The big question has been whether Kyiv be able to hold out under the barrage from the Russians, before the Russians’ shortcomings would force them to have to quit. We wrote earlier about how Vladimir Putin had already been calling for peace talks, and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had agreed to a meeting on the border with Belarus.

Kyiv has held out for four days so far, but the Russians have been trying to bring in more troops. Now, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko is reported to have said that the city was “encircled,” and citizens couldn’t be evacuated. “We can’t do that, because all ways are blocked,” he finally said. “Right now we are encircled.”

But his office’s press secretary is disputing this report, saying they are not “blockaded,” that that’s a lie and that Klitschko would be out with a statement disputing that.

Press-secretary of the mayor of Kiev Vitaly Klitschko denied information about the blockade of the city. According to her, Kiev is not surrounded.

“This is nonsense and manipulation, Mayor Klitschko will soon release a video statement denying this” https://t.co/iJD7CwLQwl

— Anthony DeRosa (@Anthony) February 27, 2022

That said, as we noted, the Russian advance on the city has been slower than expected.

Klitschko said citizens are lining up to get weapons to defend the city.

“To be honest, we don’t have 100% control,” said Klitschko. “We built this territorial defense in a short amount of time — but these are patriotic people.”

“Right now, the most important question is to defend our country,” he added.

He noted that the city’s supplies were understandably strained on food and medicine, but they had essential services like electricity, water, and heat. ”

Then, in the same breath, he rallied like the world heavyweight boxing champion he once was.

“That’s why the message for everyone is: Support Ukraine together … We are strong,” he said. “Every Ukrainian is proud to be independent, proud to be Ukrainian, and we are proud to have our own country.”

“Encircled” is not good, if the report is true. But an armed citizenry is. They’re not going to make it easy for the Russians and it’s already amazing that they’ve stalled the advance for so long.

85h of defence.Intimidation of 🇺🇦 is imprudent. Its impossible to break our defenders,moreover its impossible to make the Kyiv lay down arms.The times are difficult,but it will pass.🇺🇦 will win.We’re already winning.Therefore, we advise the occupiers to go home. It's not too late pic.twitter.com/6NPnqOctom

— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) February 27, 2022

As this is a breaking story, RedState will provide further updates as they become available.