Ukraine instructed its citizens to take up arms, including manufacturing Molotov cocktails, to fight back against the Russian military on Friday as it advanced close to the nation’s capital city of Kiev.
The Washington Post reported:
“The Russian military has already felt the power of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” [Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Ganna Malyar] said in a Facebook post on Friday, later adding that molotov cocktails — usually glass bottles filled with flammable material that function like hand grenades — are “a minus for Russia and a plus for Ukraine.”
“It is important that everyone be strong in spirit,” Malyar said. “This is our land. We won’t give up.”
On her Facebook page, an English translation provided by the platform indicated she said, “Burn and destroy the enemy.”
The comments from Malyar come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during the early morning hours on Thursday that he would arm anyone who wanted to fight back against the Russians.
“We will give weapons to anyone who wants to defend the country. Be ready to support Ukraine in the squares of our cities,” Zelensky said in a statement. “We will lift sanctions on all citizens of Ukraine who are ready to defend our country as part of territorial defense with weapons in hands.”
❗️увага
На Оболоні ворожа ДРГ.
Просимо громадян повідомляти про пересування техніки!
Виготовляти коктейлі «Молотова», знешкоджувати окупанта!
Мирним мешканцям – бути обережними! Не покидати оселі!— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) February 25, 2022
Russia pressed deep into Ukraine late on Thursday and into Friday morning as the fighting reached near the outskirts of the country’s capital city of Kyiv. Kyiv was the target of numerous missile attacks throughout the night — which saw a fighter explode in the sky after getting hit.
The Washington Post reported separately:
An air raid siren went off about 7 a.m. local time and at least one residential building in the capital caught fire after being hit by rocket debris, Kyiv’s mayor said. Multiple explosions were heard earlier in the day. Sirens were also heard in Lviv, in Ukraine’s far west and near NATO’s eastern flank. A senior Ukrainian defense official said Russian forces were near the town of Vorzel, some 20 miles to Kyiv’s northwest.
Biden administration officials told lawmakers late Thursday that they feared the capital would soon fall, with Russian mechanized forces — that had crossed over from Belarus — on its outskirts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that he remained in Kyiv, though enemy “sabotage groups” were in the capital.
“Ukrainian defense officials said Friday morning that multiple missile strikes had hit Kyiv, but the targets and the damage inflicted remained unclear,” The New York Times reported.
“They say that civilian objects are not a target for them,” Zelensky said in a televised address. “It is a lie, they do not distinguish in which areas to operate.”
Related: