wearing Ukranian service uniform after members of a raiding party were shot during a skirmish in Kyiv on February 25, according to Ukrainian service personnel at the scene. AFP
It is not clear the death toll between soldiers and civilians, and the two sides have provided conflicting information. Russia says it has not incurred any major losses.
Ukraine said earlier that more than 1,000 Russian attackers had died.
A woman walks as Ukrainian servicemen prepare to pick up the body of an Ukrainian man who was shot when a Russian armoured vehicle drove past him, on a sidewalk in the north of Kyiv on February 25. AFP
17:50 Britain and nine other northern European defence allies agreed in a call Friday that further sanctions were needed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office said.
The UK leader told the so-called Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) bloc -- which includes Baltic and Scandinavian states -- that the crisis "was a defining moment in European history".
"The leaders agreed that more sanctions were needed, including focusing on (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin's inner circle, building on the measures that had already been agreed," his Downing Street office said following the call.
Johnson told representatives from the nine JEF members that "the western world must keep the flame of freedom burning in Ukraine as Russian forces inflict horror on an innocent country and its people", it added.
He also urged "more support must be given to Ukraine, as a matter of the greatest urgency" and that Putin's actions "could never be normalised, or his aggression against Ukraine ever accepted as a fait accompli".
The JEF, set up in 2012, is made up of NATO members Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom, and non-members Finland and Sweden.
It is focused on security in the "High North" region around the Arctic, the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea area. (AFP)
17:40 Russia repeatedly accuses Ukraine of violating the 2015 Minsk II ceasfire agreement to end fighting between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatist rebels controlling a big swathe of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the Ukraine.
Minsk II, which was signed on 12 February, 2015, was a result of a 16-hour talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin, then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, then-French President Francois Hollande and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the Belarusian capital Minsk.
A previous Minsk I ceasefire deal collapsed within days of its signing on 5 September, 2014.
Here are the main points of the Minsk II agreement:
1 Immediate and full bilateral ceasefire.
2 Withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both sides.
3 Effective monitoring and verification regime for the ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons.
4 Pardon and amnesty by banning any prosecution of figures involved in the Donetsk and Luhansk conflict.
5 Release of all hostages and other illegally detained people.
6 From day one of the withdrawal begin a dialogue on the holding of local elections.
7 Unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to the needy, internationally supervised.
8 Restoration of full social and economic links with affected areas.
9 Full Ukrainian government control will be restored over the state border, throughout the conflict zone.
10 Withdrawal of all foreign armed groups, weapons and mercenaries from Ukrainian territory.
11 Constitutional reform in Ukraine, with adoption of a new constitution by the end of 2015.
File Photo: Minsk II agreements were signed by Belarus' Alexander Lukashenko, Russia's Vladimir Putin, Germany's Angela Merkel, France's Francois Hollande and Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko In February 2015.
17:30 Ukraine's Defence Ministry said on Friday that more than 1,000 Russian servicemen had been killed so far in the Ukrainian conflict.
"Russia has not suffered so many casualties during the fighting in any of its armed conflicts since its inception," the ministry said. (Reuters)
16:50 Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called on the Ukrainian army to overthrow the country's leadership whom he described as "terrorists" and "a gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis".
Addressing the Ukrainian military in a televised address, he urged them to "take power in your own hands."
"It seems like it will be easier for us to agree with you than this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis," he said, referring to leadership in Kyiv led by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting via a video link in Moscow on February 25. AFP
15:40 The Russian military claims it has taken control of Hostomel airport just outside Kyiv, as Kremlin forces bear down on the Ukrainian capital.
The claim could not be independently verified.
Taking possession of the airport in Hostomel, which has a long runway allowing the landing of heavy-lift transport planes, would mean Russia can airlift troops directly to Kie's outskirts.
Hostomel is just 7 kilometers (4 miles) northwest of the city.
Ukrainian soldiers take positions in downtown Kyiv on Friday 25 February. AP
15:30 The EU is preparing to freeze the assets of Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov under a new sanctions package, according to four people familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported.
The EU foreign ministers hope to approve the sanctions package this afternoon, along with a number of measures against Russian banks and industry, the people told the FT.
However, Putin and Lavrov will not be subject to a ban on travelling under the measures.
14:50 Chinese state TV says Russian President Vladimir Putin has told his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, said that Moscow is willing to negotiate with Ukraine, even as Moscow's forces invade its neighbor.
The report Friday followed a Kremlin announcement that Putin's government was considering an offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate non-aligned status for his country.
