‘HEROIC ACT’
Hero Ukrainian soldier ‘blows himself up to destroy bridge’ and stop Russian invasion forces storming in from Crimea
A HERO Ukrainian soldier blew himself up to destroy a bridge and stop Russian forces from storming in from Crimea.
Generals hailed the sacrifice of Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych for halting a column of Russian tanks at Henichesk, in the southern Kherson region.
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The brave engineer had volunteered for the dangerous mission to rig the bridge with mines, an Armed Forces official said.
It is a key strategic pinch point linking annexed Russian-occupied Crimea and mainland Ukraine.
As Putin's forces raced towards him, Vitaliy realised he did not have time to set a fuse and get to safety.
"The bridge was mined, but he didn’t manage to get away from there," said the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
"According to his brothers in arms, Vitaly got in touch [with them] and said he was going to blow up the bridge
"Immediately after an explosion rang out."
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Skakun, a military engineer, was hailed by his comrades for "significantly slowing down the advance of the enemy".
It also allowed Ukrainian military units to regroup and redeploy its defences, defence forces said.
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One military official said: "Russian occupiers, know that the ground will burn under your feet!"
Commanders are now looking to award Vitaliy with posthumous honours for his "heroic act".
The Russian tanks and missile launchers had to take on a longer land route into the southern Kherson province.
By last night they controlled much of the region. But fierce fighting raged today in the port of Mariupol and around an air base at Melitopol.
Across the county, more than 130 Ukrainian soldiers died on the first day after Putin's invasion army stormed in from the north, east and south.
Kyiv claimed it had killed or captured 800 Russian troops, destroyed 30 tanks, and shot down seven warplanes on the first day.
Today it said Russia had lost 2,800 personnel, 17 planes and choppers, 80 tanks and more than 500 other vehicles.
Defence forces have put up a "staunch resistance", UK military analysts said.
Russian columns were said to be bogged down in the eastern Kharkov region, which saw a second day of heavy battles today.
Pictures showed destroyed Russian vehicles littering the roadside, dead Russian soldiers, and captured Russian troops.
Two more columns were heading to Kyiv from Belarus but were halted around 30 miles away.
Saboteurs disguised as Ukrainians were shot dead in street battles in Kyiv as defenders dug in for a siege.
And Russia claimed it had recaptured a strategic airport in an air assault with 200 helicopters, paving the way for a massive troops landing just four miles from the capital.
It comes as:
- Defiant Ukrainian soldiers are using UK missiles to fight off Putin's invasion
- Kyiv's troops managed to recapture a key airport after a botched helicopter assault by the Russians
- Russia captured Chernobyl power plant - sparking fears of a new nuclear disaster
- At least 1,700 people were arrested in Russia for protesting against the war in Ukraine
- One million people were on the move in a mass exodus from to Hungary and other neighbours to the West
- Western sanctions targeted Russian money as Boris Johnson branded Putin as a "bloodstained aggressor"
- Tom Tugendhat MP, chair of the foreign affairs committee, wrote in The Sun that Putin and his "band of thieves" must be punished
Earlier UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the Kremlin "hasn't taken any of its major objectives" after facing much fiercer resistance than expected.
The former army captain said Putin had been given a "bloody nose" by Ukraine, which had showed his army is ";not at all invincible".
He also mocked the country's Spetsnaz special forces, pointing out they failed to take a key airport outside the capital Kyiv.
Mr Wallace said morale is low in the Russian army and large numbers of troops surrendered or deserted within hours of the attack starting.
There have been reports that Kremlin soldiers on the frontline didn't realise they'd be fighting Ukrainians and have been hesitant to engage.
The Defence Secretary said the UK's assessment is that Putin "intends to invade the whole" country and replace the government.
He said: "If you looked at the massive odds that Russian posed before they started this you would've thought they'd have done it all in 24 hours.
"No one would have thought they would have failed to take a single one of their objectives which is where we're at now.
"That's contrary to great Russian claims and President Putin's vision that somehow the Ukrainians would be liberated and flocking to his cause.
"He got that completely wrong. The Ukrainians are fighting and they are fighting bravely. President Putin is not getting it the way he wishes."
The Defence Secretary also accused the Russians of indiscriminately shelling residential areas overnight as part of an escalation of violence.
He predicted even fiercer Ukrainian defence in urban battles, with troops thinking "let them come into the cities and then whack them";.
Ukrainians have been warned they now face their "hardest day" with an expected all-out offensive by the Russians from the air, land and sea.
Some 10,000 guns have been handed out to residents and general mobilisation has been ordered in a bid to protect Kyiv.
US intelligence now fears Putin could topple the Kyiv in just 96 hours.
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