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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Samantha Lock, Maanvi Singh, Gloria Oladipo, Léonie Chao-Fong, Jennifer Rankin and Oliver Holmes

Fears Moscow plans to encircle and threaten Kyiv – as it happened

This liveblog is closing but you can continue to follow our coverage on a new liveblog here. Thanks for reading.

Summary

As dawn breaks in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, air raid sirens are sounding across the capital.

Earlier, residents reported waking to the sound of explosions as reports circulated that Russia had launched a series of missile strikes on the city of just under 3 million.

Many civilians sought safety in bomb shelters and metro stations as reports of Russian tanks were moving closer to the city from all sides.

Here’s what we know so far:

  • Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has confirmed multiple reports of Russian missile strikes in a national address early on Friday morning.
  • Loud explosions were heard in Kyiv in the early hours of Friday morning. A Guardian reporter in the city confirmed they heard what sounded like a loud explosion.
  • Two multi-story residential buildings were seen on fire in south-east Kyiv after they were reportedly hit by falling debris from an aircraft that was shot down. Photos published by Ukraine’s state emergency services department show a multi-story building burning.
  • The Ukrainian interior ministry said it shot down a Russian aircraft over Kyiv. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said the Russian aircraft was hit by the Ukrainian air force and fell in the Darnitsky district.
  • Russian forces were within kilometres of reaching Kyiv, according to US officials. According to a phone call that took place about 6:30pm ET on Thursday, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers that Russian mechanised forces that entered Ukraine from Belarus were about 20 miles (32km) from Kyiv, the Associated Press reports citing a source familiar with the call.
  • The Ukrainian border post in Zaporizhzhya region was hit by a missile strike at 4.25am local time, Ukraine’s border guard service said.
  • Ukraine’s armed forces confirmed additional weapons are being brought to Kyiv, amid reports of explosions in the Ukrainian capital.
  • The EU’s Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, disclosed the details of the second tranche of sanctions against Russia.
  • French president Emmanuel Macron said Russian president Vladimir Putin had been duplicitous in his conversations with him, discussing the details of the Minsk agreements over the phone while preparing to invade Ukraine.
  • The United Nations announced it is immediately allocating $20m to scale up UN humanitarian operations in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.
  • Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave a national address, confirming 137 civilians and military personnel have been killed so far in the Russian invasion of his country.
  • Zelenskiy added that his country has been left on its own to fight Russia and he and his family remained in Ukraine, despite Russia identifying him as “target number one”.
  • the Ukrainian president also decreed a full military mobilization against the Russian invasion, which is to last 90 days.
  • Russians have also been bravely protesting against attacks on Ukraine despite the often heavy-handed consequences of doing so.
  • The US is ready to accept Ukrainian refugees fleeing Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said.
  • The government of Ukraine is asking for volunteers from the country’s hacker underground to help protect critical infrastructure and conduct cyber spying missions against Russian troops, according two people involved in the project who spoke with Reuters news agency.

Zelenskiy confirms reports of Russian missile strikes in national address

A damaged residential building in Kyiv on 25 February.
A damaged residential building in Kyiv on 25 February. Photograph: Ukrainian Ministry Of Emergencies/Reuters

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has confirmed multiple reports of Russian missile strikes in a national address early on Friday morning,

Zelenskiy said the strikes began at 4am local time on Friday, adding that Russian troops were stopped by Ukrainian forces from advancing in most directions.

The president added that Russian strikes aimed at both military and civilian targets, Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, sirens rang out in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv early on Friday, a Reuters witness said.

Updated

US citizens are being urged to leave Ukraine immediately, according to a recent travel advisory.

“US citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options,” the US embassy in Kyiv said in a statement.

Ukraine’s central bank has banned payments to entities in Russia and Belarus as well as operations involving both nations’ currencies, the regulator said on Friday, Reuters reports.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has described the attack on Kyiv this morning as “horrific” likening the assault as akin to an attack from Nazi Germany.

Last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany.

Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one. Stop Putin. Isolate Russia. Severe all ties. Kick Russia out of everywhere.”

Russian forces within kilometres of Kyiv, US defence secretary says - AP

Russian forces that entered Ukraine through Belarus are within kilometres of reaching Kyiv, according to US officials.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers on a phone call that Russian mechanised forces that entered from Belarus were about 20 miles (32km) from Kyiv, according to a person familiar with the call, the Associated Press reports.

The call was said to have taken place about 6:30pm ET.

The officials described another Russian element that entered Ukraine from Russia being a bit further away, but that both were headed toward Kyiv with the goal of encircling the city and potentially toppling the Ukrainian government, according to the lawmaker on the call.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier said the government had information that “subversive groups” were encroaching on the city, and US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Kyiv “could well be under siege”.

Amid the chaos happening in Kyiv, members of the Russian community have gathered in cities across the world to demonstrate their opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Here, one protester burns their Russian passport during a demonstration next to the Andrei Sakharov Square in Studio City in California on Thursday evening local time.

A protester burns their Russian passport during a demonstration next to the Andrei Sakharov Square in Studio City in California.
A protester burns their Russian passport during a demonstration next to the Andrei Sakharov Square in Studio City in California. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA

Reports are coming in that two residential buildings are on fire in south-east Kyiv after they were hit by falling debris from an aircraft that was shot down.

Photos published by Ukraine’s state emergency services department show a multi-story building burning.

The fire comes after unconfirmed reports emerged from a Ukrainian interior ministry official who earlier said Russian aircraft had been shot down in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv.

Updated

The Ukrainian border post in Zaporizhzhya region has been hit by a missile strike, Ukraine’s border guard service says.

The strike was reported to have occurred at 4.25am local time at the Primorsky Pasad border unit in the Zaporizhia region.

