Dylan Stableford
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a pre-dawn attack on Ukraine on Thursday, hitting cities with airstrikes and sending tanks across the border.
The long-anticipated move, which US intelligence agencies have been predicting for months, was widely condemned by world leaders.
Here’s what to know about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:
What exactly happened?
In a televised speech just before 6am Moscow time, Putin announced that his forces were entering Ukraine in what he described as a “special military operation” aimed at the “demilitarisation and de-Nazification” of the sovereign nation.
Within moments of Putin’s address, distant explosions were witnessed by reporters in the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa as Ukrainians woke up to a new, uncertain reality.
Have there been any casualties?
Oleksii Arestovich, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said at least 40 people had been killed and dozens others wounded in the attack so far.
Although given the size and sweep of the Russian invasion, it’s safe to expect that the actual number of casualties is higher.
How did Ukraine respond?
Zelensky cut diplomatic ties with Moscow and declared martial law.
“As of today, our countries are on different sides of world history,” he tweeted.
“Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself and won’t give up its freedom.”
The Ukrainian president said Russian forces were trying to seize the Chernobyl nuclear plant, site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, and Ukrainian forces were battling other troops just miles from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, for control of a strategic airport.
Zelensky also described the invasion as “a declaration of war against the whole of Europe”.
How did NATO react?
NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg called Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “a brutal act of war”.
“Peace on our continent has been shattered,” he said.
At a tense emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, Ukraine’s UN ambassador, Volodymyr Yelchenko, tore into his Russian counterpart, Vasily Nebenzya.
“Your country declared a war against my country,” Yelchenko said, adding: “There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, ambassador.”
What was the response from the White House?
In a statement, Biden condemned Putin’s “unprovoked and unjustified attack” on Ukraine.
The US president said: “The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine . . . as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces.
“President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.
“Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable.”
What’s next?
Biden participated in a virtual meeting early Thursday with G-7 leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “discuss their joint response”, according to a White House official. – Yahoo! News