War has started in Ukraine.
Russian troops landed on the south coast of Ukraine earlier today as the Russian forces fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities.
According to The Guardian, explosions were reported across the country, in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Dnipro, Odessa, Slavayansk and Kramatorsk.
Separatists in Donetsk that are being backed by Russia have also launched large scale attacks against Ukrainian forces.
According to the defence minister of Ukraine, Russia began their shelling of Ukrainian troops in the east, as well as targeting their airfields and military control centres.
Shelling of Mariupol. OSINT mavens, have at it. pic.twitter.com/ErUKzaHjy1
— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) February 24, 2022
Wow. Video of a missile hitting an airport, reportedly in Ivano-Frankivsk in Western Ukraine. The geographic scale of this thing is crazy pic.twitter.com/odhvqin77Y
— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) February 24, 2022
Rocket attacks on Ukrainian fighter jets were also reported by witnesses at an airport, as air raid sirens and explosions went off in Kyiv.
Kharkiv pic.twitter.com/LfwcNmOhwA
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) February 24, 2022
A portion of Russian soldiers landed in Odessa while another portion are crossing the border into Kkharkiv, with Russian forces also reportedly attacking from Crimea.
Footage from CNN also shows Russian tanks entering Ukraine from Belarus.
CNN now showing footage of Russian tanks crossing into Ukraine from Belarus. Just surreal. pic.twitter.com/JjsJ468wmR
— max seddon (@maxseddon) February 24, 2022
Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba confirmed the “full scale invasion” of Ukraine by Russia a few hours before reports of the attacks came in.
He said on Twitter:
“Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now.”
Ukraine president urges citizens to stay calm
An urgent national address was made by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky this morning, urging Ukrainian citizens to stay calm, as martial law was introduced.
He said that he had spoken with US president Joe Bidenm and that “the army works”, comforting the people by telling them to stay strong and that he will “be with (them) all the time”, and that they “will win because (they) are Ukraine”.
❗️ Звернення Президента Володимира Зеленського pic.twitter.com/oQ1bsB6Ow8
— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) February 24, 2022
UK Prime Minister responds
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, calling it “horrific” and warned that “the UK and our allies will respond decisively”.
He said:
“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.”
Images source: @Osinttechnical on Twitter and Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine