Ukrainian President Says His Country Has Been Left “Only” Against Russia

“They have left us alone to defend our state,” Zelensky said in a video posted on the presidential account.

Ukrainian President Volodímir Zelensky lamented this Thursday, February 24, at night that his country has been left “alone” to defend itself against the Russian invasion, which has claimed at least 137 lives in the first 24 hours.

“They have left us alone to defend our state,” Zelensky said in a video posted on the presidential account. “Who is willing to fight with us? I do not see anyone. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is scared,” he lamented.

The president indicated that at least 137 Ukrainians, “137 heroes”, died during the first day of the Russian offensive and that 316 were injured during the clashes.

The president also decreed a general military mobilization to try to contain the Russian offensive that, in less than 24 hours from its start, is dangerously close to the capital Kiev.

“We have received information that enemy sabotage groups have entered Kiev,” warned Zelensky, who asked citizens to be vigilant and respect the curfew.

The president indicated that both he and his family remain in Ukraine, although Moscow has identified him as the “number one target”. “They want to politically destroy Ukraine by destroying its head of state,” he deplored.

With “absolute air superiority”, the Russian Army approached Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, on Thursday with the intention of “decapitating the government” to place a pro-Russian one, according to Western military sources.

Having fired more than 160 missiles at Ukrainian military targets, Russian forces moved rapidly south from Belarus and “came closer to Kiev” throughout the day, a senior Pentagon official said.

“Basically they intend to decapitate the government and install their own form of government, which would explain this initial advance towards Kiev,” he estimated.

According to a senior Western intelligence official, “Ukraine’s air defenses have been eliminated and they have no air force left to protect themselves.”

“In the next few hours the Russians will try to concentrate an overwhelming force around the capital and the defense now falls to the ground forces and the popular resistance,” he explained.

Russian troops will be around Kiev “in a matter of days, or tomorrow morning, at the rate at which they are advancing,” he stressed. “There isn’t much time left. I think a lot will depend on the resistance of the Ukrainians.”

At the moment Russia has advanced into Ukrainian territory along three axes: south from the Crimea to the city of Kherson, across the Dnieper River; north from Belarus to Kiev, along two highways northeast and northwest of the Ukrainian capital, and east from the Russian city of Belgorod to the large industrial city of Kharkov, according to Pentagon estimates.

The US official initially reported 75 bomber sorties and 100 missile launches of various types, including sea-to-land missiles fired from the Black Sea, but later said that the number of missiles fired since the start of the Russian offensive had risen. to “more than 160″.

“Most of them are short-range ballistic missiles, but there are also medium-range missiles and cruise missiles,” he specified.

“They also dropped more paratroopers on Kharkiv and we estimate that there is still heavy fighting” in this area of ​​eastern Ukraine.

The attacks have focused on military targets, including air bases and the command of the Ukrainian Army, but according to the Pentagon the objective is to take control of key cities, especially the capital, Kiev.

Russian forces attacked the Antonov military airport in Gostomel, on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, where fighting appeared to continue late in the day.

This airport could become a meeting point for the Russian Army if it wanted to surround the capital.

“If Moscow manages to get it under control and maintain air superiority (which is very possible), they could use the airport as an entry point to attack Kiev,” tweeted Michael Horowitz, a security expert at Consultant Le Beck International.

The senior Pentagon official emphasized that this offensive is unprecedented in more than 70 years.

“We have never seen a move like this, from nation state to nation state, since World War II, certainly nothing of this magnitude, scope and scale,” he said.

So far the Russians have not entered western Ukraine and there is no indication of an amphibious assault in the south from the Black Sea, the source said.