Battle for Kyiv as Ukrainians attempt to hold off Russian forces

Defence forces wage ferocious resistance in the capital as Zelenskiy says we will not lay down our arms'

• Ukraine invasion: latest updates

Fierce fighting broke out in Kyiv as Russian forces tried to push their way towards the city centre from multiple directions in the early hours of Saturday, and as the Ukrainian president, Volodomyr Zelenskiy, bluntly rejected a US offer to evacuate him from the country's capital.

The fight is here," Zelinskiy said. By 8am, however, residents were reporting a lull in the attack as it appeared Kyiv's defenders had held out against another night of Russian advances from multiple directions, including both north and south of the main western route from Zhitomyr to Kyiv, and in the area of the motorway towards the country's south.