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Russian troops pressed toward Ukraine’s capital Saturday, after a night of explosions and street fighting that sent Kyiv residents seeking shelter underground, Associated Press reported. The country’s president refused an American offer to evacuate, insisting that he would stay. “The fight is here,” he said.

It was not immediately clear how far Russian troops had advanced. Ukrainian officials reported some success in fending off assaults, but fighting persisted near the capital. Skirmishes reported on the edge of the city suggested that small Russian units were probing Ukrainian defenses to clear a path for the main forces.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitchsko said a missile hit a high-rise building on the city’s southwestern outskirts. He posted an image showing a gaping hold in one side of the building that ravaged apartments on several floors. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The swift movement of the troops after less than three days of fighting further imperiled a country clinging to independence in the face of a broad Russian assault, which threatened to topple Ukraine’s democratic government and scramble the post-Cold War world order.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered renewed assurance Saturday that the country’s military would stand up to the Russian invasion. In a video recorded on a downtown Kyiv street, he said he remained in the city and that claims the Ukrainian military would put down arms were false.

We aren’t going to lay down weapons. We will protect the country,” the Ukrainian president said. “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.”

U.S. officials believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own. The invasion represented Putin’s boldest effort yet to redraw the map of Europe and revive Moscow’s Cold War-era influence. It triggered new international efforts to end the invasion, including direct sanctions on Putin.

Nepali Congress and the main opposition CPN-UML have agreed to move ahead together to safeguard democracy.

During a meeting held at the UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli's residence in Balkot on Friday night, the two parties agreed to move ahead together to protect democracy.

But the two parties failed to forge consensus on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

On the occasion, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba urged Oli to help endorse the $500 million grant compact.

In response, Oli said that the door to the Parliament is still closed for them and urged the Prime Minister to open it.

Government spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said that Oli urged Prime Minister Deuba to create a conducive environment to take part in the parliamentary proceedings.

He said that the Prime Minister is making a maximum effort to ratify the MCC. 

Similarly, UML spokesperson Pradeep Gyawali said that Prime Minister Deuba urged Chairman Oli to participate in the Parliamentary proceedings by lifting the House obstructions to ratify the MCC compact.

But Oli said that they would not allow the House to proceed with its business until the Speaker is removed or he takes action against the 14 lawmakers.

British airlines have been banned from landing at Russia's airports and from crossing its airspace, the Russian civil aviation regulator has said, BBC reported.

Russia said the move was a response to "the unfriendly decisions by the UK aviation authorities".

On Thursday, the UK banned Russia's national airline Aeroflot from landing in Britain.

The measure was part of sanctions introduced following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told ITV: "I think that's their retaliation for us yesterday banning Aeroflot from using and landing in the United Kingdom. That's their tit for tat response."

Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said: "This measure was taken in accordance with the provisions of the Intergovernmental Air Services Agreement between Russia and the UK as a response to unfriendly decisions by the UK aviation authorities regarding the restriction on regular flights of aircraft owned, leased or operated by a person associated with Russia or registered in Russia."

British Airways said in a statement it was notifying customers on cancelled services and would offer full refunds.

"We apologise for the inconvenience but this is clearly a matter beyond our control," the airline said.

British Airways normally operates three flights per week each way between London and Moscow.

Following Russia's announcement, Virgin Atlantic also said flight paths had been adjusted for some of its services between the UK, Pakistan and India. Flight times on these routes will be extended by between 15 minutes and an hour.

Missiles pounded the Ukrainian capital on Friday as Russian forces pressed their advance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pleaded with the international community to do more, saying sanctions announced so far were not enough, Associated Press reported.

Air raid sirens wailed over the city of 3 million people, where some were sheltering in underground metro stations, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion that has shocked the world.

Ukrainian officials said a Russian aircraft had been shot down and crashed into a building in Kyiv overnight, setting it ablaze and injuring eight people.

A senior Ukrainian official said Russian forces would enter areas just outside the capital later on Friday and that Ukrainian troops were defending positions on four fronts despite being outnumbered.

Windows had been blasted out of a 10-storey apartment block near Kyiv’s main airport, where a two-metre crater filled with rubble showed where a shell had struck before dawn. A policeman said people were injured there but not killed.

“How we can live through it in our time? What should we think. Putin should be burnt in hell along with his whole family,” said Oxana Gulenko, cleaning broken glass from her room. A neighbour, Soviet army veteran Anatoliy Marchenko, 57, could not find his cat that had run away during the shelling.

“I know people there, they are my friends,” he said of Russia. “What do they need from me? A war has come to my house and that’s it.”

Witnesses said loud explosions could be heard in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city, close to Russia’s border, and air raid sirens sounded over Lviv in the west. Authorities reported heavy fighting in the eastern city of Sumy.