Russia has launched a full-scale military attack on Ukraine under the orders of its president Vladimir Putin.
This is the biggest attack by one state on another in Europe since World War Two.
Here’s what has happened thus far.
Putin orders the attack
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the deployment of troops to two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine after recognising them as independent on Monday, accelerating a crisis the West fears could unleash a major war.
“I have decided to conduct a special military operation… to protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide,” Putin said. “We will strive for the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.”
Troops cross borders, explosions heard
Ukraine reported columns of troops pouring across its borders from Russia and Belarus and landing on the coast from the Black and Azov seas, and missiles rained down.
There was fierce border fighting and fighting in the regions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odessa and at a military airport near Kyiv, an adviser to the presidential office said.
Separatists in Ukraine asked Moscow to help repel “aggression” on Wednesday and explosions rocked the breakaway eastern city of Donetsk as the United States warned everything is in place for a major attack by Russia on its neighbour.
Hours after the breakaway regions issued their plea, at least five explosions were heard in the separatist-held eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk on Thursday morning, a Reuters witness said. Four military trucks were seen heading to the scene.
Reported deaths
Initial unconfirmed reports of casualties included Ukrainian civilians killed by Russian bombardment and border guards defending the frontier.
Regional authorities of Ukraine’s southern Odessa region said 18 people were killed in a missile attack.
At least six people were killed in Brovary, a town near Kyiv, authorities there said. Ukraine reported five people killed when one plane was shot down.
Ukraine president urges citizens to fight
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday called on all citizens who were ready to defend the country from Russian forces to come forward, saying Kyiv would issue weapons to everyone who wants them.
Zelenskiy urged Russians to come out and protest against the war.
Sanctions on Russia
The European Commission said new EU sanctions will hit Russia’s economy and erode its industrial base.
Russia would respond to sanctions with “tit-for-tat” measures, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
Other European countries started preparations to receive people fleeing Ukraine.
Poland called for the “fiercest possible sanctions” against Russia and the Czech foreign minister called the invasion a “barbaric act of aggression”.
