Kyiv Curfew in Place for 35 Hours Following Day of Heavy Shelling and Loss

Even though Russian ground forces have reportedly remained outside of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Russia has increased its long-range missile attacks on residential areas and infrastructure to wear down Ukrainian resistance.

The curfews are just one part of a multi-pronged effort among government agencies working together with civilians to prevent Russians from overtaking the city. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned his country's Western allies that they'll need much more help to keep Russia from overtaking the capital.

In response to Tuesday's attacks by Russian forces, the Ukrainian military command announced an approximate 35-hour curfew in Kyiv. During the curfew, citizens are supposed to stay in their homes or shelters unless they have a special permit for working in vital services, Andriy Kulykov, a Kyiv-based Ukrainian radio journalist told NPR.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced the curfew in a video he posted to Twitter. In it, he said, "Today is a difficult and dangerous moment. ... I ask all Kyiv residents to prepare for the fact that they will have to be at home for two days or, in case of an alarm, in a shelter."

During curfews, Ukrainian military forces also search for Russian saboteurs roaming the city, NPR reported, and people are encouraged to keep their home lights off at night to reduce visibility to prospective Russian bombers.

The curfew followed three Tuesday attacks in Kyiv that injured nearly 50 people and killed one.

One attack hit a metro train station that residents have been using as a transit stop and a bomb shelter. City authorities said the station would continue operating as a shelter, but trains would no longer stop there.

A second attack hit a 15-story apartment building in the Svyatoshynskyi district of western Kyiv, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported. Firefighting crews quickly responded to rescue people as fire tore through several floors of the building. The assault made a hole in the ground outside and blew out windows in neighboring apartment blocks, 9 & 10 News reported.

An attack also hit a 10-story apartment building in the city's Podilsky district. Only structural damage was reported, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the capital region.

"Many streets have been turned into a mush of steel and concrete. People have been hiding for weeks in basements, and are afraid to go out even for evacuations," Kuleba said on Ukrainian television, according to ABC.

Russian ground forces haven't officially entered Kyiv. Rather, they've remained about nine to 12 miles outside of the city's northeast corner, ABC News in the United States reported.

Ukrainian fighters have instead been trying to slow the approach of Russian ground forces by destroying key bridges that would allow them easy entry into the city and blocking roads every 100 yards with large concrete blocks, tanker trucks, tires, sandbags and large metallic cross-beam "hedgehogs" that prevent the movement of armored vehicles.

At the city's northeastern edges, outposts of fighters armed with anti-tank rockets watch for any invaders. The Ukrainians' hope is that Russian ground forces will run out of ammunition, food, water, fuel and morale before they're able to enter the city. Until then, the Ukrainians are conserving their ammunition and Kyiv's residents are using their cell phones to provide intelligence about Russians' locations.

The U.S. and up to 20 other nations, mostly allied with NATO and the European Union, have pledged to send Ukrainian forces large shipments of weaponry such as Javelin antitank missiles, Stinger surface-to-air missiles, machine guns and sniper rifles, The Washington Post reported. But it's unclear how soon these shipments will reach Ukrainian forces in Kyiv.

Tuesday's attacks occurred on the same day that the prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic visited the city to meet with Zelensky. The prime ministers pledged their friendship and solidarity with Ukraine, but Zelensky says more is needed.

In a Tuesday address to Canada's parliament, Zelensky asked the country to help impose a no-fly zone to stop Russian aircraft from attacking the city.

"Please close the sky," he said. "You all need to do more to stop Russia and protect Ukraine and protect Europe. They are destroying everything."

Despite the attacks, Sergiy, a 50-year-old university lecturer in Kyiv, told The Guardian that many things here have remained normal.

"There has been some shelling but so far we are OK. We are still able to buy all the essentials—meat, bread and milk—and the phone network here has been working perfectly," he said.

"One thing that has changed is that people in the city have become nicer since the war started," he added. "We know how close we are to the line between life and death." Electricity, water and internet remain accessible throughout the city and people continue to drive around the city.

The lecturer said that older Ukrainians remember how life was under the Soviet Union, with only government news and limited goods for sale. Now, after 30 years of independence from Russia, he said, no Ukrainians want to lose their freedom to Russian aggression.

Newsweek contacted the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.