YOU WILL PAY
Horror pictures show Kyiv devastated by Russian attacks – as Zelenskyy vows Putin will pay for every dead Ukrainian
HORROR pictures show the devastation around Kyiv after another night of airstrikes and shelling by the Russians.
It came as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stood defiant as he vowed Vladimir Putin would pay the price for every dead Ukrainian.
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Fireballs erupted in the night sky above the Ukrainian capital and residents woke up to another view of devastation.
The overnight bombardment in Kyiv after a blast at a train station where thousands were hiding from the strikes.
Air raid sirens were heard across the city as people were told to go to bomb shelters.
And towns and villages in the wider Kyiv region also bore the brunt of the attacks - with pictures showing an apartment block totally destroyed in nearby Borodyanka.
Zelenskyy - a former comedian turned politician, who has been hailed as a hero for his leadership during the crisis - pledged to strike back against Russia.
";We will rebuild every single house, every single street, every single city," he said.
"And we are telling Russia - learn the words 'reparations' and 'contributions'.
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"You will pay back fully to us for what you've done against our state, against our every single Ukrainian."
Russia launched a large scale invasion of Ukraine one week ago today and the bloodshed has not ceased since.
🔵 Read our Russia - Ukraine live blog for the very latest updates
More than 2,000 civilians are believed to have been killed in the attack which has seen cities become warzones.
And the conflict shows no signs of stopping, despite ongoing peace talks.
It comes as:
- Kyiv remains under siege as Russia continues to advance across the whole of Ukraine
- Kherson became the first city to be captured by Vladimir Putin's forces amid major bloodshed in Kharkiv, Mariupol and Chernihiv
- Hundreds of hero Ukrainians blocked Putin's troops as they advanced towards Europe's biggest power plant
- Russian soldiers were pictured crying and begging to return home after being captured
- Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov - who bankrolled Everton - had his £600million superyacht seized in Germany
- Russian tycoon Mikhail Watford was found hanged in the garage of his home in the UK
France's President Emmanuel Macron today warned Putin he is making a "major mistake" in Ukraine after Russia's leader rang his French counterpart.
A French official said Macron told Putin: "'You are lying to yourself. It will cost your country dearly, your country will end up isolated, weakened, and under sanctions for a very long time.'"
In the call, Russia's President reportedly insisted again on the neutralisation and disarmament of Ukraine, either through peaceful means or further conflict.
Kyiv is believed to remain the prime objective for the Russians - with a massive convoy of armoured vehicles lurking nearby preparing for a protracted siege.
However, Russia has found its invasion blighted with logistical problems - with reports of tanks running out of fuel and soldiers running low on supplies.
Putin is believed to have thought he could roll over Ukraine within just 48 hours - and his forces thought they would be met as heroes.
But instead, they have found themselves bogged down against a staunch resistance.
Russia is also becoming increasingly isolated in the world as it feels the crushing weight of Western sanctions.
On Thursday, video showed Russians panic-buying at the Moscow branch of Ikea after the Swedish giant announced it was ceasing operations in the country in response to the war in Ukraine.
Putin is believed to be growing frustrated - and it is feared he could resort to ever more brutal tactics as the war drags on.
Russia's embattled president could even introduce martial law, Reuters reports, putting his nation in a total state of war.
The move would allow the Kremlin to announce general mobilisation, tighten censorship, and intern all foreigners.
Mikhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine's president, said on Wednesday he understands martial law will be introduced as soon as Friday in an emergency session of Russia's parliament, the Duma.
This would mean "a total ban on all rallies, disconnection from the outside world, large-scale food and financial restrictions," he said.
An investigation has already been launched into possible war crimes committed by Russia.
In a video update this morning, Zelenskky directly addressed Putin.
He said: "Go home. To your home."
Zelenskyy described the Russian invasion as a "virus" that had attacked his country.
And last night he also said Putin's "sneaky" plans had been "heroically" thwarted by the brave resistance.
Russia admitted for the first time it had suffered casualties - saying 500 soldiers have been killed and around 1,600 have been wounded.
Ukraine puts the figures much higher at over 9,000.
Zelenskyy urged Russian troops to go home and called them "confused children who have been used".
You will pay back fully to us for what you've done against our state, against every single Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
"We are a nation that broke the enemy's plans in a week. Plans written for years: sneaky, full of hatred for our country, our people," he said.
And elsewhere, Putin is reported to have lost one of his top generals - Major-General Andrey Sukhovetsky.
