KYIV, Ukraine(Washington Insider Magazine) – On Friday morning, explosions occurred in Ukraine’s capital, and air raid sirens rang for the 2nd time, as a top Pentagon official briefed US lawmakers that Russian troops had advanced to within 20 kilometers of Kyiv.
Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley informed House legislators about the freshly deployed Russian soldiers in an unclassified meeting on Thursday, according to an insider on the call.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin described the current stage of Russia’s military assault as the tip of the iceberg, according to a source in the meeting and one key defense official, noting that the large majority of Russian soldiers are not yet in Ukraine.
After Russia started strikes on key towns around Ukraine, killing hundreds of civilians, Ukraine’s president warned that saboteurs had infiltrated Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in a statement that at least 137 people were killed and 316 injured in the incident. In a subsequent broadcast speech, he warned of saboteurs nearing the city.
An apartment structure in Kyiv was hit by debris at the moment of Zelenskyy’s video statement, according to Ukrainian officials and the country’s emergency personnel, after an airplane was gunned down.
At 5 a.m. local time early Thursday, bombings and explosions were reported across Ukraine’s major cities, just seconds after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a pre-dawn televised message authorizing military action. He cautioned other countries that interfering in Russia’s affairs will result in retribution unlike any other.
The Russian military seized control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant north of Kyiv on Thursday, according to NBC NEWS. A nuclear accident at the Chernobyl facility in 1986 released huge amounts of radiation into the environment.
The Chernobyl nuclear plant was captured by the Russians, remarked Anton Gerashchenko, a ministry of interior advisor. A member in Zelenskyy’s office verified the information to The Associated Press. The assault appeared to be driven by the need to secure a key location on the invasion route from Minsk to Kyiv and confine it to Ukrainian forces.
According to Gerashchenko, a nuclear waste containment facility strike may release radioactive particles which might cover Belarus, Ukraine, and European Union nations.
Zelenskyy encouraged Ukrainians to defend themselves in the midst of the Russian attack in a televised address early Thursday.
Later, he issued a directive for the military to be mobilized in order to ensure the state’s defense.
