Kyiv Mayor: Russian troops very close to Ukrainian capital, situation threatening

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, on Friday said that Russian troops were very close to the Ukrainian capital and the situation is threatening. 

Russian forces closed in on Ukraine’s capital in an apparent encircling movement after a barrage of airstrikes on cities and military bases around the country. 

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“The situation now is threatening for Kyiv, no exaggeration. The night and the morning will be difficult,” Klitschko said in the address posted on his Telegram channel. 

The mayor further added that the ‘troops are very close to the capital’. 

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“The sabotage groups are neutralizing the military and law enforcement agencies in the city. Bridges are under protection and special control in the capital. Military equipment and soldiers of the Armed Forces are patrolling them,” he said.

Klitschko said that hospitals in Kyiv were operating in wartime mode. 

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“We are doing this to protect Kyiv. I thank the people of the city for their willingness to defend the capital and the country, along with other units of the Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies,” he added. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a video of himself and his senior aides outside the presidential office in Kyiv to reassure Ukrainians that he and other top officials would stay in the capital.