Putin said Moscow ``is willing to conduct high-level negotiations with the Ukrainian side,'' China Central Television reported on its website.
It gave no indication whether Putin said he was responding to Zelenskyy's offer or gave any details of what the two sides might negotiate.
Russia complains that the United States and its allies ignored Moscow's ``legitimate security concerns'' by expanding the NATO military alliance eastward, closer to Russia's borders.
Xi said China ``supports Russia and Ukraine resolving the problem through negotiations,'' CCTV said.
14:40 Turkey's foreign minister says officials are still assessing a request by Ukraine for Turkey to close to Russian shipping the straits at the entrance of the Black Sea.
Mevlut Cavusoglu warned, however, that under a 1936 convention Ankara may not be able to deny total access to the Russian vessels.
Ukraine on Thursday formally asked Turkey to close the Turkish Straits to Russian warships in line with the Montreux Convention which allows Turkey to restrict the passage of belligerent countries' warships during times of war. The convention stipulates however, that warships belonging to Black Sea coastal countries can return to their bases.
``If there is a demand for the ships of the warring countries to return to their bases, then (passage) must be allowed,'' Cavusoglu was quoted as telling Hurriyet newspaper in an interview.
The minister said Turkish experts were assessing if the current situation amounted to ``a state of war.''
14:30 Germany's president is appealing to Russian President Vladimir Putin to ``stop the madness of this war now.''
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Berlin on Friday said that ``we don't want enmity with the Russian people, quite the contrary, but this wrongdoing cannot go without a clear answer.''
Steinmeier, whose post is largely ceremonial but holds moral authority, said that Germany will do its part in deterring Putin from using force against its NATO allies.
The president, who served twice as Germany's foreign minister, said that Putin ``should not underestimate the strength of democracies'' and Germans shouldn't either.
He said it's good that people are going out to demonstrate, adding: ``The Russian president should not believe for a second that people in Germany and Europe simply accept this brutal violence.''
14:25 Pope Francis went to the Russian embassy in Rome on Friday to personally express his concern about the war in Ukraine, in an extraordinary papal gesture that has no recent precedent.
Popes usually receive ambassadors and heads of state in the Vatican. For Francis to travel a short distance to the Russian embassy outside the Vatican walls was a sign of his strength of feeling about Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Vatican officials said they knew of no such previous papal initiative.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed the pontiff wanted ``clearly to express his concern about the war.'' Pope Francis was there for just over a half-hour, Bruni said.
Francis has called for dialogue to end the conflict and has urged the faithful to set next Wednesday as a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Ukraine.
But he has refrained from publicly calling out Russia, presumably for fear of antagonizing the Russian Orthodox Church, with which he is trying to build stronger ties.
14:20 The U.N. human rights office says it is receiving increasing reports of civilian casualties in Ukraine in the wake of Russia's military invasion.
Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says its staffers have so far verified at least 127 civilian casualties. They include 25 people killed and 102 injured, mostly from shelling and airstrikes.
She cautioned Friday that the numbers are ``very likely to be an underestimate.''
Shamdasani also said the rights office was ``disturbed by the multiple arbitrary arrests'' of demonstrators in Russia who on Thursday protested against the conflict.
``We understand more than 1,800 protesters were arrested,'' she said, before adding that it was unclear how many might have been released already.
Meanwhile, spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo of the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said its latest update had that more than 100,000 people were believed to have left their homes in Ukraine. She said the agency's planning figures anticipated that ``up to 4 million people may flee to other countries if the situation escalates.''
14:10 Latvia's defense minister is criticizing European nations for failing to cut Russia off from the global bank payments network and refusing to provide weapons to help Ukraine defend itself.
Artis Pabriks' comments came after the U.S. and European Union stopped short of blocking Russia's access to the SWIFT payments system when they announced a new round of sanctions late Thursday.
Pabriks also chided fellow EU nations that have refused to provide ``lethal aid'' to Ukraine, saying only the U.K., Greece, Poland and the Baltic states had done so.
In an interview with the BBC on Friday, Pabriks suggested that many European leaders don't want to take these steps because they would cause economic hardship for their own countries.
``If you are really not ready yourself to spill blood, at least spill money now,'' he said. ``Do it now, because if you lose Ukraine all European geopolitics will change. . There will be much more pressure on Poland, much more pressure on the Baltics.''
The Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia fear they could be the Kremlin's next target. (AP)
14:00 Syrian President Bashar Assad is praising Russia's military incursion into Ukraine and denouncing what he calls western ``hysteria'' surrounding it.
