Russia is invading Ukraine. This is how it’s unfolding so far

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Russia has declared war on Ukraine and launched a major attack from three sides in what world leaders warn could ignite the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two. On Thursday AEDT, just minutes after Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared on state television to announce the “special military operation”, explosions broke the pre-dawn quiet in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as well as its second-largest city, Kharkhiv, close to the Russian border in the north-east.

At the time of writing, Russian forces had fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities and military centres, landed troops on its south coast from the Black Sea, and seized the shuttered Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as more troops spilled over the northern borders with Russia and Belarus. Missiles and rocket fire have rained down across Ukraine, including in the port cities of Odesa in the south and Mariupol in the east (Mariupol is just 20 kilometres from the long-simmering frontline between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian-backed separatists.) Dozens of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers have already been killed, and Ukraine has vowed to fight to stop “a new Iron Curtain falling” across Europe, as a fresh wave of cyberattacks hit the country.

Western leaders are moving to send aid to Ukraine and unleash tougher sanctions on Russia, while NATO countries ramp up their air, land and sea forces in eastern Europe.

Credit:The Age

Where is he attacking?

Even as diplomats gathered at an emergency UN security council meeting to urge Putin back from the brink of war on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin was ordering the strike. He claimed on state television that the attack was designed to “demilitarise Ukraine”, not occupy it, but it extends far beyond t ..

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