Iran Press/ America: Air raid sirens wailed over Kyiv amid unconfirmed reports that a Russian plane had been shot down and crashed into a building a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military operation that has shocked the world, Reuters reported.
A senior Ukrainian official said Russian forces would enter areas just outside the capital, Kyiv, later on Friday and that Ukrainian troops were defending positions on four fronts despite being outnumbered.
An estimated 100,000 people fled as explosions and gunfire rocked major cities. Dozens have been reported killed. Russian troops seized the Chernobyl former nuclear power plant north of Kyiv as they advanced on the city from Belarus.
US and Ukrainian officials say Russia aims to capture Kyiv and topple the government, which Putin regards as a puppet of the United States.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he understood Russian troops were coming for him but vowed to stay in Kyiv.
"(The) enemy has marked me down as the number one target," Zelenskiy said in a video message. "My family is the number two target. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state."
"I will stay in the capital. My family is also in Ukraine."
Russia launched its military operation by land, air and sea on Thursday following a declaration of war by the country's President Vladimir Putin, in the biggest attack on a European state since World War II.
Putin says Russia is carrying out "a special military operation" to stop the Ukrainian government from committing genocide against its own people. He also says Ukraine is an illegitimate state whose lands historically belong to Russia.
Ukrainian forces downed an enemy aircraft over Kyiv early on Friday, which then crashed into a residential building and set it ablaze, said Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister.
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