Clashes in northern district of Kyiv city

A Ukrainian policeman walks on a platform backdropped by people waiting for a Kiev bound train in Kostiantynivka, the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. (Image: AP)

Explosions and gunfire erupted in a northern district of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday, an AFP reporter on the ground heard, as invading Russian forces closed in.

Pedestrians ran for safety and small arms fire and explosions were heard in the Obolonsky area. The larger blasts could be heard as far away as the city centre.

Russian forces first arrived on the outskirts of Kyiv on Thursday when helicopter-borne troops assaulted an airfield just outside the city, close to Obolonsky.

The Ukrainian military claims to have repulsed the attack on the Gostomel airbase, but Russian ground forces have also been pushing down the west bank of the Dnieper river from Belarus.