Air raid sirens sound over the Ukrainian capital

Air raid sirens have sounded as residents awoke in Kyiv on Friday morning. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers that Russian mechanized forces that entered from Belarus were about 20 miles from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

Russia pressed its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital after unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending in troops and tanks from three sides in an attack that could rewrite the global post-Cold War security order.

Explosions sounded before dawn in Kyiv as Western leaders scheduled an emergency meeting and Ukraine's president pleaded for international help.

The nature of the explosions was not immediately clear, but the blasts came amid signs that the capital and largest Ukrainian city was increasingly threatened following a day of fighting that left more than 100 Ukrainians dead.