The Council of Europe has announced it is suspending Russia’s rights of representation in the organization, BTA reports. 

Earlier the Ukrainian army announced that armoured vehicles are entering the capital city Kyiv to defend it from the advancing Russian troops. Earlier, Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had captured the strategic Hostomel aerodrome outside Kyiv, Reuters reports. It said the Russian military had blocked access to Kyiv from the west, and that 200 fighters from the Ukrainian special units had been killed.

According to Kyiv, more than 1,000 Russian servicemen have been killed since the beginning of the Russian invasion, BNR’s Horizont channel reports.

A High Commissioner for Refugees spokesperson condemned last night’s mass arrests in Moscow and other Russian towns of protesters against the Russian decision to wage war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

At a briefing Bulgaria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it had summoned Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova. Deputy Foreign Minister Vasil Georgiev presented Bulgaria’s position to her – that the country reaffirms its support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. As an act of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, the Bulgarian government, alongside the regional governors and municipalities, will symbolically light up a number of landmark buildings throughout the country in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, the press service of the Council of Ministers has announced, as reported by the Bulgarian news agency BTA.

An independent express survey by Gallup International Balkan, conducted in the period from 23 to 25 February 2022, shows that 63.1% of adults in Bulgaria fear the situation in Ukraine could affect their lives, 33% are of the opposite opinion. According to sociologists, it is young people who are concerned the most.