Ukraine president snubs US offer to evacuate as Russian forces close in on Kiev

Ukraine’s embattled President Volodymyr Zelensky has reportedly rejected a US offer to evacuate him out of the nation’s capital of Kiev as Russian troops closed in on the city, insisting on staying put.

The US government urged Zelensky early on Saturday to evacuate Kiev but he turned down the offer, the Associated Press reported citing “a senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation” who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

According to the report, the official further quoted Zelensky as responding that “the fight is here” and that he needed anti-tank ammunition but “not a ride.”

Zelensky’s insistence on staying in Kiev and wage a fight marked a major reversal of his pessimistic remarks two days earlier when he declared that his country had been left on its own to fight Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” aimed at “demilitarization” of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in eastern Ukraine.

“We have been left alone to defend our state,” Zelensky emphasized in a post-midnight video address to the nation. “Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid.”

The Ukrainian president’s whereabouts were kept secret after he also informed European leaders in a call on Thursday that he was Russia’s No. 1 target — and that they might not see him again alive.

However, in his latest remarks, as cited in the AP report, Zelensky boasted renewed assurance on Saturday that the country’s military would stand up to a Russian advance. In a defiant video — claimed to have been recorded on a downtown Kiev street — he said he remained in the city and that reports the Ukrainian military would surrender were false.

“We aren’t going to lay down weapons. We will protect the country,” Zelensky proclaimed. “Our weapon is our truth, and our truth is that it’s our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of that.”

The Ukrainian president further insisted in a second video published later on Saturday that Moscow’s plan “to quickly seize the capital and install a puppet government had been unsuccessful,” according to the report.

While Zelensky also accused Russia of targeting civilian areas and infrastructure in his emotional remarks, Russia insists that its operation in Ukraine is intended merely to strike military installations.

Meanwhile, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitchsko said a missile had struck a high-rise apartment building in the city’s southwestern outskirts near one of its two airports, injuring six civilians.