© Alisa Yakubovych/EPAA big fire at a petroleum storage depot after a Russian missile attack, in Vasylkiv, near Kyiv
Comment: Whilst there is resistance in Ukraine, one of the more significant issues slowing down Russia's special operation is likely to be Ukraine's military secreting themselves near residential areas, schools, and so on, in order to sacrifice civilians to further their propaganda campaign. However, Russia will have been aware that that the neo-Nazi aligned Ukrainian army would do this.
Huge explosions lit up the sky early on Sunday south of the capital, Kyiv, where people hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations and the government maintained a 39-hour curfew in anticipation of a full-scale assault by Russian forces.
Flames billowed into the sky before dawn from an oil depot near an airbase in Vasylkiv, near Kyiv, where there has been intense fighting, according to the town's mayor. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office said another explosion was at the civilian Zhuliany Airport.
Comment: Note that the oil depot is near an airbase which, of course, would be a target of Russia's military. Further, the town's mayor is hardly an independent observer and so any commentary from them is up for question.
Zelenskyy's office also said Russian forces blew up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city, prompting the government to warn people to protect themselves from the smoke by covering their windows with damp cloth or gauze.
Comment: Note that most of Ukraine's gas comes from Russia, albeit via Germany, who is making a profit reselling it to them.
"We will fight for as long as needed to liberate our country," Zelenskyy said.
The curfew in Kyiv is set to last through Monday morning. The relative quiet of the capital was sporadically broken by gunfire.
Comment: And that gunfire isn't necessarily between Russia and Ukraine, because in some cases it's been speculated to be rival factions within Ukraine.
Russian-backed separatists in the eastern province of Luhansk said a Ukrainian missile had blown up an oil terminal in the town of Rovenky.
Comment: The UK's immigration minister said that one way Ukrainians could get a visa is by offering to work as a seasonal fruit picker - seriously:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not disclosed his ultimate goal, but Western officials believe he is determined to overthrow Ukraine's government and replace it with a regime of his own, redrawing the map of Europe and reviving Moscow's Cold War-era influence.
Comment: Russia and Putin have made their goal quite clear, and it could have been partly achieved by the US agreeing to its peace proposal, however, since the US ignored that, the objectives in its special operation are the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.
To help Ukraine resist, the US pledged an additional $350m in military assistance, including anti-tank weapons, body armour and small arms. Germany said it would send missiles and anti-tank weapons to the besieged country and that it would close its airspace to Russian planes.
Comment: This is on top of the EU's gift of $1 billion, and the US' hundreds and hundreds of millions.
Meanwhile, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States have agreed to block "selected" Russian banks from the SWIFT global financial messaging system, which moves money between banks and other financial institutions worldwide, part of a new round of sanctions aiming to impose a severe cost on Moscow for the invasion. They also agreed to impose "restrictive measures" on Russia's central bank.
Comment: And Wall Street have warned them that blocking Russia from SWIFT will likely cause the US and EU to suffer just as much, but likely even more.
It is unclear how much territory Russian forces have seized or to what extent their advance has been stalled. Britain's Ministry of Defence said: "The speed of the Russian advance has temporarily slowed, likely as a result of acute logistical difficulties and strong Ukrainian resistance."
Comment: That Russia has been seriously stalled or that it's experiencing significant 'difficulties' is wishful thinking, and likely propaganda.
Fighting on the city's outskirts suggested that small Russian units were trying to clear a path for the main forces. Small groups of Russian troops were reported inside Kyiv, but Britain and the US said the bulk of the forces were 30km (19 miles) from the city's centre as of Saturday afternoon.
Russia claims its assault on Ukraine from the north, east and south is aimed only at military targets, but bridges, schools and residential neighbourhoods have been hit.
Comment: Ukraine has been blowing up its own bridges, probably because they realise that's the best they can do to slow Russia's approach what with the no fly zone that Russia has imposed.
Ukraine's health minister reported Saturday that 198 people, including three children, had been killed and more than 1,000 others wounded. It was unclear whether those figures included both military and civilian casualties.
Comment: Who is responsible for the deaths? Where did they occur? It's telling that this data is not revealed.
Comment: Unverified claims that are unlikely to be true.
Markarova said Ukraine was gathering evidence of shelling of residential areas, kindergartens and hospitals to submit to The Hague as possible crimes against humanity.
Comment: Bombing residential areas in the Donbass is what Ukraine has been guilty of since 2014. Russia doesn't need to do that to achieve its objectives, it would actually work against them.
Putin sent troops into Ukraine after denying for weeks that he intended to do so, all the while building up a force of nearly 200,000 troops along the countries' borders.
Comment: Putin initiated a special operation following Ukraine's comments that it would host nuclear weapons, but also following months of talks that the US deliberately scuppered.
He claims the West has failed to take seriously Russia's security concerns about NATO, the Western military alliance that Ukraine aspires to join. But he has also expressed scorn about Ukraine's right to exist as an independent state.
Comment: Ukraine stopped being an independent state following the US-backed coup in 2014. It would actually be of benefit to Russia if Ukraine were independent.
See also: EU shuts airspace for Russian airlines, Moscow responds in kind
Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: The Truth About The Russia-Ukraine War