Kyiv came through another night of siege as the brutal war between Ukraine and Russia entered day five.
Before dawn, explosions were heard in the capital city and also in the country’s second largest city Kharkiv.
Powerful blasts were also reportedly heard in the cities of Cherkasy and Chernihiv as the brutal barrage continues.
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Ukraine continues to mount a firm resistance to the invading Russians as all Vladimir Putin’s hope for a rapid victory have been crushed.
High level talks are expected to be held between Moscow and Kyiv on Belarusian-Ukrainian border.
Russia has so far fired more than 350 missiles at Ukrainian, with many hitting civilians.
Moscow has so far failed to win full control of Ukraine’s airspace, despite advances across the country.
US officials say they believe the invasion has been more difficult, and slower, than the Kremlin envisioned – sparking concern Putin could start to use even more vicious weapons.
“It appears that they are adopting a siege mentality, which any student of military tactics and strategy will tell you, when you adopt siege tactics, it increases the likelihood of collateral damage,” a US official said.
It is estimated nearly 400,00 civilians, mainly women and children, have now fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries.
The world pushed further towards the brink of war over the weekend as Putin put Russia’s nuclear deterrent on high alert on Sunday in the face of a barrage of Western-led reprisals.
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But his nation faces a day of economic pain after the imposition of crushing new sanctions.
Brutal new measures rolled out over the weekend designed to cut off Russia could trigger a run on the banks as the rouble is now in “free fall”.
Meanwhile, Putin’s closest ally, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko – who is known as Europe’s Last Dictator, accused the West of “pushing Russia into World War 3”.
Lukashenko insisted sanctions being handed down by countries including the UK and US are propelling Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Now there is a lot of talk against the banking sector, gas, oil, SWIFT,” he said.
“It’s worse than war. This is pushing Russia into a Third World War.
“We need to be restrained here so as not to get into trouble. Because nuclear war is the end of everything.”
Earlier, Lukashenko had warned the war in Ukraine will “become a meat grinder” if it continues.
“The conflict in Ukraine is the thin edge of the wedge. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about. If it continues like this, the worst will happen,” he said.
“He (Zelenskyy) will not be hidden in any American or some other bunker. That’s why the war should be ended today.
“I wouldn’t even call it the war. This is a conflict. The war will last for one-two days, but there will be a meat grinder in three days.”
Photo Credit: Getty