The commander, a highly respected paratrooper, was reportedly killed by a sniper during a mission on Gostomel near Ukraine.
Kyiv was rocked again by attacks last as a large explosion shook the city centre in what the president's office said was a missile strike near a rail station in the south.
Two missiles were reportedly launched towards Ukraine's Ministry of Defence headquarters with one being shot down.
The building and the rail station are on either side of the road from each other in the city.
Thousands of Ukrainians have been fleeing the city by train, with many sheltering inside stations as they wait to escape harm.
There was no immediate word on any deaths or injuries last night.
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Meanwhile, a senior U.S. defence official said the immense column of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles appeared to be stalled roughly 16 miles from Kyiv.
The 40 mile-long convoy appeared poised to launch an assault on the capital earlier in the week.
But it has been plagued with fuel and food shortages and has faced fierce Ukrainian resistance, the official said.
And the column has made no real progress for almost 72 hours.
It comes as Russian forces have taken their first major city as they stormed Kherson.
Moscow's troops managed to capture the key port city of Kherson after six days of fighting as their advance grinds across Ukraine.
Russia is reported to have suffered heavy losses during the battle - but the exact numbers remain unknown.
And meanwhile, at least 300 civilians and soldiers have been killed on the Ukrainian side in Kherson.
The city near Crimea is home to 300,000 people - and opens up the pathway for the Russians to move towards Odesa.
And eerie videos from today showed Russian warships massing off Crimea in the Black Sea.
It raised fears Russia could begin their all-out assault on the coast now Kherson has fallen.
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Igor Kolykhaiev, the mayor of Kherson, confirmed the city's capture last night as he begged the Russians not to shoot civilians.
Russian troops had reportedly been pulling down the flags from buildings - but citizens are taking them back from the invaders.
Fierce fighting is still raging in nearby Mariupol, where the mayor accused the Russians of carrying out ";genocide" on his city, while his deputy claimed an entire neighbourhood home to 130,000 people has been flattened.
Footage reportedly filmed in the city appears to show gun battles between Ukrainian and Russian forces on Wednesday.
The city lies in a key location, between the annexed Crimean Peninsula where a number of Russian forces are based, and the pro-Russia breakaway provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Mariupol has reportedly been under continuous fire for the past 14 hours, according to the city government.
A maternity hospital and dozens of residential buildings have been severely damaged, while a school and a migrant shelter were destroyed.
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Three boys playing football were hit in a Russian shelling attack in the city.
One lost his leg and died soon after arrival, an AP reporter said.
The other two were rushed to hospital and remain in intensive care.
All three lads were around 15 to 16 years old.
Unconfirmed reports claim hundreds have been killed in uninterrupted hours of shelling.
The basement of the maternity hospital in Mariupol has been transformed into a bomb shelter and nursery as Russian forces stepped up their attacks.
Vadym Boychenko, the mayor of Mariupol, told Ukraine's 1+1 TV Channel that Russian troops have also stopped civilians from escaping the port city.
He said: "There's been colossal destruction of residential infrastructure, there are many wounded and unfortunately many civilian dead, women, children, old people."
"A full-scale genocide of the Ukrainian people is underway.
"You have to understand that the occupation forces of the Russian Federation have done everything to stop the exit of civilians from our city of half a million people.
"Our railway link has been cut - they even went to the railway station and fired on our diesel locomotives so that people can't be evacuated.
"So their mission is to destroy us, they have no intention of helping civilians."
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Earlier on Wednesday, Boychenko said the number of wounded civilians "is growing every day".
He said: "Today there are 128 people in our hospitals. Our doctors don't even go home anymore. They are fighting for the lives of Mariupol residents."
Water supplies are also reportedly under threat in the city following more than half a day of Russian bombardment.
The city's deputy mayor, Sergiy Orlov, said a riverside district home to some 130,000 people - including his own father - has been obliterated.
He said Putin's troops are surrounding the city on all sides and are only several kilometres away.
"The situation is dire, we are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe," he said.
"We have been bombed nonstop for more than 15 hours. One-quarter of the city is almost completely destroyed.
"We can't go inside to pick up the bodies, so we can't count them."
He told the BBC: "The Ukrainian army is very brave and they will continue to defend the city but the style of the Russian army is like pirates.
"They do not fight with their army, they just destroy entire districts."
A message from a Ukrainian soldier pinned down in the city read: "If anything happens don't let us be forgotten.
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