Assad spoke by phone Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
``What is happening today is a correction of history and a restoration of balance which was lost in the world after the breakup of the Soviet Union,'' Assad said, according to state-run news agency SANA.
He said confronting NATO expansionism is Russia's right.
13:55 The Kremlin says it will analyze the Ukrainian president's offer to discuss a non-aligned status for his country, as a Russian military invasion pushes closer to Kyiv.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was ready to hold talks on the issue.
Asked about Zelenskyy's offer, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday described it as "a move in a positive direction.''
He said in a conference call with reporters that "we paid attention to that, and now we need to analyze it.''
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Zelenskyy "is simply lying'' when he offers to discuss non-aligned status for Ukraine.
Lavrov said at a briefing that Zelenskyy "missed the opportunity'' to discuss a neutral status for Ukraine when Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed it.
Putin says the West left him no option but to invade when it rejected Moscow's demand to keep Ukraine out of NATO. (AP)
13:50 A senior European Union official says the 27-nation bloc intends to slap further sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
EU Council president Charles Michel tweeted Friday: "Second wave of sanctions with massive and severe consequences politically agreed last night. The further package under urgent preparation.''
Michel announced the move after a call with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Michel said Kyiv "is under continued attack by Russian forces'' and called on Russia to immediately stop the violence. (AP)
13:40 Hungary has extended temporary legal protection to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, as countries in eastern Europe prepare for the arrival of refugees at their borders.
Hungary, which borders Ukraine to the west, has in the past taken a firm stance against all forms of immigration. It has controversially refused to accept refugees and asylum seekers from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
But in a decree published late Thursday, Hungary's government announced that all Ukrainian citizens arriving from Ukraine, and all third-country nationals legally residing there, would be entitled to protection.
The section applying to third-country nationals makes it possible for non-Ukrainians, for example, Belarussian refugees living in Ukraine, to receive protection in the European Union.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that Hungary will play no part in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but that it would accept refugees arriving at its borders.
13:10 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has expressed his solidarity with Ukraine in a telephone call with the country's leader.
Johnson's Downing Street office said Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered an update on Russian military advances, including missile and artillery strikes.
"The prime minister assured President Zelenskyy that the world is united in its horror at what Putin is doing,'' Johnson's office said in a statement. "He paid tribute to the bravery and heroism of the Ukrainian people in standing up to Russia's campaign of violence and expressed his deep condolences for those who have been killed.'' (AP)
13:00 The German government says it has suspended the granting of export credit and investment guarantees for business with Russia.
The Economy Ministry said Friday that the granting of new export credit guarantees and investment guarantees for Russia was suspended on Thursday.
The so-called Hermes credit export guarantees protect German companies from losses when exports aren't paid for. Investment guarantees are granted by the German government to protect direct investments by German companies from political risk in the countries where they are made.
The Economy Ministry said that new export credit guarantees to the tune of 1.49 billion euros ($1.67 billion) were granted last year for business with Russia. New investment guarantees came in at a fraction of that amount, at 3.75 million euros ($4.2 million). (AP)
12:50 Poland's Border Guard says that some 29,000 people were cleared to enter through the country's land border with neighboring Ukraine on Thursday, the day Russia's invasion of Ukraine began.
Before that, there were some 12,000 average daily entries from Ukraine into European Union and NATO member Poland, through land, sea and airport checkpoints, according to Border Guard statistics.
Poland has lifted the requirement of COVID-19 quarantine or vaccination certificates for refugees from Ukraine. A number of reception centres with camp beds, soup kitchens and medical care have been organized in locations close to the border with Ukraine.
A soldier serves soup to a Ukrainian woman in the building of the main railway station of Przemysl which has been turned into a temporary reception centre for refugees from Ukraine fleeing the conflict in their country, in eastern Poland on February 25. AFP
12:40 China is holding back from labelling Russia's attack on Ukraine as an invasion.
At the same time, it is upholding the sanctity of territorial sovereignty, in a nod to its own insistence that Taiwan is part of China.
"The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected and maintained,'' China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Friday.
"At the same time, we also see that the issue of Ukraine has its own complex and special historical merits, and we understand Russia's legitimate concerns on security issues,'' he added.
Wang did not answer questions about whether China would recognize the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, in Ukrainian territory claimed by Russia, as independent states.
12:35 Paris will host this season's football Champions League final after Saint Petersburg was stripped of the match due to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, European governing body UEFA announced.
The showpiece occasion of the European club season will be played at the Stade de France on Saturday, May 28, European football's governing body said after holding an emergency meeting in response to the crisis.
