Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has turned down an offer from the United States of evacuation from the capital city Kyiv, the Ukraine embassy in Britain said Saturday on Twitter.
“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” Zelensky told the US, according to the embassy. “Ukrainians are proud of their President,” the tweet adds. In a video posted on Saturday morning entitled “do not believe the fakes,” Zelensky revealed that he is still in Kyiv. “I am here.
We are not putting down arms. We will be defending our country, because our weapon is truth, and our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this,” he said. “That is it. That’s all I wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine,” he added.
Zelensky remains a “prime target for Russian aggression,” US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday evening amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It echoed Zelensky’s own words that his intelligence said he has become a key target.
“According to our information, the enemy marked me as target №1, my family – as target №2,” Zelensky said Thursday. “They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. We have information that enemy sabotage groups have entered Kyiv.”
Meanwhile, A senior defense official told reporters that the Pentagon view is that Russia intends to “decapitate” the government of Ukraine and install its own. The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that all signs are that the moves so far are an “initial phase” and most Russian troops near the borders have not yet entered Ukraine.
Wednesday night’s explosions and airstrikes are part of three primary lines of assault directed toward Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv, the official said. The bulk of fighting is in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, located in the south, and Russian troops also have entered from Belarus in the north, the official said, but there is no sign of amphibious assault from the Black Sea in the south.
Russia’s three lines of attack include a southern advance, from the Crimea peninsula, stretching to the north to the city of Kherson. Another assault extends from north-central Ukraine to the south, “basically from Belarus to Kyiv.” The third is from northeast Ukraine to the south, which is approximately from Belarus to Kharkiv. The heaviest fighting is in and around Kharkiv right now, the official stated.
