Former president vows Russia will never capture Ukraine

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday vowed on a TV broadcast that Russia's Vladimir Putin would never capture Ukraine.

Speaking to CNN while brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle, Poroshenko said he would fight in the streets of the capital Kyiv against Russian forces, adding that Ukrainians were ready to defend their country.

"Everybody should understand, Putin declared a war not for Ukraine. Putin declared a war to the whole world," he said.

He called the Russian president "simply mad."

Poroshenko said his battalion was about two to three kilometers (about 1.5 miles) from the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.

He said Ukraine needed the West's assistance, including with sanctions, kicking Russia out of the SWIFT global interbank payment system, and blocking Russian planes and ships in EU and NATO ports.

Poroshenko also thanked the US and UK for providing arms to Ukraine.

"This is important for us," he said, adding that with the assistance "we feel we are not alone, that you are together with us."

"No matter how many soldiers he (Putin) kills, how many missiles he has, how many nuclear weapons he has, we Ukrainian(s) are free people with a great European future," he added.

Russia's military intervention in Ukraine entered its second day on Friday, with the latest reports indicating that Russian troops were heading toward the capital Kyiv from several directions.

Putin had ordered the military intervention on Thursday, just days after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine.

He claimed that Moscow had no plan to occupy the neighboring country, but wanted to "demilitarize" and "denazify" Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to install a puppet government and said Ukrainians will defend their country against Russian aggression.

Tensions started escalating late last year when Ukraine, the US and its allies accused Russia of amassing nearly 150,000 troops on the border with Ukraine.

They claimed Russia was preparing to invade its western neighbor, allegations consistently rejected by Moscow.