Russia unleashed a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin announced a “special military operation” at dawn, and within minutes of his short televised address. Explosions were heard near major Ukrainian cities including the capital city Kyiv.
Early reports of the invasion say the scale of the attack appears to be massive. Ukraine’s government reported that cruise and ballistic missiles were attacking the country and that it appears Russia is targeting infrastructure around the major cities.
Russia has massed an enormous 190,000 troops at the border with Ukraine over the past few weeks. Military experts and analysts expect Putin to order ground forces into Ukraine to surround or capture Kyiv.
Putin has attempted to justify the attack by claiming that a hostile anti-Russia is being created on their “historic lands.” He called the attack a special military operation for the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine. The false claim that the Ukraine government is controlled by the far-right or by Nazis is a recurring theme in propaganda from the Kremlin.
Putin said that Russia does not “intend to occupy Ukraine.” Issuing a stark warning to the international community, Putin said that if any outside country interferes, it will face consequences “greater than any you have faced in history.”
The United Nations Security Council was holding an emergency session while Putin’s declaration of war was being broadcast and the first bombs were being reported. The Security Council meetings this year are chaired by Russia itself.
U.S. President Joe Biden issued a written statement that said Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring with it catastrophic loss of life and human suffering, and Russia alone is responsible for all death and destruction their attack will bring.
Biden said that the U.S. and allied countries will respond as a united front in a decisive way and that the world will hold Russia accountable.
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