Former Miss Ukraine takes up arms to fight Russian invaders

Watch: 'The invaders will die on our land!' Former Miss Ukraine trains to fight for her country

A former beauty queen has joined the thousands of Ukrainians in taking up arms against Russian forces.

Anastasia Lenna, Ukraine’s 2015 representative in the Miss Grand International beauty contest, posted a picture of herself in combat gear accompanied with an assault rifle to Instagram.

“Everyone who crosses the Ukrainian border with the intent to invade will be killed!” she said in an Instagram story on Saturday.

She also called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “a true and strong leader.”

Men aged 18 to 60 have been banned from leaving Ukraine and civilians have been encouraged to fight back against Russian troops.

Ukrainian truck drivers drove back from Poland over the weekend to join the fight.

Residents in Dnipro and Kyiv have been filmed making Molotov cocktails at pop up stations.

Remarkable footage was posted to social media on Sunday showing a crowd of unarmed Ukrainian civilians gathering in front of a Russian tank east of Kyiv, preventing it from entering their village,

Mr Zelensky has called on foreign fighters to travel to his country and take up arms in the battle against enemy forces.

Liz Truss has said she would back Britons who chose to do this.

Russian forces entered the second city of Kharkiv on Sunday but were met with strong resistance.

Regional governor Oleh Sinegubov said Ukraine is back “controlling the area fully” after street fighting erupted.

According to Ukraine’s defence ministry, 146 Russian tanks and 27 warplanes have been destroyed, although this has not been verified.

Mr Zelensky said that Ukrainian and Russian officials will meet for negotiations on the border with Belarus.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dymtro Kuleba said: “We will not surrender. We will not capitulate.

“We will not give up a single inch of our territory. This is not the goal of our fight."