Over 40 people have been confirmed dead, with ‘dozens’ wounded as Russian Leader, Vladimir Putin ordered all-out war on Ukraine with simultaneous attacks coming from south, east and north, by land and by air.
Viral videos showed missiles and bombs rained from the sky, tanks rolled across the border, troops parachuted down on eastern regions and explosions were seen across the country.
‘Hundreds’ of Ukrainian troops were killed in early clashes, and official said, as the fight came to them on all fronts at a moment’s notice. Official figures put the death toll at 40, with ‘dozens’ wounded. Cruise missiles, guided bombs and GRAD rockets took out targets from east to west – aimed at airfields, military bases, ammo dumps, and command posts including in the capital.
Ukrainian border guards said they had come under attack by heavy artillery, tanks and troops from Russia and Belarus as Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko threw his forces into the fight – though he denied taking part.
Luhansk, Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv in the east of Ukraine are the regions that came under attack, with blasts also reported in the west – in Zhytomyr and Lviv, close to the border with Poland.
Video footage showed what appeared to be a Kalibur cruise missile slamming into Ivano-Frankivsk airport. An apartment block in Kharkiv was also struck, causing civilian casualties.
The port cities of Mariupol and Odessa, where Ukraine’s main naval bases are located, were also attacked. Russian tankers appeared to have blockaded the Kerch Strait, leading from the Back Sea to the Sea of Azov, cutting off Mariupol.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, in an address to the nation on Thursday morning, said the history of Ukraine has now changed forever and that Russia is trying to ‘destroy’ the state. But he defiantly vowed to fight back, saying the military has already inflicted ‘serious losses’ in the early hours.
He called on Ukrainian citizens willing to defend their homeland to step forward, saying guns will be issued to everyone who wants one. He also asked for civilians to give blood to help wounded troops. And he asked world leaders to impose the ‘harshest sanctions possible’ on Putin.
President Putin in an extraordinary address to the Russian nation – broadcast in the early hours 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.
Putin 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’. ‘I hope I have been heard,’ he said.
