Russia launched a multi-prong invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, attacking by land, air, and sea. The assault is the biggest in Europe since World War II and was immediately condemned by world leaders, who are preparing to impose a second round of economic sanctions on Russia. Video posted on social media and gathered by Radio Free Europe shows the attack:
The Associated Press reports:
Sirens rang out in Ukraine’s capital, large explosions were heard there and in other cities, and people massed in train stations and took to roads, as the government said the former Soviet republic was seeing a long-anticipated invasion from the east, north and south. It reported more than 40 soldiers had been killed and dozens wounded so far.
The chief of the NATO alliance said the “brutal act of war” shattered peace in Europe, joining a chorus of world leaders who decried the attack, which could cause massive casualties, topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government and upend the post-Cold War security order. The conflict was already shaking global financial markets: Stocks plunged and oil prices soared amid concerns that heating bills and food prices would skyrocket.
Russia reportedly launched more than 100 missiles at Ukrainian targets last night. The assault was initiated from three main areas – Belarus, Crimea, and a part of Russia called Belgorod, which sits just north of the border with Ukraine. The New York Times adds:
Russian missiles hit the cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv. The eastern city of Chuhuyiv was hit by bombs. Explosions were reported in Kyiv, including at the capital’s airport. Russia said its forces had disabled all of Ukraine’s air defenses and air bases, while Ukraine’s military said it had shot down five Russian planes and one helicopter.
According to Reuters, Ukraine’s military claims it has thus far destroyed four Russian tanks, shot down six Russian warplanes, and killed 50 Russian troops. Ukraine has also severed diplomatic ties with Russia. The outlet adds:
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been captured by Russian forces, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Thursday.
“It is impossible to say the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe after a totally pointless attack by the Russians,” he said.
“This is one of the most serious threats in Europe today,” Podolyak said.
“President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement.
“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,” Biden added.
Biden said he will confer with world leaders on Thursday morning and address the American people later in the day. He said he will be announcing new sanctions.
The Washington Post reports:
Putin’s declaration of operations against Ukraine — broadcaston state television shortly before 6 a.m. in Moscow — was the culmination of months of threats and a military buildup that Ukrainian officials said had brought 200,000 Russian troops to their borders.
“Russia cannot feel safe and develop and exist with the constant threat coming from the modern territory of Ukraine,” Putin said in the speech, by turns cold and angry. “We simply weren’t given any other option to defend Russia and our people other than that which we will use today.”
He said that the “goal is the defense of people who for a period of eight years have suffered the scorn and genocide of the Kyiv regime — and for that we will strive for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine and bring to justice those who have carried out the many bloody crimes against peaceful civilians, including citizens of the Russian Federation.”
Reuters provides key context:
A democratic country of 44 million people, Ukraine is Europe’s biggest country by area after Russia itself. It voted overwhelmingly for independence after the fall of the Soviet Union, and aims to join NATO and the European Union, aspirations that infuriate Moscow.
Putin, who denied for months he was planning an invasion, has called Ukraine an artificial construct carved from Russia by its enemies, a characterization Ukrainians see as an attempt to erase their more than 1,000-year-old history. While many Ukrainians, particularly in the east, speak Russian as a native language, virtually all identify as a separate nationality.
The Times adds:
Hours before the attacks began, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine made a dramatic televised plea to the people of Russia, saying he wanted to speak to them directly after Mr. Putin had rejected his phone call.
“Listen to the voice of reason,” Mr. Zelensky said. “The Ukrainian people want peace.”
They did not get it.
Oleksiy Arestovych, a spokesman for Zelensky, said the government would provide guns to any Ukrainian willing to defend the country.
