Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russian forces press closer to Kyiv; Kremlin offers talks — on tough terms

Images shared by the Associated Press on Friday appeared to show Ukrainian forces taking up defensive positions around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as fighting with Russia intensified and entered a second day.

Russian forces unleashed airstrikes on military bases and other locations early Friday and pressed closer to the Ukrainian capital, where air raid sirens blared and people huddled for shelter in subway stations.

The Defense Ministry reported “saboteurs” just miles from Kyiv’s center after the city was jolted by predawn explosions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that 137 Ukrainians have been killed and 316 wounded.

BELGOROD, Russia — Russian conscripts are being forced into signing contracts and taken to serve in Ukraine amid a large-scale attack, human rights group the Committee of the Soldier’s Mothers told The Washington Post in an interview on Friday.

“Issue number one right now, eight out of 10 calls that we get are about the same question: ‘Is my child alive? Where is he?’" said Andrey Kurochkin, the organization’s deputy head.

Russia has mandatory one-year-long military service for all men under the age of 27. According to Russian regulations, conscripts can be sent to a combat zone no earlier than four months into their training. The Committee says it received a barrage of calls saying some conscripts barely served two months and are unprepared for the battlefield.

Kurochkin explains that, according to their mothers, some of the conscripts thought they were heading toward the Ukrainian border for drills, which is how Russia explained its massive buildup for weeks. “Then they are being told: now you are contractors,” he said. “And everyone’s phones are being taken away, while moms are crying and in panic.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense previously denied that it was sending conscripts to war zones. But parents seeking legal help from the committee say that their sons were being coerced or misled into signing up for contracted service.

Before Russian troops went into Ukraine, a local outlet in the Belgorod region posted a picture of over 100 Russian soldiers sleeping on the floor of a small train station in Veselaya Lopan village, about 40 miles from the Ukrainian city Kharkiv.

The Committee of the Soldier’s Mothers at the time voiced concerns about the lack of food and poor conditions the soldiers had to live in as they waited there. Conflict Intelligence Team, an open intelligence group monitoring Russian military activities, said in a statement on Telegram that sending conscripts en masse into a battle zone is “unprecedented since the 2008 war with Georgia.”

The committee also said it recently began receiving calls from students who have official deferral from active service while completing their studies, “but now they are being summoned to the military enlistment offices, and there are some efforts to persuade them to sign a contract,” Kurochkin added.

After Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hannah Malar called on Ukrainians to “resist” with molotov cocktails or rifles in a Facebook post, searches for “how to make a molotov cocktail” spiked in Ukraine in the last 24 hours, according to Google.

Molotov cocktails are improvised incendiary devices, made by pouring flammable liquids into a glass bottle with a cloth fuse that is then lit.

Search interest was initially highest in the northeastern regions that were first attacked by Russian forces, including Slobozhanshchyna, where Kharkiv is located. Searches included a variation on “how to make a molotov cocktail in the forest.”

As Russian forces moved closer to the capital, Kyiv, throughout Friday morning, search interest on how to make the devices skyrocketed in the region, overtaking the rest of the country.

The United Nations announced late Thursday that it was allocating $20 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine in response to the toll the Russian invasion has had on the country.

U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told reporters that the millions of dollars of aid from the U.N.’s Central Emergency Response Fund would be put toward emergency operations along eastern Donetsk and Luhansk and in other areas of the country. The total aid increased to help improve “health care, shelter, food, and water and sanitation to the most vulnerable people affected by the conflict.”

“With deaths rising, we are seeing images of fear, anguish and terror in every corner of Ukraine,” Secretary General António Guterres said. “People — everyday innocent people — always pay the highest price.”

There has been widespread concern from world leaders over Ukraine’s supplies amid the invasion. Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the organization sent 3,000 liters of water to Dokuchaevsk Hospital, located in the rebel-held east of Ukraine. The group also delivered 7,000 liters to Donetsk, and aimed at improving hygiene and nutrition for the country’s detention facilities.

“The security situation permitting, our teams now in Ukraine will continue their work to repair vital infrastructure, support health facilities with medicines and equipment, and support families with food and hygiene items,” Maurer said in a statement. “We will also continue our bilateral and confidential dialogue with the parties to the conflict to protect those affected by the fighting.”

BRUSSELS — The European Union is now considering a third round of sanctions against Russia, Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said Friday.

With E.U. officials still putting the finishing touches on a second round, Michel said that there is “urgent preparation” for more.

“The senseless suffering and loss of civilian life must stop,” he tweeted Friday.

“Second wave of sanctions with massive and severe consequences politically agreed last night,” he continued. “Further package under urgent preparation.”

Early Friday morning, E.U. officials agreed to their second package of sanctions, which targeted finance, transport and energy, imposed export controls and included new visa measures. It also added more Russians to a sanctions list.

“The package of massive and targeted sanctions European leaders approved tonight clearly demonstrates that it will have maximum impact on the Russian economy and the political elite,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a news conference early Friday.

But the E.U. is facing criticism for not doing enough. Former European Council president Donald Tusk said Friday that some member countries had “disgraced themselves” by not hitting Russia harder.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced Friday that he is proposing to ban all Russian airlines from flying in Polish airspace.

In a brief statement posted to social media, Morawiecki said Polish airspace would soon be closed to Russian airlines because of the invasion of Ukraine. Poland, which borders Russia and Ukraine, has denounced Russia’s assault on its western neighbor early Thursday from three directions.

“I have ordered the preparation of a resolution of the council of ministers which will lead to the closure of the airspace over Poland to Russian airlines,” Morawiecki tweeted.

The prime minister’s announcement comes after LOT Polish Airlines canceled all flights to Ukraine until further notice. Other airlines, such as Germany’s Lufthansa and Ireland’s Ryanair, have also suspended services into Ukraine.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces mount an invasion against Ukraine, two economies that have led the way in embracing cryptocurrency are each turning to it to gain an edge in the geopolitical showdown.

Among them are a Kyiv IT professional who has raised $400,000 in cryptocurrency donations to support the Ukrainian army and Western cryptocurrency activists who are mobilizing on behalf of the Ukrainian people. Then there are fears that Russia could use cryptocurrency to avoid the effects of Western sanctions.

The first major conflict of the crypto era also means that, for the first time, a tool that can move billions of dollars easily across borders is available to be marshaled by both sides.

But how much it could truly influence the war remains to be seen.

Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko on Friday said he’s patrolling the streets of Kyiv with civilian defense forces in response to the Russian invasion from President Vladimir Putin, who Poroshenko called “simply mad.”

In an interview with CNN, Poroshenko, who served as president of Ukraine between 2014 and 2019, was shown wielding a Kalashnikov rifle. The former president, who was defeated in a 2019 election by President Volodymyr Zelensky, was defiant in explaining the goal of the civilian forces.

“We shall deal with Putin like a man who has lost reason. He’s just simply mad. He’s just simply crazy,” Poroshenko said. “He’s just simply evil to come here to kill Ukrainians.”

Poroshenko acknowledged that the country does not have as many arms or weapons as Russia, but he’s been encouraged by the civilians who’ve come out to defend Ukraine.

When CNN anchor John Berman asked him how long he thinks the country can hold out, Poroshenko paused before giving a one-word answer: “Forever.”

“I think that Putin will never catch Ukraine … no matter how many soldiers he has, no matter how many missiles he has, no matter how many nuclear weapons he has,” he said. “We, Ukraine, are free people with a great European future.”

Poroshenko is awaiting trial on charges of “high treason” for allegedly facilitating coal purchases from mines controlled by Russia-backed rebels. He denies the charges, which he says are politically motivated.