12:30 Russia's civil aviation authority has banned U.K. flights to and over Russia in retaliation against the British government's ban on Aeroflot flights.
Rosaviatsiya said that all flights by the U.K. carriers to Russia as well as transit flights are banned starting Friday.
It said the measure was taken in response to the "unfriendly decisions'' by the British authorities who banned flights to the U.K. by the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot as part of sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
12:20 The Russian military claims it has destroyed 118 Ukrainian military assets since the beginning of its assault on its neighbour and as it pushes into the outskirts of Kyiv.
The claim could not be independently verified and was not confirmed by Ukraine amid a flurry of claims and counterclaims by each side.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Friday that among the targets were 11 Ukrainian air bases, 13 command facilities, 36 air defence radars, 14 air defence missile systems, 5 warplanes, 18 tanks and warships.
However, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace rejected Russian claims of success on the first day of its invasion of Ukraine, saying it had "failed to deliver'' on its day one objectives.
Wallace told Sky News that the Western assessment is that Russia had failed to take its major objectives and is behind on its timetable for advance.
"They've lost over 450 personnel,'' he said.
12:10 Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine, calling it "a deep cut in European history after the end of the Cold War.''
Germany's dpa news agency quoted Merkel saying Friday that there was "no justification for this blatant attack of international law. I condemn it in the sharpest possible manner.''
Merkel, who grew up in East Germany and speaks Russian, was heavily engaged in negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin throughout her 16 years in office, which ended in December.
12:05 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that 137 civilians and military personnel have been killed so far in the Russian invasion of his country.
In a video address released early Friday, Zelensky called them "heroes'' in which he also says hundreds more have been wounded.
Zelenskyy said that despite Russia's claim it is attacking only military targets, civilian sites also have been struck.
In his words: "They're killing people and turning peaceful cities into military targets. It's foul and will never be forgiven.''
The president says all border guards on Zmiinyi island in the Odesa region were killed Thursday. (AFP)
12:00 Ukraine's nuclear energy regulatory agency says that higher than usual gamma radiation levels have been detected in the area near the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant, after it was seized by the Russian military.
The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate said Friday that higher gamma radiation levels have been detected in the Chernobyl zone, but didn't provide details of the increase.
It attributed the rise to a "disturbance of the topsoil due to the movement of a large amount of heavy military equipment through the exclusion zone and the release of contaminated radioactive dust into the air.''
Ukrainian authorities said that Russia took the plant and its surrounding exclusion zone after a fierce battle Thursday.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Russian airborne troops were protecting the plant to prevent any possible "provocations.'' He insisted that radiation levels in the area have remained normal.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said it was told by Ukraine of the takeover, adding that there had been "no casualties or destruction at the industrial site.''
The 1986 disaster occurred when a nuclear reactor at the plant 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Kyiv exploded, sending a radioactive cloud across Europe. The damaged reactor was later covered by a protective shell to prevent leaks.
11:55 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday Moscow wants to "free Ukraine from oppression", as Russian invading forces approached.
Lavrov's comments came during a meeting with representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People s Republics in Moscow on Friday morning.
President Vladimir "Putin took the decision to conduct a special military operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine," Lavrov said.
11:50 The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he is "closely following recent developments in and around Ukraine with increasing concern.''
Karim Khan warned "all sides conducting hostilities on the territory of Ukraine'' that Ukraine has accepted the court's jurisdiction.
That means "my office may exercise its jurisdiction over and investigate any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime committed within the territory of Ukraine since 20 February 2014 onwards, Khan said in a statement Friday.
Khan adds that because neither Russia nor Ukraine is member state of the court, his office does not have jurisdiction over the crime of aggression in the conflict.
The International Criminal Court is the world's permanent war crimes court. It was set up in 2002 to prosecute atrocities in countries where local authorities are unable or unwilling to conduct trials.
11:40 Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko said at least three people were injured when a rocket hit a multi-story apartment building in Ukraine's capital on Friday, starting a fire.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Russian military's claim it is not targeting civilian areas is "a lie.'' He said that military and civilian areas in Ukraine are both being hit by Russian attacks.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine began early Thursday with a series of missile strikes, many on key government and military installations, quickly followed by a three-pronged ground assault. Ukrainian and U.S. officials said Russian forces were attacking from the east toward Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city; from the southern region of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014; and from Belarus to the north.
11:30 French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that France and its European allies have decided to "inflict very severe blows on Moscow,'' further sanctioning individuals and targeting finance, energy and other sectors. The legal texts for the sanctions will be finalized and submitted for approval to EU foreign ministers later Friday.
