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| Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gets acquainted with the positions of the Ukrainian military on May 27 |
International Military - Earlier on Friday morning another explosion was heard in Kyiv. The explosion was an attempt by Ukrainian air defenses to shoot down the Russian plane. Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister, said Ukrainian troops shot down an enemy plane over Kyiv in the early hours of Friday.
The plane then crashed into a residential building and set it on fire. It remains unclear whether the plane was manned or possibly a missile. The Kyiv city government said at least eight people were injured when the object hit an apartment block.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv had been hit by a missile. "Terrible Russian rocket attack in Kyiv," wrote Dmytro Kuleba on his Twitter account. "The last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany," he added. According to Herashchenko, the previous series of explosions in Kyiv was the sound of air defenses firing on planes.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday and Kyiv has reported dozens of casualties and hundreds of people injured. Authorities said heavy fighting was under way on Friday morning in the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile at a border post in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhya has been hit by a missile causing death and injury among border guards.
On the other hand, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to remain in Kyiv as his troops battle Russian invaders advancing on the capital. It was the biggest attack on a European country since the Second World War.
Russia launched its invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday following President Vladimir Putin's declaration of war. During the explosion, an estimated 100,000 people fled and dozens were reported dead.
US and Ukrainian officials say Russia is aiming to seize Kyiv and topple a government that Putin views as a US puppet. Russian troops captured the headquarters of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Kyiv as they advanced along the shortest route to Kyiv from Belarus to the north.
"The enemy has marked me as target number one," Zelensky said. "My family is target number two. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state," he added.
The Ukrainian president said he would stay in the capital as well as his family in Ukraine. Responding to the statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that President Zelensky's decision to remain in Ukraine in his post would cause concern, especially for his safety and that of all other government officials.