Croatian capital ready to host refugees from Ukraine: Mayor

BELGRADE, Serbia

The Croatian capital Zagreb is ready to host refugees fleeing Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, its mayor said on Friday.

The city will make locations available for the possible reception of refugees, Tomislav Tomasevic said.

"This is the least we can do in solidarity with the citizens of Ukraine and the human tragedy they are going through," Tomislav Tomasevic said.

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.