Russia 'failed to deliver' its day-one aims for Ukraine invasion, UK defense secretary says
REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
- Russia failed to hit its aims for day one of the Ukraine invasion, the UK Defence Secretary said.
- "It's behind its hoped-for timetable. They've lost over 450 personnel," Ben Wallace said Friday.
- Russia recommenced shelling the capital Kyiv on Friday on the second day of its invasion.
Russia failed to secure its aims on the first day of its invasion of Ukraine, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Friday.
President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine Wednesday night. Explosions were reported across several Ukrainian cities throughout Thursday, along with attacks by tanks, artillery, war ships and ground troops.
"Our assessment, as of this morning, is that Russia has not taken any of its major objectives," Wallace told Sky News on Friday. "In fact it's behind its hoped-for timetable. They've lost over 450 personnel."
"The Russian army has failed to deliver on day one its main objective," he said.
As an example, Wallace added that Russian special forces had failed to secure a "significant" airportthat was once again under Ukrainian control.
Along with the US, the UK dropped sanctions on Russian entities and persons in the wake of the invasion, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video posted to Facebook early Friday that they have no effect on Putin.
"Like yesterday, the world's most powerful forces are watching from afar. Did yesterday's sanctions convince Russia? We hear in our sky and see on our earth that this was not enough," Zelensky said.
Ukrainian members of parliament told Insider on Thursday that NATO now needs to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Zelensky also suggested Thursday that the measure was needed.
NATO has shown no appetite for such a move, though its member states have sent military equipment to Ukraine.
Zelensky said in his address Friday that Russian troops restarted missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, including on the capital Kyiv, at around 4 .a.m. local time.
Ukraine's defense ministry wrote on Facebook Friday morning that Russian ground forces had entered the Kyiv suburb of Obolon.
Zelensky has said he will not leave Kyiv, even though he believes the Russian military aims to find and kill him.
Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a Russian defense ministry spokesman, said Friday that Russia had taken out 118 military facilities in Ukraine and downed five Ukrainian military planes.
Ukraine says it has broadly stopped Russian advances, but Zelensky said Friday that 137 Ukrainians, both military and civilian, had been killed.
Insider's live blog is covering developments in the invasion as they occur.
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