Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has slammed the "horrific Russian rocket strikes" that shook the capital Kyiv in the early hours of Friday, saying that the last time something similar happened was in World War II.
Two loud blasts were heard in the centre of Kyiv on Friday, a day after Russian troops launched an invasion of its Western-backed neighbour.
Journalists from the AFP, CNN and Guardian all reported hearing explosions in the early hours of Friday.
"Horrific Russian rocket strikes on Kyiv," Mr Kuleba said on Twitter. "Last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany".
He said Ukraine defeated the "evil" of Nazi Germany and they will "defeat this one".
Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister of Ukraine, said Ukrainian forces downed an enemy aircraft over Kyiv, which then crashed into a residential building and set it on fire.
It was unclear whether the aircraft was manned. Mr Herashchenko wrote on Telegram that a nine-storey residential building was on fire.
Ukraine’s military uploaded a video of a fiery explosion on Friday morning, saying “war criminals fired on peaceful areas of Kyiv”.
Russian missiles and shelling began to rain down on Ukrainian cities on Thursday after President Vladimir Putin unleashed a full-scale ground invasion and air assault, forcing civilians to shelter on metro systems.
Invading Russian forces pressed deep into Ukraine as deadly battles reached the outskirts of Kyiv and the West responded with punishing sanctions.
On Thursday, Russia's paratroopers wrested control of the Gostomel airfield, on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv, after swooping in with helicopters and jets from the direction of Belarus.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that invading Russian forces are targeting civilian areas, praising his countrymen for their "heroism" and assuring Kyiv is doing "everything possible" to protect them.
"They say that civilian objects are not a target for them. But this is another lie of theirs. In reality, they do not distinguish between areas in which they operate," Mr Zelenskyy said in a video.
"Ukrainian air defence systems are defending our skies," he said. "Ukrainians are demonstrating heroism. All our forces are doing everything possible" to protect people, he added.
The Ukrainian leader called on people to show "solidarity" and help the elderly find shelter and "access to real information."
Mr Zelenskyy also said that Russia will have to eventually talk to Kyiv to end their war.
"Russia will have to talk to us sooner or later. Talk about how to end the fighting and stop this invasion. The sooner the conversation begins, the less losses there will be for Russia itself," he said.
'We have been left alone to defend our state'
Mr Zelenskyy said his country had been left on its own to fight Russia after the Kremlin launched a large-scale invasion that killed more than 130 Ukrainians in the first day.
"We have been left alone to defend our state," Mr Zelenskyy said in a video address to the nation after midnight.
"Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don't see anyone. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid," he added.
Mr Zelenskyy said that 137 Ukrainians, both military personnel and civilians, had been killed since the start of the attack early on Thursday.
Another 316 had been wounded, he added.
Mr Zelenskyy also said that Russian "sabotage groups" had entered the capital Kyiv, and he urged the city's citizens to remain vigilant and observe a curfew.
The president added that he and his family remained in Ukraine, despite Russia identifying him as "target number one".
"They want to destroy Ukraine politically by taking down the head of state," Mr Zelenskyy said.
Russia launched its invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday following a declaration of war by President Vladimir Putin. An estimated 100,000 people fled as explosions and gunfire rocked major cities.
Ukrainians take shelter in a metro station after air raid sirens alarm in Kyiv. Source: EPA / STRINGER/EPA
Russia on Thursday seized the Chernobyl former nuclear power plant north of Kyiv, along the shortest route to the capital from Belarus, where Moscow has staged troops.
"(The) enemy has marked me down as the number one target," Mr Zelenskyy warned in a video message. "My family is the number two target. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state."
Mr Putin says Russia is carrying out "a special military operation" to protect people, including Russian citizens, subjected to "genocide" in Ukraine - an accusation the West calls baseless propaganda.
With heavy fighting being reported on multiple fronts, the United Nations Security Council will vote on Friday on a draft resolution that would condemn Russia's invasion and require Moscow's immediate withdrawal.
However, Moscow can veto the measure, and it was unclear how China, which has rejected calling Russia's move an invasion, would vote.
Dmitry Muratov, a Russian newspaper editor who won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, told the BBC in an interview that 24 February, the day of the invasion, would go down as the day "Russia's future was taken away from it".
"Our peace-loving Russian people will now feel the hatred of the world because we are starting a third world war in the centre of Europe."
