Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a broad military offensive targeting Ukraine at about 5am local time (3am GMT) on Thursday morning after broadcasting a speech announcing a “special military operation” to “demilitarise” and “denazify” Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian officials, the initial wave of strikes appeared to involve cruise missiles, artillery and airstrikes which struck military infrastructure and border positions, including airbases. Three hours into the attack, the Russian defence ministry was claiming to have “neutralised” Ukraine’s airbases and air defences.
The broad assault on Ukraine was launched from three sides, an attack that brought explosions before dawn to the country’s capital, Kyiv, and other cities.
Ukraine’s leadership said at least 40 people had been killed so far in what it called a “full-scale war” targeting the country from the east, north and south. It said Russia’s intent was to destroy the state of Ukraine, a Western-looking democracy intent on moving out of Moscow’s orbit.
As civilians piled into trains and cars to flee, NATO and European leaders rushed to respond, if not directly in Ukraine, with strong financial sanctions against Russia and moves to strengthen their own borders.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a video statement declaring martial law. He told Ukrainians that the United States was gathering international support to respond to Russia. He urged residents to remain calm and to stay at home.
Zelenskyy had repeatedly appealed to Putin in recent days to pursue a diplomatic path instead of taking military action. He urged world leaders Thursday to provide defense assistance and help protect Ukraine’s airspace from Russia
Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential adviser, said fighting was taking place Thursday along practically the entire perimeter of the country’s border.
In the meantime iUkraine has cut all diplomatic ties with Russia after President Vladimir Putin authorised an all-out invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea. President Zelenskyy announced the country would break diplomatic relations with Moscow in response to Russia’s invasion of its Western-backed neighbour.
It marked the first rupture in ties since Russia and Ukraine became independent countries after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.
“We broke off diplomatic relations with Russia,” Zelenskyy said in a video message on Thursday. “Ukraine is defending itself and will not give up its freedom, no matter what Moscow thinks. Russia vilely and suicidally attacked our state in the morning. Just like fascist Germany did during the second world war.”Ukraine and Russia maintained ties throughout a complex history of relations that included two pro-Western revolutions in Kyiv in 2004 and 2014 that the Kremlin strongly opposed.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called Russia’s attack “a brutal act of war” and said Moscow had shattered peace on the European continent.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin “has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.”
In Lithuania, a small Baltic nation and NATO member that borders Russia’s Kaliningrad region to the southwest, Belarus to the east, Latvia to the north and Poland to the south. President Gitanas Nauseda signed a decree declaring a state of emergency. The country’s parliament was expected to approve the measure later in the day.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Putin has “unleashed war in our European continent” and Britain “cannot and will not just look away.”
“Our mission is clear: diplomatically, politically, economically and eventually militarily, this hideous and barbaric venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure,” Johnson said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sharply condemned Russia’s attack, calling it “a terrible day for Ukraine and a dark day for Europe.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said: “This Russian invasion stands to put at risk the basic principle of international order that forbids one-sided action of force in an attempt to change the status quo.” / Argumentum.al
