I'm Russia's No.1 target, my family No.2: Ukrainian President vows to stay in Kyiv

Kyiv, Feb 25: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed on Friday to stay in Kyiv as his troops battled Russian invaders who are advancing toward the capital in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.

"(The) enemy has marked me down as the number one target," Zelensky warned in a video message. "My family is the number two target. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state," Zelensky was quoted saying by Reuters.

"I will stay in the capital. My family is also in Ukraine," he added.

Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv early on Friday as Russian forces pressed on with a full-scale invasion that resulted in the deaths of more than 100 Ukrainians in the first full day of fighting and could eventually rewrite the global post-Cold War security order.

After using airstrikes on cities and military bases, Russian military units moved swiftly to take on Ukraine's seat of government and its largest city in what US officials suspect is a brazen attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismantle the government and replace it with his own regime.

Ukrainian leaders pleaded for help as civilians piled into trains and cars to flee, and hotels in Kyiv were being evacuated amid early indications of an assault.

Ukrainian forces braced for more attacks after enduring for hours a Russian barrage of land- and sea-based missiles, an assault that one senior US defence official described as the first salvo in a likely multi-phase invasion aimed at seizing key population centres and "decapitating" Ukraine's government. Already, Ukraine officials said they had lost control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, scene of the world's worst nuclear disaster.

In unleashing the largest ground war in Europe since World War II, Putin ignored global condemnation and cascading new sanctions. With a chilling reference to his country's nuclear arsenal, he threatened any country trying to interfere with "consequences you have never seen", as a once-hoped-for diplomatic resolution now appeared impossible.

with PTI inputs