Europe has enough strength to stop this aggression: Ukraine Prez

New Delhi: A defiant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged European countries to do more to help, as he urged his citizens to resist Russian invasion, BBC reported. The second day of fighting saw tanks enter the capital, Kiev, for the first time, as Ukrainian military vehicles also rushed to the city to defend it. Ukrainian officials said they have handed out 18,000 guns to volunteers, as well as issuing instructions on how to make petrol bombs, the report said.

Fighting continues across the nation. "Russian tanks are still shooting residential buildings in our cities," Zelensky said in an address to the nation earlier. Zelensky said Western nations - and nearby Europe in particular - must go further and "act without delay", BBC reported. "Europe has enough strength to stop this aggression," he said.

"The columns of tanks and the air strikes are very similar to what Europe saw a long time ago, during WW2 - something about which it said 'never again'," he said, adding: "But here it is, again. Now, in 2022. 75 years after World War II ended."

He said all counter-measures must be considered, including throwing Russia out of Swift, imposing visa bans and closing airspace to Russia, BBC reported. The Ukraine President's appeal came as Russia offered talks with Ukraine for the first time since the crisis began, but under restrictive conditions. Zelensky has been seeking talks with Vladimir Putin since before the invasion began.