In the Russia Ukraine War soldiers were killed as Ukraine tries to ‘fully defend’: KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s military was in “full-fledged defense mode” on Thursday to deter a multi-faceted Russian attack from land, sea, and air. The Ukrainian military claims to have shot down several Russian military planes, and civilians lined up at enlistment offices to take up arms against President Vladimir V. Putin’s forces.
Oleksiy Erestovich, the adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and dozens more wounded in fighting on Thursday morning.
The country’s foreign minister, Dimitro Kuleba, said that Ukraine was facing “a full-scale attack from multiple directions”. But it “continues to defend itself” from the Russian advance.
Initial reports of fighting suggested that Russian forces had crossed into Ukraine at several points. Naval units were approaching the southern port city of Odessa, with soldiers operating from helicopters under cover of machine-gun fire, and military vehicles crossing. Crimea, is the peninsula that Russia seized in 2014.
A senior Ukrainian military official said the Ukrainian military said they had shot down several Russian fighters and a helicopter to maintain control of major cities. The official said Ukrainian troops had also repelled Russian advances on two major cities. Chernihiv in the north, near the Belarus border, and Kharkiv in the northeast, close to Russia, the official said.
In videos posted on social media, Russian military vehicles were seen on the outskirts of Kharkiv, the second-largest city. Where soldiers had set up posts on the main road.
Ukrainian forces were badly outnumbered and ejected by Russian forces, but in a sign that it was mounting a resistance, two Russian armored personnel carriers were seen damaged, crashing into a tree, in the eastern Ukrainian town of Shachasty. early Thursday.
Marina Daniliuk, a retiree, was woken up by the intense explosions. They believed they were caused by Russian artillery fire. Around 5 a.m. she quickly packed up to run away.
While she was driving, she said in a telephone interview, she could hear the sounds of fighting on a city street and saw two damaged armored vehicles. He had no mark except a white circle around the letter Z. A symbol that has been seen in recent times on the Russian side of the border on Russian military vehicles.
It was not clear what happened to the crew, he said: “We were driving too fast. There was a shooting going on in the city.”
In eastern Ukraine’s Kramatorsk, about 100 men aged 20 to 50 came to the military enlistment office. While a dull rumble of explosions could be heard from the direction of the city’s military airport.
Heeding a call from Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov. They packed into a corridor and filled out forms to join the army, which asked all able-bodied civilians to immediately enlist with the country’s regional defense units.
“The enemy is attacking, but our army is indestructible,” he said. “Ukraine is going into full defense mode.”
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