Ukraine ‘left alone’ to fight Russia

Ukraine's president said Friday his country had been left on its own to fight Russia after the Kremlin launched a large-scale invasion.

"We have been left alone to defend our state," Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address to the nation after midnight.

"Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don't see anyone. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of Nato membership? Everyone is afraid," he added.

Zelensky also said that Russian "sabotage groups" had entered the capital Kyiv, and urged the city's citizens to remain vigilant and observe a curfew.

The president added that he and his family remained in Ukraine, despite Russia identifying him as "target number one".

"They want to destroy Ukraine politically by taking down the head of state," Zelensky said.

Wearing military fatigues, he accuses European leaders of taking insufficient action to slow the Russian advance.

"The columns of tanks and the air strikes are very similar to what Europe saw a long time ago, during WW2 - something about which it said 'never again'," he says.

"But here it is, again. Now, in 2022. 75 years after WW2 ended."

Zelensky adds it isn't too late to stop Russian "aggression" if European leaders act swiftly, and calls on citizens across the EU to protest and force their governments into more decisive action.

European Union leaders agreed at an emergency summit Thursday what they said was a sweeping package of economic sanctions that would have "massive and severe consequences" on Russia. But they stopped short of cutting Russia off from the global SWIFT banking system after economic powerhouse Germany pushed back at calls for the tough move from other member states.