Ukrainian President Zelensky: “We can’t lose the capital, Kyiv. Tonight will be more difficult than daytime. All prayers should be with our armed forces. The night will be difficult, very difficult”
Zelensky: "This night will be difficult, very difficult. But the morning will come."
Zelenskyy: "Tonight, on all fronts, the enemy will use all available forces to break our resistance. Despicably, cruelly, and inhumanly. Tonight they will start the assault. We need to understand what is awaiting us. And we must prevail. The fate of Ukraine is being decided now"
Zelenskyy in this evening's speech:
"This night will be harder than the day. Many cities of our state are under attack: Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, our boys and girls in the Donbas, the cities of the south, special attention to Kyiv. We can't lose the capital."
This is what the residents of Vasilkov can see. The fumes given off by that fire will be extremely toxic.
I'd you know anyone there or someone who can spread a message, tell them to shut all doors and windows or better still, if safe, get upwind of the fire.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline has continued pumping Russian gas to Germany unabated.
Switching it off would plunge Europe into an immediate energy crisis.
Therefore, it's baffling why an alternative wasn't sought after the annexation of Crimea
Instead they built another pipeline.
A new German Chancellor isn't going to voluntarily plunge his country into an energy crisis
Germany's Russian gas reliance is entirely on them, Merkel especially. For 8 years there's been fears Russia would invade Ukraine, but they laughed it off.
They're now a hostage to Putin
It is however telling that Merkel leaves office and not a few months later Russia invades Ukraine.
It may be that Putin feared Angela Merkel would cut all ties, whereas a weakened Scholz won't, so he waited.
It could be a coincidence. Either way, Europe is in a quandary.
3/ Whatever was successfully intercepted over Kyiv a short time ago, (unknown if it was a plane or ballistic missile), has fallen onto the city causing significant damage and fire.