Ukraine is expecting Putin’s tanks to attack Kyiv and citizens have been urged to resist Russian forces

• Russia-Ukraine crisis: live news

Gunfire has been heard in central Kyiv and there are reports of heavy fighting in the city’s northern suburbs after Ukraine said it expected a Russian armoured attack on the capital and its outskirts on Friday.

Russian forces have taken control of Hostomel airfield near Kyiv, according to reports, and the capital’s mayor has said it has entered a “defensive phase”.

The defence ministry urged citizens to resist when Russian forces entered Kyiv, telling residents to inform authorities of all troop movements, and “make molotov cocktails and neutralise the enemy”.

Explosions rocked Kyiv in the early hours in preparations for the Russian advance, with Ukraine claiming it had shot down a Russian military aircraft over the capital. Officials said a tower block had been set on fire.

Russian forces have taken the city of Sumy in north-eastern Ukraine, according to a resident who said there were Russian military vehicles in the streets.

Russia is ready to send a delegation to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, for talks with Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Ukraine has said it is willing to discuss declaring itself a neutral county.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, insisted “no one is planning to occupy Ukraine”, also saying that Moscow was ready for talks if Ukrainian forces laid down their arms.

Russia banned UK flights from its airspace after the British government said Russia’s national carrier, Aeroflot, would be banned from British airspace as part of the UK’s package of sanctions.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, confirmed reports of Russian missile strikes in a national address early on Friday, also calling for Nato defence support and tougher sanctions against Russia.

Russian troops seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the north of Ukraine.

Ukraine decreed a full military mobilisation against the Russian invasion. Ukrainian men aged 18-60 are now forbidden to leave Ukraine. Zelenskiy has declared martial law.

The president said on Thursday night he would remain in Kyiv, despite saying he was Russia’s primary target. “We are not afraid. We are not afraid of anything,” he said.

The EU is preparing to freeze the assets of Putin and Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as part of a third round of sanctions. Amid Ukrainian anger at the bloc’s reluctance to cut Russia out of the Swift international payments system, EU foreign ministers are set to approve more measures on Friday afternoon.

Thousands attempted to flee Kyiv, leading to large traffic queues. Pictures have emerged of Kyiv residents crowding into underground metro stations where they are taking shelter from further Russian attacks.

Anti-war protests attracted thousands of people in cities across Russia, with local authorities swiftly cracking down on the unsanctioned rallies. Police made at least 1,702 arrests in 53 Russian cities on Thursday night.

Ukraine leaders warn world to wake up to Russian threat as west promises to make Putin international pariah

• Russia-Ukraine invasion latest news: follow live updates

Ukraine was fighting for its survival after Vladimir Putin unleashed a punishing offensive on the country that left hundreds dead or injured, and world leaders warned that Moscow had embarked on a dangerous new era of imperial expansion.

The continent awoke to the shock of scenes it once believed it had left in the 20th century: helicopters strafing homes outside the capital, long lines of tanks ploughing ever deeper towards Ukraine’s heartland, roads choked with refugees, and civilians huddled in underground stations to escape bombardment.

Military helicopters, apparently Russian, were filmed flying over the Dnieper river on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where they were met by Ukrainian counter fire. An ambitious attack by helicopters on the Hostomel military airbase on the outskirts of Kyiv was also recorded.

Russian forces have attacked Ukraine by land, sea, and air on a massive scale, bringing to a calamitous end weeks of fruitless diplomatic efforts by western leaders to avert war

• Russia’s war on Ukraine explained: a complete visual guide

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing or preparing to flee the country after Russian leader Vladimir Putin began an invasion.

Videos and photos on social media show lines of cars moving out of cities and heading west, as well as numbers of people on foot near the southern and western borders while reports of casualties mount. 

We spoke to Maria Romanenko and Alena Dalskaya-Latosiewicz from their cars as they tried to escape the conflict, as well as Romeo Kokriatski a Ukrainian-American, who says he hopes to stay in the capital, Kyiv, for as long as possible. 

'I love my country. I don't want to leave,' said Romanenko

• Stay or flee? Kyiv comes to terms with disaster of Russian invasion 
  
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