A Kiwi journalist reporting from Ukraine says a large number of Ukrainians want to stay and fight for their country amid the biggest assault on a European state since World War II.
"One very important fact is that, at the moment, men in Ukraine between 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country," journalist Tom Mutch told AM. "They've been called up for a general mobilisation; given weapons, given instructions, given instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails so for them it's the only choice is to stay and fight - but the vast majority of people I've spoken to have said that they really want to do whatever they can to defend their country."
Despite that, hundreds of thousands of others have still chosen to flee, said Mutch, speaking from the western city to Lviv - having departed the under-fire capital Kyiv himself.
He said there's been minimal fighting in western Ukraine is currently "thronged" with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict.
In a major escalation of tensions overnight, Russian President Vladimir Putin put his nuclear forces on high alert. Putin claimed aggressive statements by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders forced his hand.
That development came as Ukrainian soldiers defended the country's second-largest city Kharkiv - about 500km from Kyiv. The Ukrainians were claiming victory after repelling an attack by invading Russian troops.
On the fourth day of the Russian assault, Kyiv and Moscow have agreed to hold negotiations at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, the Ukraine President's office has said.
Mutch said Moscow originally proposed the negotiations happen in Belarus.
"The Ukrainians rejected that out of hand, saying - 'Look, we are not going to hold talks in a country that is effectively a Russian client state and where missiles are being launched from.'
"However, I think the Ukrainians are fairly pleased with how their military operations are going so far and they've managed to agree to do [the negotiations] effectively on the border, in reasonably neutral territory. It's actually quite near Chernobyl so the 'Chernobyl peace talks' have quite a ring to it, don't they?"
Ukraine, a democratic nation of 44 million people, won independence from Moscow in 1991 at the fall of the Soviet Union and has pushed to join the NATO Western military alliance and the EU, goals Russia opposes.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine's President, said Ukrainian forces continued to hold off Russian troops advancing on Kyiv.
"We have withstood and are successfully repelling enemy attacks," he said in a video update. "The fighting goes on."
Mutch said he was told to leave Kyiv after it came under "intense aerial bombardment" and made his way to Lviv.
"Lviv is full of people now just desperately trying to get to the border but, as you can imagine, roads and railways are absolutely thronged," he told AM. "When we got off the train earlier this evening (local time), there must have literally been thousands of people trying to cram into the very, very few valuable spots on a train out to the Polish border.
"Some people have been so desperate that they've taken a car as far as they can and they've walked up to 40 kilometres, in one go, trying to get to that border in case the fighting reaches western Ukraine - which it could do within the next week or so."
The EU earlier announced it intends to purchase and deliver weapons to Ukraine - the first time in its history it has taken such a step.
A raft of new sanctions targeting Russia and Belarus were also announced, including a total ban on Russian planes using European airspace.
The US, Europe and other Western partners on Sunday said multiple Russian banks would be cut off from SWIFT - the world's main international payments network.
United States President Joe Biden has also approved $350 million in military aid for Ukraine.
Other nations have pledged military materiel to Kyiv as Ukraine's military fights against an invading Russian force.
New Zealand has imposed travel bans on Russians associated with the invasion, prohibited the export of all goods intended for use by the Russian military and security forces and suspended bilateral engagement until further notice.
Reuters / Newshub.