Macron also said the EU has decided on economic aid for Ukraine in the amount of 1.5 billion euros ($1.68 billion).
The French president also called the Belorussian government "an accomplice'' in Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, and said it will also be targeted.
11:20 As Russian troops continued pressing their offensive Friday, intense fighting also raged in the country's east.
11:15 Hundreds of Egyptian expats living or studying in Ukraine are waiting to be evacuated from the country soon amid the unknown following the Russian invasion, Ali Farouk , the head of Egyptian community in Ukraine, told Ahram Online on Thursday.
11:12 Russian troops entered the city of Sumy near the border with Russia that sits on a highway leading to Kyiv from the east. The regional governor, Dmytro Zhivitsky, said Ukrainian forces fought Russian troops in the city overnight, but other Russian convoys kept rolling west toward the Ukrainian capital.
"Military vehicles from Sumy are moving toward Kyiv,'' Zhivitsky said. "Much equipment has passed through and is heading directly to the west.''
Zhivitsky added that another northeastern city, Konotop, was also sieged. He urged residents of the region to fight the Russian forces. (AP)
11:10 The Ukrainian military is reporting significant fighting northwest of the nation's capital as Russian forces apparently try to advance on Kyiv from the north.
The military said Friday morning a bridge across a river had been destroyed in the area of Ivankiv, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Kyiv.
"The hardest day will be today. The enemy's plan is to break through with tank columns from the side of Ivankiv and Chernihiv to Kyiv. Russian tanks burn perfectly when hit by our ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles),'' Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko said on Telegram.
11:00 The Ukrainian ambassador to Japan is urging China to join international efforts to stop the Russian "massacre'' in his country amid Beijing's lack of criticism of Moscow's actions.
"We would very much welcome that China exercises its connection with Russia and talks to Putin and explains to him that it is inappropriate in the 21st century to do this massacre in Europe,'' Ukrainian diplomat Sergiy Korsunsky told a news conference in Tokyo.
China has not criticized Russia over its actions against Ukraine, and has joined in verbal attacks on Washington and its allies.
"I do believe China can play a much more active role to work with Putin in a manner we expect for civilized countries to do,'' he said.
Korsunsky also asked support from the United States and its allies to provide anti-missile defense equipment to fight Russian cruise missile attacks. He said Ukraine wants to join NATO and called for its support in resolving the conflict.
Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Holy Family of London Kenneth Nowakowski, centre, joins people taking part in a demonstration in support of Ukraine, outside Downing Street, central London, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. AP
10:30 Explosions are being heard before dawn in Kyiv as Western leaders scheduled an emergency meeting and Ukraine's president pleads for international help.
The nature of the explosions was not immediately clear, but the blasts came amid signs that the capital and largest Ukrainian city was increasingly threatened following a day of fighting that left more than 100 Ukrainians dead.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the government had information that "subversive groups'' were encroaching on the city, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Kyiv "could well be under siege'' in what U.S. officials believe is a brazen attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismantle the government and replace it with his own regime.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers on a phone call that Russian mechanized forces that entered from Belarus were about 20 miles from Kyiv, according to a person familiar with the call
10:00 European Union leaders are putting on a united front after a six-hour meeting during which they agreed on a second package of economic and financial sanctions on Russia.
The EU Council president accuses Russia of using "fake pretexts and bad excuses'' for justifying its invasion of Ukraine and says sanctions will hurt the government,
The legal texts for the sanctions agreed on are expected to be finalized overnight and be submitted for approval to EU foreign affairs ministers Friday.
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen says the package includes targeting 70% of the Russian banking market and key state-owned companies.
She says Russia's energy sector also will be targeted "by making it impossible for Russia to upgrade its refineries.'' And there will be a ban on sales of software, semiconductors and airliners to Russia.
4:30 The U.N. Security Council will vote Friday on a resolution that would condemn Russia's military aggression against Ukraine "in the strongest terms.'' It also would demand an immediate halt to Russia's invasion and the withdrawal of all Russian troops.
A senior U.S. official says the Biden administration knows the measure will be vetoed by Russia, but believes it is very important to put the resolution to a vote to underscore Russia's international isolation.
The official says the council vote will be followed by a resolution voted on quickly in the 193-member U.N. General Assembly where there are no vetoes.
The final draft resolution, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, would reaffirm the council's commitment "to the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.''
The council is scheduled to vote at 3 p.m. EST Friday.
* This report was compiled by Mohamed Hafez, Ezzat Sameh, and Haitham Nouri.
* All photos by AFP and AP.
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