Ukraine's government said it was discussing with Russia the timing and location of potential peace talks.
The diplomatic to and fro comes as fighting continues on the ground with Russian forces moving toward the capital.
Any talks would likely struggle to find common ground on the question of "neutrality" for Ukraine, which has sought to join NATO and draw closer to Europe. Separately, the EU, UK. and US all announced sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. While the move is largely symbolic given uncertainty about Putin's assets, it puts the Russian president in a category of infamous leaders including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and former Libyan strongman Moammar Al Qaddafi.
Russian missiles pounded Kyiv on Friday and troops advanced on the city as families were forced to evacuate or take cover in shelters.
Artillery rounds were heard in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv on Friday evening, a Reuters witness said. Another witness said that there was intense gunfire in western part of Kyiv.
The mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitchko said five blasts were heard in a close interval of three to five minutes near a power station in the north of the city and Russian troops were nearing.
“The emergency services are underway. We’re finding out the details,” he said. He added that bridges in the city had been taken under protection and special control, while checkpoints are being installed near strategic city objects.
“The situation now - without exaggeration - is threatening for Kyiv,” he said. “The night, close to the morning, will be very difficult”.
Air strikes
The United Nations said it had reports of at least 127 civilian casualties - 25 killed and 102 injured - “caused by shelling and air strikes”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Ukraine’s military to overthrow their political leaders and negotiate peace.
“Once again I speak to the Ukrainian soldiers,” he said, addressing his enemy. “Do not allow neo-Nazis and Banderites to use your children, your wives and the elderly as a human shield. Take power into your own hands. It seems that it will be easier for us to come to an agreement than with this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”
Earlier Ukrainian guards fired warning shots to prevent a stampede at Kyiv’s central railway station as thousands of people tried to force their way onto evacuation trains.
Ukrainian guards fired warning shots to prevent a stampede at Kyiv’s central railway station on Friday as thousands of people tried to force their way onto evacuation trains.
Crowds were so large that not everyone could get on the trains from the capital to the western city of Lviv.
When a train drew up at a platform, people rushed to the doors, hoping to get on board, some of them with their children and pets. The guards fired several shots with blanks to disperse the crowd after screams broke out.
The Ukrainian defence ministry said Russian forces had entered the Obolon district of Kyiv, about 10km from the centre of the city. In a statement posted online, it advised residents to report the movements of Russian troops and to “prepare molotov cocktails in order to neutralise the enemy”.
On Friday afternoon, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has said “the world will hold Russia and Belarus accountable for their actions”.
Addressing a press briefing following a virtual meeting of Nato leaders, Mr Stoltenberg said: “We call on Russia to stop this senseless war immediately.”
Strategic mistake
He warned that “the Kremlin’s objectives are not limited to Ukraine” and that “we are facing a new normal in European security where Russia openly contests the European security order and uses force to pursue its objectives”.
He said: “President Putin’s decision to pursue his aggression against Ukraine is a terrible strategic mistake.”
Mr Stoltenberg added that although significant sanctions had already been announced “we must stand ready to do more, even if it means we have to pay a price, because we are in this for the long haul”.
The secretary-general said Nato had deployed thousands more troops to the eastern part of the alliance, and will “do what it takes to protect and defend every ally and every inch of Nato territory”.
The secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) said on Friday the OECD had decided to end Russia’s process of acceding to the OECD.
Earlier, Moscow said it had captured the Hostomel airfield northwest of the capital – a vital staging post for an assault on Kyiv that has been fought over since Russian paratroopers landed there in the first hours of the war. This could not be confirmed and the Ukrainian authorities reported heavy fighting there.
“Shots and explosions are ringing out in some neighbourhoods. Saboteurs have already entered Kyiv,” said the city’s mayor, former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitchko. “The enemy wants to put the capital on its knees and destroy us.”
Overthrow
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday called for the Ukrainian army to overthrow its leadership whom he labelled as a “gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis who have has lodged itself in Kyiv and taken hostage the entire Ukrainian people”.
A day after the Russian president launched a three-pronged invasion of Ukraine from the north, east and south, air raid sirens again wailed over Kyiv city of 3 million people.
Some residents sheltered in underground metro stations. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted that there had been heavy fighting with people killed at the entrance to the eastern cities of Chernihiv and Melitopol, as well as at Hostomel.
Windows were blasted out of a 10-storey apartment block near Kyiv’s main airport. A two-metre crater showed where a shell had struck before dawn.
Witnesses said loud explosions could also be heard in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-biggest city, close to Russia's border, and air raid sirens sounded over Lviv in the west. Authorities reported heavy fighting in the eastern city of Sumy.
Britain’s defence ministry said in an intelligence update that Russian armoured forces had opened up a new route of advance towards the capital after failing to capture Chernihiv, and most troops remained more than 50km from Kyiv city centre.
US officials believe Russia’s initial aim is to “decapitate” Zelenskiy’s government. Zelenskiy said he knew he was “the number one target” but would stay in Kyiv.
An adviser to Zelenskiy said Ukraine was prepared for talks with Russia, including on staying neutral, one of Moscow's pre-war demands. The Kremlin said it had offered talks in the Belarusian capital Minsk, but that Ukraine had proposed Warsaw instead and there was now a "pause" in contacts.
Indiscriminate attacks
The invasion has been marked by indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas and strikes on protected objects such as hospitals, Amnesty International said in a statement. It said it documented three incidents it believes to have killed at least six civilians and wounded at least 12 more.
Russia said its troops were attacking only military targets.
In the train station in Kyiv, Maria (33) gave up trying to leave after spending four hours there with her child, husband and dog. "You can see, it's dangerous to break through the crowd with a kid. The dog is scared. Honestly, we're exhausted," she told Reuters. Some foreign students also tried to leave. One, a girl from Mongolia, said at the station that she and her fellow students had been offered the possibility of being evacuated home if they managed to reach Poland, which borders western Ukraine. When
Ukrainian soldiers marched through the station, people clapped their hands and shouted the military greeting: “Glory to Ukraine!” “Glory to heroes!”. “I’m not afraid of anything,” said Iryna, a 35-year-old woman who also failed to get on a train.
“We stand for the truth and if we stand for the truth, God is on our side. I’m ready to stay in Kyiv if needed and give moral support to our army.” Many others chose to flee in their cars, choking roads outside the capital for a second day. Tens of thousands have already managed to leave the country, most of them women and children as men of fighting age were told to remain.
UN agencies said as many as 5 million people could try to flee abroad. Kyiv has banned fighting-aged men from leaving the country, and at borders with Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, those crossing were mostly women and children. – Additional reporting agencies
