As deadly combat neared the outskirts of Kyiv, invading Russian soldiers pushed farther into Ukraine, prompting the West to respond with harsh sanctions. After the first day of battle, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that at least 137 “heroes” had been murdered across Ukraine, mobilizing conscripts and reservists across the country to fight.

After President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale ground invasion and air assault on Ukraine on Thursday, Russian missiles and mortars rained down on Ukrainian cities, forcing citizens to seek cover in subway systems and displacing 100,000 people.

In a later address, Zelensky said there was now a “new iron curtain” between Russia and the rest of the world, similar to the Cold War, and that his country had been “left alone.” The US sought to slap penalties on Russian elites and banks, but emphasized that US military would not travel to eastern Europe to fight in Ukraine, rather defending “every inch” of NATO borders.

Ukraine announced that Russian forces had taken control of the Chernobyl nuclear power facility, which is still extensively polluted with radioactive material following a deadly 1986 disaster, prompting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to appeal for “restraint.”

Russian paratroopers seized control of the crucial Gostomel airfield, on the fringes of Kyiv’s northwestern suburbs, after swooping in with helicopters and jets from Belarus, witnesses told AFP.

“The helicopters came in and then the battles started. They were firing machine guns, grenade launchers,” Sergiy Storozhuk, a resident, stated.