Zelenskyy appoints general to defend Kyiv as
Russians close in
Ukrainian leader prepares for last-ditch defense of
capital as Russian, Belarusian columns advance on the capital.
BY DOUGLAS
BUSVINE
March 1,
2022 1:22 pm
Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed a military commander on Tuesday to lead
the defense of Kyiv, as Russian-led armored columns advanced on the capital.
“The
defense of our capital is now our most important priority,” Zelenskyy said in a
video address posted on his Telegram channel.
The defense
of Kyiv will be led by General Mykola Zhernov, said Zelenskyy, in collaboration
with the city’s elected mayor, former heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly
Klitschko.
“I decided
to appoint a professional military man as the head of the Kyiv city military
administration for the duration of the war,” Zelenskyy said. “To guarantee the
defense of the city, to block the enemy’s intrigues in our capital, so that the
people of Kyiv have all that they need.”
Zelenskyy
denounced what he said was a cruise missile strike on the regional
administrative headquarters in the northeastern city of Kharkiv as “an
outright, undisguised act of terror.”
“Russia is
a terrorist state. No one will forgive. No one will forget,” said the
president, who was unshaven and wore a khaki T-shirt, which has become a
hallmark of his wartime leadership.
The Russian
strikes on military and civilian command centers, coupled with the bombardment
of residential areas in northeastern cities like Kharkiv and Okhtyrka, bode ill
for the Ukrainian political leadership as it readies for a last-ditch defense
of the capital.
Satellite
imagery showed miles-long Russian armored columns stretching along highways to
the northwest of Kyiv. These forces were joined in battle on Tuesday by
Belarusian troops who crossed the border at Chernihiv to the northeast. This
means that forces loyal to Russian President Vladimir Putin are now advancing
towards the capital on both sides of the Dnipro River.
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