Deluded Putin says his forces are NOT bombing Ukrainian cities... as 100 people are feared buried under rubble following a strike in Kyiv, while Mariupol is left without water or heating and Russian troops are accused of raping civilians
A delusional Vladimir Putin has again insisted that Russia is not bombing Ukrainian cities, despite fears that 100 people are buried under rubble after an apartment block near Kyiv was struck and after a cluster bomb attack on the city of Chernihiv which killed 49.
Putin, speaking on a call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this evening, dismissed all reports of Russian attacks on apartment buildings, schools and hospitals as 'fake' - a day after going on TV to accuse Ukrainians of using civilians as 'human shields' while vowing not to back down from his attack.As he spoke, emergency services in Ukraine warned that around 100 people could be buried in rubble after a rocket strike cleaved an apartment in the city of Boradyanka - 30 miles from Kyiv - in two, with rescue workers unable to get to them. Officials in Chernihiv also raised the number killed in a cluster bomb attack to 49.
A shell fragment also landed in the grounds of President Zelensky's country house, though he is not thought to be there and no damage was caused.
Meanwhile Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, claimed that Russian troops have raped women in cities they have already captured. He did not give evidence to back his claim, but Ukrainian media reported that eleven cases of rape had been reported in Kherson - the only major city captured by Russia after more than a week of fighting.
Russia has been increasingly waging a war of terror against Ukrainian civilians after attempts to rapidly capture the country failed. Indiscriminate shelling of major Ukrainian cities has been taking place, leaving hundreds of innocents dead.
And the attack showed no sign of letting up today, as Mykolaiv, in the south of Ukraine, came under attack with Russian forces moved within striking distance of the city centre. The city is located just a few miles from Kherson, which fell to Putin's men earlier in the week, along the road to Odessa - Ukraine's third-largest city and main port.
However, reports emerged on Friday evening that an attack on an airport on the outskirts of the city had been repulsed, with Ukrainian forces digging in for fresh fighting overnight.
But Ukraine's military did managed to pull off some successes. Two Russian jets were downed near Volnovakha, in the east near Donetsk, while Ukrainian special forces also ambushed two of the Kremlin's tank columns at Hostomel and Brovary, leaving large numbers of troops dead and destroying vehicles.
Kyiv says Russia has now lost around 9,200 men in the fighting, along with hundreds of tanks, almost a thousand armoured vehicles, and dozens of helicopters and jets.
It came after Russia launched an attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant overnight, killing three guards and sparking a fire that raged in the facility for four hours before emergency crews were eventually allowed to extinguish it once Putin's men had taken control.
The attack sparked international condemnation, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson branding it 'reckless' and saying it had 'threatened the security of the whole of Europe'.
The fighting raged on as NATO diplomats met in Brussels today, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying that NATO is 'ready' for war and will defend 'every inch' of member states' territory - though resisted calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying that would violate the defensive alliances' principles.
Jens Stoltenberg, head of the alliance who spoke alongside Blinken, said after a meeting of foreign ministers that NATO's responsibility is to protect its 30 member states - two of which, Poland and Romania, directly border Ukraine - and to stop the conflict from spilling over into a Europe-wide war.
The duo spoke amid concerns in Washington that a 'cornered' Vladimir Putin - who faces near-total condemnation of his invasion abroad, growing dissent at home, and stiffer Ukrainian resistance than he bargained for - may 'lash out' by invading another country or threatening the West with nukes, according to the New York Times.
