Explosions were heard in western Kiev on Sunday, February 27, 2022, minutes after air raid sirens sounded in the Ukrainian capital. In addition to the explosions, Ukrainian media reported that there had been explosions and gunfire in a nearby town.
According to Kyivindependent, one of the explosions occurred when a bridge exploded near the town of Bucha, in western Kiev.
The Ukrainian military claims to blow up the bridge connecting the towns of Bucha and Irpin to slow down the advance of Russian troops into the Kiev area. Media Novoye Vremya described a large puff of smoke in the region. Russian troops had been blocked in Bucha, according to Novoye Vremya.
The adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, Anton Herashchenko, revealed that fighting in the city of Bucha was still ongoing and Russian troops were trying to advance into Kiev.
Earlier, a mushroom cloud soared in the aftermath of a natural gas pipeline explosion in the city of Kharkiv. Russian troops are reported to have blown up a natural gas pipeline in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Sunday, the Ukrainian Special Communications and Information Protection Service reported.
Russian troops allegedly targeted infrastructure sites near key cities as they continued their brutal and bloody invasion. Tonight a mushroom cloud was seen near Kharkiv, the country's second largest city, east of the capital Kyiv.
Cities such as Kharkiv and Kyiv are expected to come under intense pressure from Kremlin forces overnight. In the capital, residents were armed with AK-47s and urged to make Molotov cocktails (gasoline bombs) in order to repel the invaders.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected offers from Western allies to flee Kiev and has vowed to fight alongside his compatriots against Russian forces.
There were also reports tonight that an oil depot in Vasylkiv, a city in the Kyiv region, had been hit by a Russian rocket. Local media reported that both the mayor of Nataliia Balasynovych, as well as an adviser to the Ukrainian government Anton Geraschenko, had confirmed the attack.