A local source in Kiev revealed to Al Mayadeen's correspondent that Russian forces are not engaging in battles in the streets of Kiev, noting that armed groups estimated at 20,000 members of extremists are terrorizing Kiev's residents and engaging in killing and looting operations. 

According to the source, Kiev's residents took up arms to defend themselves from the extremists, not from the alleged Russian threat.

Putin appealed to the military forces of Ukraine to not allow what he called "neo-Nazis and Bandevorites" to exploit children, women, and the elderly as human shields.

The source also indicated that he expected the Russian forces to control their encirclement of Kiev within 24 hours.

Two days ago, the Russian President stressed that NATO-allied neo-Nazis are moving closer to the Russian borders from Ukraine.

"Leading NATO countries pursue their own goal by fully supporting Ukraine's extreme Nazis and neo-Nazis, who, in turn, will never forgive the people of Crimea and Sevastopol for their free choice to reunify with Russia."

Days ago, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) foiled a terrorist attempt to bomb an Orthodox Church in Crimea, arresting six who belong to a banned right-wing party, the Right Sector. 

Moscow's military operation in Ukraine is not a beginning of a war, but rather an attempt at curbing a global one, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

In a press conference Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, "What is happening now in Ukraine is an emergency measure," adding that Moscow did not "intend to harm the world order of which we are a part, and our partners must understand this matter."

Had Russia not taken this step, he underlined, "we would have faced a threat that I do not know how our country would have continued after. "

Seven civilians were killed in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) over the past 24 hours as a result of shelling by Ukraine's armed forces, an LPR envoy said on Saturday.

This comes as Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed on Thursday that Moscow's Armed Forces are not attacking Ukrainian cities, but are instead targeting Ukraine's military infrastructure using precision weapons. Putin announced on Thursday morning that he made a decision to carry out a special military operation in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics.