Putin’s tanks roll into Ukraine over Belarus border as he launches full-scale invasion

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Russia has today launched all-out war on Ukraine. Missiles and bombs rained from the sky, tanks rolled across the border from Belarus, troops parachuted down on eastern regions and explosions were seen across the country after Vladimir Putin personally gave the order to advance.  

‘Hundreds’ of Ukrainian troops were killed in early fighting, Kiev said, as the fight came to them on all fronts at a moment’s notice. Cruise missiles, guided bombs and GRAD rockets took out targets around the country – aimed at airfields, military bases, ammo dumps, and command posts.  

Five Russian jets were reportedly shot out of the sky over the Donbass before Moscow claimed to have taken control of the skies. Ukrainian border guards said they had come under attack by heavy artillery, tanks and troops from Russian and Belarus – as dictator Alexander Lukashenko threw his forces into the fight. 

Luhansk, Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv in the east of the country all reported coming under attack, but blasts were also reported in the west – in Zhytomyr and Lviv, close to the border with Poland. Extraordinary video footage showed what appeared to be a cruise missile slamming into Ivano-Frankivsk airport, also in the west.

It came after Vladimir Putin had given an extraordinary late-night address – during a UN meeting aimed at avoiding war – in which he declared a ‘special military operation’ to ‘de-militarise’ and ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine in what amounted to a outright declaration of war.

The Russian strongman also issued a chilling warning to any country thinking of coming to Ukraine’s aid, vowing ‘consequences greater than any you have faced in history’.

Ukrainian President Zelensky then followed with his own address – delivered from home – in which he declared martial law and vowed to resist the Russian attack, come what may. ‘Don’t panic. We are strong. We are ready for everything. We will defeat everyone. Because we are Ukraine,’ he said.

But as Russian bombs fell, people’s nerve broke. Images from Kiev in the early hours showed highways out of the city gridlocked as people tried to flee – but with the whole country under simultaneous attack, there was little safety to be found. Others reported sheltering in subways and basements as air-raid sirens wailed.  

Unconfirmed reports said that Russian forces had destroyed or rendered unusable the Ukrainian navy, and taken control of Boryspil Airport in Kiev.

Access to the Black Sea and Azov Sea was cut off.

More unconfirmed reports on Twitter appeared to show a huge seaborne landing by Russian forces in the Black Sea port of Odessa, involving large landing craft and helicopters shortly before 6am local time.  

President Joe Biden will address the nation at noon on Thursday, and on Wednesday night he condemned Russia’s ‘unprovoked and unjustified attack.’ He was speaking to Ukraine’s president.

Biden said in a statement: ‘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.’

Biden said he will be monitoring the situation from Washington, DC, and will continue to get regular updates from his national security team.

The developments came as:

Explosions were heard across Ukraine, with the capital Kiev coming under attack and the city’s main airport appearing to be a target, as well as a nearby military base.Reports said the port city of Odessa was coming under amphibious assault, while another Black Sea port city, Mariupol, was under fierce attack.Military assaults appeared underway on Kharkiv in the far east of Ukraine.Ukraine’s government declared martial law and urged people to stay at home as the onslaught continues. Russia insisted in the early hours of Thursday that it was targeting military installations and avoiding populated areas, but Ukraine said there had been hundreds of casualties.Joe Biden was speaking to Ukraine’s president in the early hours of Thursday, having earlier through his UN ambassador voiced his strong continued support for the country. 

Biden announced he will join G7 counterparts on Thursday morning, and will address the country later on Thursday to ‘announce the further consequences the United States and its Allies and partners will impose on Russia.’

‘We will also coordinate with our NATO Allies to ensure a strong, united response that deters any aggression against the Alliance. Tonight, Jill and I are praying for the brave and proud people of Ukraine,’ the statement added. 

Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, tweeted early on Thursday: ‘I am appalled by the horrific events in Ukraine and I have spoken to President Zelenskyy to discuss next steps. President Putin has chosen a path of bloodshed and destruction by launching this unprovoked attack on Ukraine. 

‘The UK and our allies will respond decisively.’

Putin in his speech on Thursday told other countries not to get involved.

‘To anyone who would consider interfering from the outside – if you do, you will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history,’ he said in the television broadcast around 6am Moscow time. 

Metadata of Putin’s declaration of war video shows it was recorded on Monday evening, but only broadcast early Thursday.

At the time, some Russian officials were denying any intention to invade.

The Russian armed forces are not inflicting any missile, air or artillery strikes on the cities of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow told RIA Novosti.

Military infrastructure, air defense facilities, military airfields and aviation of the Ukrainian army were being disabled by high-precision weapons, they said.

Nothing threatens the civilian population of Ukraine, they claimed.

All flights cancelled at Russian airports in Krasnodar, Sochi, and Anapa, close to the Black Sea.

Rostov also reported cancelled flights. 

Within minutes of Putin’s public address, explosions could be heard in the capital city of Kiev as well as the city of Kramatorsk in central Ukraine, and Odessa in the south. 

Across Ukraine, cruise and ballistic missiles were destroying military infrastructure and strategically important facilities, according to unofficial Russian sources.

Mariupol, on the Black Sea 50 miles from the Russian border, appeared to be under fierce attack. Taking this strategic location would give the Donbas republics access to the sea.

The moment Ukraine and the rest of Europe had dreaded for months finally came shortly after 4.35am local time when huge explosions were heard in Kiev and other cities across the country.

