SOURCE: BBC News – Russian forces have launched a military assault on neighbouring Ukraine, crossing its borders and bombing military targets near big cities.
In a pre-dawn TV statement Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia did not plan to occupy Ukraine and demanded that its military lay down their arms.
Moments later, attacks were reported on Ukrainian military targets.
Ukraine said that “Putin has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine”.
Russian military vehicles were said to have breached the border in a number of places, in the north, south and east, including from Belarus. At least seven people are known to have been killed in Russian attacks, police say. Another 19 are missing.
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that martial law was now being imposed across all of Ukraine.
“No panic. We’re strong. We’re ready for anything. We’ll defeat everyone, because we are Ukraine,” the Ukrainian leader said in a video statement. Ahead of Russia’s attack he had made a last-ditch attempt to avert war, warning that Russia could start “a major war in Europe” and urging Russian citizens to oppose it.
Warning sirens blared across the capital, which has a population of almost three million.
Traffic queued to leave the city during the night and crowds sought shelter in the Kyiv underground. Several neighbouring countries have begun preparations to take in a large number of refugees.
“We don’t understand what we should do now,” one woman called Svetlana told the BBC. “We’re now going to a place where we can be safe and we hope we can leave safely. We have family in Mariupol and now they’re very nervous.”
The Russian leader launched the “special military operation” repeating a number of unfounded claims he has made this week, alleging that Ukraine’s democratically elected government had been responsible for eight years of genocide.
He said the goal was demilitarisation and “denazification” of Ukraine. Hours earlier Ukraine’s president had asked how a people who lost eight million of its citizens fighting Nazis support Nazism. “How could I be a Nazi?” said Mr Zelensky, who is himself Jewish.
Ukraine’s Western allies had repeatedly warned that Russia was poised to invade, despite repeated denials from Moscow. The US, EU, UK and Japan imposed sanctions against leading Russians, Russian banks and MPs who backed the move.
Responding to Russia’s assault, US President Joe Biden said Washington and its allies would respond in a united and decisive way to “an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces” on Ukraine.
“President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” Mr Biden said. “The world will hold Russia accountable.”
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “appalled by the horrific events in Ukraine” and that President Putin “has chosen a path of bloodshed and destruction by launching this unprovoked attack”.
“Together with allies, we will respond to this barbaric act of aggression,” said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky.
