PHOTOS: 18,000 Kyiv Residents Receive Guns As Russia Approaches

Ukrainian volunteers armed to the teeth are positioned everywhere at the state capital, as Russian forces advance, Naija News reports

Naija News earlier reported that Putin launched a major military invasion into Ukraine from several directions on Thursday, with explosions heard in the country’s capital, Kyiv.

This led the Ministry of the Interior to hand out over 18,000 guns to all volunteers in Kyiv, who want to defend the country’s capital.

It would be recalled that both the Ministry of Defence and the Interior Ministry appealed to Kyiv residents to “inform us of troop movements, to make Molotov cocktails and neutralise the enemy”.

A leaflet with step-by step instructions of how to make petrol bombs has been posted on the Ministry of the Interior’s social media.

Interior Ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko says 18,000 machine guns “have been handed out in Kyiv to all volunteers, all those who want to defend our capital with weapons in their arms”.

“Ukrainian military equipment is entering Kyiv now to defend it. I am asking all residents of Kyiv – please do not film it, do not film its movements. This is necessary to protect our city.”

The BBC confirms that the streets of Kyiv were filled with Ukrainian civilians bearing arms to protect their country.

Men in trainers and jeans with rifles slung across their backs man checkpoints.

Hidden in the trees on the side of the road are other young volunteers and others lying on the ground behind anti-tank weapons.