Ukraine Crisis: Russian President Vladimir Putin announces "military operation" in Ukraine.
Early reports say there have been explosions in some parts of Ukraine.
The world watches as Russian President, Vladimir Putin has launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine. In a speech right after a emergency UN security council meeting, President Putin announced the operation and called on Ukrainian troops to stop fighting against Russian backed rebels fighting in the Donbass region of Ukraine and to return to their homes. To justify the attack, Putin claims “A hostile anti-Russia is being created on our historic lands.” He later made another claim that this invasion was for the “demilitarisation and denazification”. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry however have, said that "invasion has begun". Troops have moved in from the east at the Russia and Ukraine Border and at 5 am (Ukranian Time) troops from the North in Belarus have also moved in. Leaders of Western countries and NATO have condemned the move. Leaders of the G7 (Group of Seven) are meeting on Thursday morning to discuss the current escalation. In the last hour, President Biden of the United States had a phone call with President Zelensky of Ukraine. Here are some of the reaction from world leaders and ministers:
In a tweet, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister highlighted a list of five things that the International community could do:
As of writing this right now, Russia has now launched missile strikes which President Zelensky has confirmed. According to reports on the ground in Ukraine, there have been explosions in the cities of Odesa which is in the south of Ukraine and Kharkiv in the Northeast part of Ukraine, and in the capital city of Kyiv. Those explosions were confirmed by BBC Diplomatic Correspondent, Paul Adams, who said they are not near the city centre of the city. As of writing this right now, news reports are coming in saying that sirens are blaring in Kyiv which confirms the city is under attack. Mark Mackinnon, Senior International Correspondent for the Globe and Mail, shows in a tweet that he is in a underground shelter in Kyiv. New photos have also came out that there are residents of Kyiv who are now fleeing the city as the roadways are clogged.
President Zelensky in a televised speech, has called for his citizens to stay calm and to stay home and also called on his defence and security council to impose martial law. Before the invasion, Canada, The US, UK, Australia, and Germany have evacuated embassy staff and even their whole embassies in Ukraine. While Russia has evacuated it’s embassy and took down it’s flags yesterday.
There have been a lot of things happening and I don’t know if I can report all of it, For the latest updates on what’s going on, you can follow these links:
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60454795
and to end this article here is a tweet from Guardian journalist, Luke Harding, who is in Kyiv and a video from the late British Politician Tony Benn from 1998.
