Kyiv residents clear away rubble and await Russian assault
February 26, 2022, 3:30 am

Kyiv residents clear away rubble and await Russian assault

Russian invasion of Ukraine (File photo: Euromaidan Press Facebook page)

The Asharq Al-Awsat reported, the people of Kyiv waited anxiously for an expected Russian assault on the Ukrainian capital on Friday after a night spent cowering in makeshift air raid shelters or their homes.

Missiles pounded Kyiv overnight and air raid sirens wailed, increasing fears among residents who did not flee the city of 3 million on Thursday that an assault was imminent. At times, explosions and gunfire could be heard.

One resident of southeast Kyiv, who gave his name only as Sergei, said he woke at around 4 a.m. and went out to the balcony of his apartment for a smoke.

He heard an explosion and saw a flash in the skies in front of him. Five seconds later an explosion shook his 10-storey residential building not far from Boryspil international airport.

"Glass flew all around. There's now a shell fragment in my kitchen. I was shocked," he told Reuters. Nobody in his family was hurt.

Russian bombing of home buildings (File photo: Euromaidan Press Facebook page)

A Reuters reporter saw a two-meter-deep crater full of rubble in the ground next to the building and windows had been shattered. A policeman on the scene said nobody was killed but several people were badly hurt.

One resident, Oxana Gulenko, a military medic whose father fought for the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, said she was thrown by the explosion about three meters from her bed.

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"How we can live through it in our time? What should we think? (Russian President Vladimir) Putin should be burnt in hell along with his whole family," she said, cleaning away broken glass in her apartment.

Others cleared away rubble in the street.

Anatoliy Marchenko, 57, who served in the Soviet army, will have to repair his balcony after the strike and could not find his cat, which ran away during shelling.

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"I'm ashamed that I speak Russian," he said and switched to Ukrainian. "I know people there (in Russia), they are my friends. What do they need from me? A war has come to my house and that's it."

Source: aawsat

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.