People take cover from shelling in the city of Bucha, west of Kyiv, during a Russian assault to try and capture it
Ukrainian troops take cover from Russian shelling in the city of Bucha, located to the west of Kyiv
A Russian armoured vehicle sits on a street of wrecked troop transports after several attacks trying to seize the town of Bucha
A dog wanders through the wreckages of Russian armoured vehicles left littering the streets of Bucha, near Kyiv
A Russian tank in the city of Irpin, west of Kyiv, sits abandoned after being attacked by Ukrainian forces
Destroyed Russian armored vehicles in the city of Bucha, west of Kyiv, which has been under heavy attack in recent days
A fragment of a Russian shell sits in the garden of President Zelensky's country home, despite Putin's insistence that he is not targeting civilian properties
A woman picks her way through the rubble of a destroyed school in the city of Zhytomyr, 80 miles to the west of Kyiv, as Russia renews its assault on the country for a ninth day
Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city, has come under renewed bombardment having already suffered heavy damage in increasingly indiscriminate Russian attacks (pictured)
Russia is continuing to advance in southern Ukraine, with Mariupol under bombardment and Odessa and Mykolaiv under threat. Chernihiv, in the north, and Kharkiv, in the east, continue to come under heavy bombardment. The capital Kyiv is also under threat, though Ukrainian counter-attacks took out some Russian forces early on Friday
Jens Stoltenberg (left) and Antony Blinken (right) have today warned Putin that NATO is ready to defend 'every inch' of its territory in the event of a Russian attack, but is not seeking a war
Yevghen Zbormyrsky, 49, reacts in front of his burning house after being shelled in the city of Irpin, outside Kyiv
A woman weeps in the streets of Irpin, a satellite city of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, after it was destroyed by a Russian shell
People remove personal belongings from a burning house after being shelled in the city of Irpin, outside Kyiv
A man runs in front of a house burning after being shelled in the city of Irpin, outside Kyiv
An office block in the centre of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, is left in ruins after being hit by a Russian strike
Damaged cars sit abandoned in the streets amid rubble after an office block in central Kharkiv was hit by a Russian strike
An office block in the centre of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, is left in ruins after being hit by a Russian strike
Damaged cars sit abandoned in the streets amid rubble after an office block in central Kharkiv was hit by a Russian strike
A second Russian aircraft was also destroyed by Ukrainian anti-air units in eastern Ukraine, as they inflicted losses on Russia
A destroyed Russian T-72 tank is seen in Brovary, on the eastern outskirts of Kyiv, after being hit with an anti-tank weapon
Ukrainian forces said they ambushed a Russian tank column outside Kyiv, destroying two tanks and five armoured vehicles
Ukraine has confirmed it scuttled the flagship of its own navy - the Hetman Sahaidachny - while it was at anchor in Odessa because the vessel was in the midst of repairs that could not be completed in time for it to join the fighting
Ukrainian artillery units are pictured operating in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, where war has been ongoing with rebel factions since 2014 - though the region is now part of a much-larger war with Russia
Artillery vehicles of the Ukrainian armed forces take up firing positions in a field in Luhansk, in the east of the country
Ukrainian artillery units open fire on Russian positions in the Luhansk region, where they are in danger of being surrounded
Servicemen of Ukrainian Military Forces set a fire to get warm in the Luhansk region
Soldiers of a mobile artillery unit in eastern Ukraine observe as their guns open fire on Russian positions on Friday
A destroyed school building is seen in the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr after being blown up by a Russian strike
Civilian and administrational infrastructure damaged in Russian shelling in Kharkiv
A destroyed Ukrainian army tank in the settlement of Gnutovo outside Mariupol, taken by Russian forces
A Russian armoured personnel carrier is seen after being attacked by Ukrainian special forces and destroyed
Armoured personnel carriers of Russian forces are seen after being attacked by Ukrainian special forcesOn Thursday, Zelenskiy said that if allies wouldn't meet his request to protect Ukrainian air space, they should instead provide Kyiv with more war planes.
'We have 15 nuclear units so these units, two in the east are close to the front line of war. It's not just a Ukrainian question,' Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko told Reuters on Thursday. 'We are fighting. We will fight to the end.'
Russia's land assault on the capital Kyiv has moved slowly but Russian forces have shelled residential blocks and key civilian infrastructure, including in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv in the northeast.
The Azov Sea port of Mariupol has been encircled and left without electricity or running water by heavy Russian bombing.
Spooked by the invasion, eastern members of the 30-nation NATO are ramping up defence spending and seeking more protection.
