A HERO Ukrainian soldier has selflessly blown himself up to destroy a bridge and stop Russian forces from storming towards Kyiv.
Ukraine’s armed forces confirmed that Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych died while trying to fend off a column of Russian tanks at the Henichesk bridge, Kherson region.
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The brave trooper decided to blow up the bridge – which connects Russian-occupied Crimea with mainland Ukraine – after volunteering to carry out the dangerous mission of mining it with explosives, an Armed Forces official said.
“The bridge was mined, but he didn’t manage to get away from there,” they explained.
“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.”
Skakun, a military engineer, is being hailed by his comrades for “significantly slowing down the advancement of the enemy”.
It also allowed Ukrainian military units to regroup and redeploy its defences.
“Russian occupiers, know that the ground will burn under your feet!” the military official said.
Ukrainian commanders are now working to award Skakun with posthumous honours for his “heroic act”.
It comes as Ukraine claims it killed or captured 800 Russian troops, destroyed 30 tanks, and show dowt seven warplanes on Friday.
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Kyiv’s defence ministry issued the bullish assessment of the first day’s fighting amid fears that the capital could fall within 96 hours.
Russian forces assaulted yesterday on all fronts as they attempted a lightning strike of Ukraine.
🔵 Read our Russia – Ukraine live blog for the very latest updates
Ukrainian forces however fought fiercely – repelling a number of attacks as they pushed back against Putin’s forces.
Pictures showed destroyed Russian vehicles littering the roadside, dead Russian soldiers, and captured Russian troops.
And while there are question marks over the accuracy of Kyiv’s figures, UK intelligence agrees that Russia suffered heavy losses and made no meaningful gains on day one.
It comes as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the Kremlin “hasn’t taken any of its major objectives” after facing much fiercer resistance than expected.
He said its forces are already “behind timetable” and have lost more than 450 men as well as tanks, armour, fighter jets and helicopters.
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.
It comes as:
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”.
This comes as a Russian jet was reportedly shot down in a fireball over Kyiv with Kremlin forces preparing to besiege the city of 2.9million people.
Explosions were heard overnight as Moscow’s forces are now just 20 miles from the capital after yesterday’s full scale invasion.
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.
At least 137 Ukrainians are already dead across the country at the hands of Putin’s forces after the assault began at 3.30am on Thursday.
US intelligence now fears Putin could topple the Kyiv in just 96 hours as Russian forces move within just 20 miles after seizing nearby Chernobyl.
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