• Kyiv is ready for talks with Moscow, says presidential adviser
• US, Albania move UNSC to persuade Russia to cease its use of force
• 100,000 internally displaced, thousands flee Ukraine: UN

KYIV/WASHINGTON: Ukrai­nian forces fought off Russian troops in the capital Kyiv on Friday on the second day of a conflict that has claimed dozens of lives, as President Vladimir Putin called on the Ukrainian army to remove the country’s leadership, while the Ukrainian presidential adviser claimed Kyiv is ready for talks with Moscow.

Small arms fire and explosions were heard in the city’s northern district of Obolonsky as what appeared to be an advance party of Russia’s invasion force left a trail of destruction. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters on Friday that Ukraine wanted peace and was ready for talks with Russia, including on neutral status regarding Nato. “If talks are possible, they should be held. If in Moscow they say they want to hold talks, including on neutral status, we are not afraid of this,” he said via a text message. “Our readiness for dialogue is part of our persistent pursuit of peace.”

However, the US and Albania later moved a resolution in the UN Security Council, urging the world body to persuade Russia to “immediately cease its use of force” against Ukraine, Anwer Iqbal reports from Washington. An earlier version, circulated by the media, sought the Security Council’s authorization for using force to persuade Russia to leave Ukraine.

Diplomatic sources told Dawn the resolution was watered down to win over support in the council. At least 11 of the 15 Security Council members were willing to support the resolution. The sources said the US may also move another resolution overnight or early Saturday, which could include the demand for use of force.

The previous version of the resolution was about invoking UNSC “chapter 7” (Action with respect to threats to the peace, breaches of the peace, and acts of aggression) to authorize Nato to use force to counter the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The resolution, which was to be put to vote overnight after being delayed, will be vetoed by Russia, which apart from being a permanent member, is the UNSC President this month. The US will then move the resolution in the UN General Assembly on Friday evening, where no member has the veto power. In Washington, Republican and Democratic lawmakers are moving a resolution in Congress, urging the administration to work with the international community to oust Russia from the UN Security Council to defuse its veto powers. Diplomatic observers in Washington, however, see this as a symbolic move to express solidarity with the Biden administration on this issue. “Practically, it will be impossible to oust Russia as it will undo the entire UN system,” one of the observers said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to AFP, earlier said Moscow was ready to talk but only if Ukraine’s armed forces “lay down their arms”, insisting that “nobody intends to occupy Ukraine”. Russia demands that Ukraine drop its ambition to join Nato and that the Western military alliance scale back its presence in Eastern Europe. Ukraine that gave up its nuclear arms in exchange for security guarantees from European countries seeks to join the European Union and Nato. A day ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, evoked Nazi Germany’s 1941 invasion and called on Europeans with “combat experience” to take arms and defend Ukraine, saying the West was too slow to help his country. The second day of the conflict began with pre-dawn blasts in Kyiv.

US President Joe Biden, who announced export controls against Russia alongside sanctions on Russian elites, joined fellow Nato leaders in an extraordinary virtual summit on Friday to discuss the security situation in and around Ukraine. After the emergency summit, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said: “The Ukrainian forces are fighting bravely and are actually able to inflict damage on the invading Russian forces.”

Nato had 100 jets and over 120 ships on alert, he said. “We are deploying elements of the Nato Response Force on land, at sea, and in the air to further strengthen our posture and to respond quickly to any contingency,” he added.

Zelensky then posted a self-shot video on social media of himself on a Kyiv street, vowing to stay and defend the capital. “We’re all here. Our military is here. Citizens in society are here. We’re all here defending our independence, our country, and it will stay this way,” he said outside the presidency building. The video surfaced after President Zelensky had claimed that his nation had been ‘left alone’. “Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone,” he had said. Russian forces first arrived on the outskirts of Kyiv on Thursday when helicopter-borne troops assaulted an airfield just outside the city, close to Obolonsky. The Ukrainian defence ministry told civilians to resist. “We urge citizens to inform us of troop movements, to make Molotov cocktails, and neutralise the enemy,” it said.

Ukraine said 137 people, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed since Russia began its air and ground assault.

Sheltering in subway

In the Ukrainian village of Starognativka near the frontline where separatists have faced off against Kyiv’s forces for years, official Volodymyr Veselkin said the settlement had come under attack with missiles. “They are trying to wipe the village off the face of the earth,” he said.

In Kyiv, many residents fled their homes and took shelter in the city’s subway system.

The UN’s refugee agency has said that at least 100,000 people already been displaced inside Ukraine, while thousands of others fled across the border. Streams of people in cars and on foot were seen crossing into Hungary, Poland and Romania while hundreds camped out in a train station in the Polish border city of Przemysl.

As Russia had claimed to have destroyed over 70 Ukrainian military targets, including 11 airfields, Western intelligence, too, confirmed Moscow had established “complete air superiority” over Ukraine.

Myanmar, Syria

While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad praised the invasion, saying it was a “correction of history”, a voice of support for Moscow came from the Myanmar junta that said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “justified”.

Putin announced the start of the invasion in a pre-dawn announcement on Thursday, justifying it as a defence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics in eastern Ukraine. The leaders of the two territories had asked Moscow for military help against Kyiv after Putin recognised their independence on Monday.

Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine’s Western-backed government of discriminating against the Russian-speaking population in the east of the country. A conflict between the separatists and government forces has dragged on since 2014, killing more than 14,000 people.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2022