Russian invasion of Ukraine begins
Russia launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine on Thursday, hitting cities and bases with airstrikes or shelling.
Ukraine’s government said Russian tanks and troops rolled across the border and accused Moscow of unleashing a “full-scale war.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the act shattered peace on the European continent, as he also called for a summit of NATO leaders for Friday. He spoke shortly after the trans-Atlantic alliance agreed after emergency talks to further beef up its land, sea and air forces on its eastern flank near Ukraine and Russia.
“Russia has attacked Ukraine," Stoltenberg said. “This is a brutal act of war. Our thoughts are with the brave people of Ukraine.”
President Vladimir Putin has since cast aside international condemnation and sanctions and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to “consequences you have never seen.”
Ukrainian border guards released footage of what they said were Russian military vehicles moving in, and big explosions were heard in the capital Kyiv, Kharkiv in the east and Odesa in the west.
As the Russian military claimed to have wiped out Ukraine’s entire air defenses in a matter of hours, Ukrainians fled some cities and European authorities declared Ukrainian air space an active conflict zone.