Terrified citizens rushed to bomb shelters, though no air raid warnings sounded in the capital – only the frequent muffled crump of missile or air strikes breaking through the pre-dawn stillness.

In Kiev, people were sheltering in basements as the sounds of distant explosions became a constant backdrop.

Within an hour Russians special force and airborne troops were reported to be on the ground at Kiev’s Boryspil Airport, amid fierce fighting. 

A woman in the Ukrainian capital said: ‘I was woken by a friend.

‘I am in the centre of Kiev.

‘I hear the sound of distant explosions and ambulance sirens.’

At 7.05am the first air raid sirens were heard in central Kiev.  

A CNN reporter in Kiev reported hearing blasts live on air in the early hours of Thursday morning.

‘I just heard a big bang right here behind me. I’ve never heard anything like it,’ said Matthew Chance, senior international correspondent for the network.

Chance said that he heard between seven and eight explosions and quickly put on his flak jacket and headgear while he continued to report from a balcony in the Ukrainian capital.  

‘There are big explosions taking place. 

‘I can’t see them or explain what they are. 

‘But I will tell you the U.S has warned the Ukrainian authorities there could be air strikes and ground attacks as well around the country, including the capital. 

‘I don’t know if that’s what’s occurring now but it’s a remarkable coincidence that the explosions come just minutes after Putin gave his speech,’ Chance explained. 

‘This is the first time we’ve heard anything. It has been absolutely silent. 

‘This is the first time. It has to be more than just a coincidence. 

‘I think it’s safe where I am. I have a flak jacket,’ Chance remarked, before ducking down to put on his protective gear.

He suggested that the blasts he heard in the Ukrainian capital were still some distance away from the center.

‘It was so quiet in Ukraine tonight up until those explosions,’ Chance explained. 

The blasts came within minutes of Putin saying Russia would conduct a military operation in eastern Ukraine.

Explosions could also be heard from Ukraine in the Russian city of Belgorod. 

Putin told Russians: ‘I have decided to conduct a special military operation. 

‘Russia cannot exist with a constant threat emanating from the territory of Ukraine.

‘You and I have been left with no opportunity to protect our people other than the one we use today.’

It comes after explosions were also heard near the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, as fears mounted that shelling is underway.

Residents in the city, which is located in south eastern Ukraine, have been woken up at 3.30am by blasts 30 miles from the Russian border.

Video footage appeared to show clouds of smoke rising up into the night sky near Mariupol, but it was unconfirmed whether it was as a result of shelling.

Putin earlier this week said he wanted to take the major Azov Sea Port of Mariupol, which handles 50 percent Ukraine’s steel and mineral exports. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia’s actions were a ‘grave breach of international law’ and that allies would meet to address the ‘renewed aggression’.

He said on Twitter: ‘I strongly condemn #Russia’s reckless attack on #Ukraine, which puts at risk countless civilian lives. 

‘This is a grave breach of international law & a serious threat to Euro-Atlantic security. #NATO Allies will meet to address Russia’s renewed aggression.’

The British foreign secretary Liz Truss tweeted her condemnation of the attack just after 4am local time.

‘I strongly condemn the appalling, unprovoked attack President Putin has launched on the people of Ukraine,’ she said.

‘We stand with Ukraine and we will work with our international partners to respond to this terrible act of aggression.’

The explosions come just hours after the U.S. warned the Ukrainian government that Putin’s troops are ‘ready to go now’ with an invasion of Ukraine, with 80 percent of Russian soldiers now assembled around the country in attack positions.

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken issued a further stark warning and said, hours before the invasion, that he believed Russia would invade before the night is over.  

Russia on Wednesday afternoon issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) which closed the airspace along its northeastern border with Ukraine to all civilian air traffic. 

Ukraine later said early on Thursday it had restricted civilian flights in its airspace due to ‘potential hazard’.

Ukraine‘s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that the Ukrainian people will ‘fight back’ if Putin threatens their freedom and lives by launching a full-scale invasion.

President Zelenskyy made an emotional address to his nation after Moscow-backed rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine asked Putin for military assistance in fending off Ukrainian ‘aggression’.  

In an emotional televised address on Wednesday night, President Zelenskyy said: ‘The people of Ukraine and the government of Ukraine want peace.  

‘But if we come under attack, if we face an attempt to take away our country, our freedom, our lives and lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. 

‘When you attack us, you will see our faces, not our backs.’ 

The Ukrainian president said he had tried to call Putin this evening, but there was ‘no answer, only silence’, adding that Moscow now has around 200,000 soldiers by Ukraine’s borders.  

The United Nations Security Council quickly scheduled an emergency meeting Wednesday night – the second in three days – at Ukraine’s request. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the separatists’ request ‘a further escalation of the security situation.’ 

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine was placed on a war footing: A state of emergency was declared and approved by parliament, 200,000 military reservists called up, border zones were restricted and three million Ukrainians told to leave Russia, with Kiev acknowledging for the first time that an attack could now take place anywhere, at any time. 

Biden on Wednesday warned President Zelenskyy of an ‘imminent’ attack by Putin’s troops in the next 48 hours – , just hours after Ukraine was hit by a ‘massive’ cyberattack targeting its government and banks. 

But Blinken cut that time frame of a Russian invasion drastically and said on Wednesday night he expected Russia to invade Ukraine before the night was over.  

U.S. intelligence chiefs knew Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was at particular risk of being targeted in a Russian invasion as it is close to the Ukrainian-Russian border. 

On Wednesday night, a huge military convoy of more than 100 trucks with soldiers were heading in the direction of the city.