'Russian troops are in Ukraine and in Belarus, so we need to rethink everything,' said Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan, adding his country would increase its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP next year.
Poland announced plans to go up to 3%. Last week Germany also responded to the war with a commitment to increase military spending. In a departure from its long-declared policy, Berlin also authorised arms supplies to Ukraine.
Meanwhile Russian lawmakers approved legislation Friday to impose fines and harsh jail terms for publishing 'fake news' about the army - the latest move to silence dissent one week after Moscow launched the invasion of Ukraine.
The bill sets out jail terms of varying lengths and fines against people who publish 'knowingly false information' about the military.
'If the fakes led to serious consequences, (the legislation) threatens imprisonment of up to 15 years,' Russia's lower house of parliament said.
Amendments were also passed to fine or jail anybody calling for sanctions against Russia.
Opening the parliament's session, chairman Vyacheslav Volodin railed against foreign social media, after Facebook was briefly inaccessible in Russia on Friday.
'All these IT companies beginning with Instagram, and ending with the others, are based in the United States of America. It is clear they are used as weapons. They carry hatred and lies. We need to oppose this,' he said.
A doctor operates on a Ukrainian soldier who was wounded fighting Russian forces that have attacked the country
Doctors hook up a Ukrainian soldier to IV drips to help his wounds heal after he was hurt fighting Russian troops
Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, was attacked by Russian forces and set on fire overnight - with the blaze raging for hours before the plant was captured andThe past year has seen an unprecedented crackdown on independent and critical voices in Russia that has intensified since the invasion.
Russia's media watchdog said Friday it had restricted access to the BBC and other independent media websites, further tightening controls over the internet.
Access to the BBC, the independent news website Meduza, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and the Russian-language website of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Svoboda, were 'limited' by Roskomnadzor following a request from prosecutors.
Roskomnadzor said in each case, the request was filed on February 24, the day Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his attack on Ukraine.
Valery Fadeyev, the head of the Kremlin's human rights council accused Western media of being behind 'a huge flow of false information that comes from Ukraine' and said the council had set up a project to stop it.
In another attack on critical voices, Russian police on Friday were carrying out searches at the office of the country's most prominent rights group, Memorial, which was ordered to close late last year, sparking international outcry.
Russia's invasion has already claimed hundreds of lives, displaced more than a million people and spurred allegations of war crimes.
Western-led sanctions levelled against Russia in retaliation have sent the ruble into free-fall forcing the central bank to impose a 30-percent tax on sales of hard currency after a run on lenders.
Moscow has few economic tools with which to respond but the duma on Friday adopted a bill that would freeze any assets inside Russia of foreigners 'violating rights of Russians'.
Russian media have been instructed to publish only information provided by official sources, which describe the invasion as a military operation.
State-controlled broadcasters have meanwhile reinforced government narratives about nationalism in Ukraine and Moscow's claim that Ukrainian soldiers are using civilians as human shields.
For the moment, it appears the invasion has marked the beginning of the end for what remains of Russia's independent media.
Ekho Mosvky - a liberal-leaning radio station majority-owned by Russia's energy giant Gazprom - said Thursday it would shut down after being taken off air over its Ukraine war coverage.
Authorities had on Monday blocked the Ekho website and took the station off air as punishment for spreading 'deliberately false information' about the conflict.
Another independent outlet, Znak, said Friday it was ceasing work 'due to the large number of restrictions that have recently appeared for the work of the media in Russia'.
The BBC said this week that the audience of its Russian language news website had 'more than tripled...with a record reach of 10.7 million people in the last week'.
In a Friday response to the blocking, a BBC spokesperson said the company will 'continue our efforts to make BBC News available in Russia, and across the rest of the world' despite the restrictions.
Shelves in a supermarket stand empty, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Skvyra near Kyiv
A woman walks through an empty supermarket in Skvyra, near Kyiv, as food runs scarce with the Russian military advancing
Empty shelves are seen at a grocery store in Irpin, west of Kyiv, amid Russian attack on the city the fire extinguished
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