According to Ukraine’s armed forces, border guards were killed and wounded in the attack.

Ukraine’s military has uploaded a video of a fiery explosion seen in the sky over Kyiv this morning.

The Guardian’s Luke Harding has shared this photo of an explosion in Kyiv.

He added the blast took place between metro stations Poznjaky and Kharkivska.

An explosion seen between the Poznjaky and Kharkivska metro stations in Kyiv.
An explosion seen between the Poznjaky and Kharkivska metro stations in Kyiv. Photograph: Alex Kovzhun

Updated

The Ukrainian interior ministry has said it shot down a Russian aircraft over Kyiv.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said the Russian aircraft was hit by the Ukrainian air force and fell in the Darnitsky district.

The official added a series of photos to his Telegram account on Friday, including what he said was a nine-storey residential building on fire.

Updated

Ukraine’s armed forces have confirmed additional weapons are being brought to Kyiv, amid reports of explosions in the Ukrainian capital.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, has said an attack on Kyiv is taking place in the early hours of Friday morning.

“Attacks on Kiev by cruise or ballistic missiles have just continued. I heard two powerful explosions just now,” Gerashchenko posted to his official Telegram account.

Multiple explosions heard in Kyiv: reports

We are receiving multiple reports from journalists on the ground in Ukraine that loud explosions have been heard in Kyiv in the early hours of Friday morning.

Guardian reporter Emma Graham Harrison confirmed she heard what sounded like a loud explosion while the Guardian’s Luke Harding said explosions are taking place in Kyiv.

One explosion occurred between metro station Poznjaky and Kharkivska, he said, adding that Ukraine’s operational command says its anti-aircraft defences are attacking Russian aircraft and drones.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Austria, Olexander Scherba, said he heard “two heavy explosions” around 4.25am.

A CNN team also reported hearing two large blasts in central Kyiv and a third loud explosion in the distance.

Agence France-Presse also issued an alert saying loud explosions were heard in central Kyiv.

Updated

French president Emmanuel Macron talks with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Friday.
French president Emmanuel Macron talks with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Friday. Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images

As the EU’s institutional leaders, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, disclosed the details of the second tranche of sanctions against Russia, they were joined at a press conference in Brussels by French president Emmanuel Macron.

Macron told reporters that Vladimir Putin had launched “massive” military attacks rather than the “targeted” ones that the Russian president had claimed he was undertaking.

Macron’s subsequent comments then reflected the concerns of some member states that the EU is not going far enough on sanctions.

He said: “It is an initial response, we have decided to inflict severe costs upon Moscow in different sectors, further measures at a government level will be taken”.

Despite calls from Kyiv, EU has not cut Russia off from the Swift international payments system.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) is used by over 11,000 financial institutions to send secure payment orders and is key to the movement of funds to Russia’s oil and gas sector.

Removing Russia from the system, it is argued, would make it close to impossible for financial institutions to send money in or out of the country, with consequences for both the country’s oil and gas sector and its European customers.

Updated

A quick snap from US president Joe Biden, describing the Russian president’s actions as the unleashing of “a great deal of pain”.

The next few days, weeks, and months will be hard on the people of Ukraine.

Putin has unleashed a great pain on them. But the Ukrainian people have known 30 years of independence — and they have shown that they will not tolerate anyone who tries to take their country backwards.”

Taiwan has condemned Russia’s actions, saying it will join other “like-minded” partners in sanctions, although details have not been provided.

The crisis is being watched closely in Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory and has faced increased military pressure by Beijing over the last two years.

Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters in Taipei:

We very harshly condemn such an act of invasion and will join democratic countries to jointly impose sanctions.”

Taiwan economy minister Wang Mei-hua told reporters the island will “harshly scrutinise” exports to Russia and “coordinate” with unspecified allies for further actions. She did not elaborate.

The foreign ministry said in a statement that the island, which is key in the global semiconductor supply chain, will “coordinate closely with the United States and other like-minded countries to adopt appropriate measures in order to free Ukraine from the horrors of war.”

Macron calls Putin 'duplicitous' after 'frank, direct and quick' call

French president Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that Russian president Vladimir Putin had been duplicitous in his conversations with him, discussing the details of the Minsk agreements over the phone while preparing to invade Ukraine.

Macron told reporters after an EU summit in Brussels:

Yes, there was duplicity, yes there was a deliberate, conscious choice to launch war when we could still negotiate peace.

Macron said he held a “frank, direct and quick” phone call with Putin on Thursday to ask him to stop military operations at the request of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

He added France would add its own sanction to an EU package.

Emmanuel Macron with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel on Friday.
Emmanuel Macron with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel on Friday. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA

Updated

Of the 137 people who have so far been confirmed to have died following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a 14-year-old Ukrainian boy reportedly lost his life in Chuguev, eastern Ukraine, this morning.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, posted a report from the Kharkiv regional police to his official Telegram account on Thursday, claiming the boy was hit from a shell near his house.

“What did Anton Tarasenko blame the Russian world?Answer me, Russians! Putin, you are a killer!” Gerashchenko said.

Updated

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced the approval of another package of “massive and targeted sanctions” against Russia.

First, this package includes financial sanctions, targeting 70% of the Russian banking market and key state owned companies, including in defence.

Second, we target the energy sector, a key economic area which especially benefits the Russian state. Our export ban will hit the oil sector by making it impossible for Russia to upgrade its refineries. Third: we ban the sale of aircrafts and equipment to Russian airlines.

Fourth, we are limiting Russia’s access to crucial technology, such as semiconductors or cutting-edge software. Finally: visas. Diplomats and related groups and business people will no longer have privileged access to the European Union.”

The United Nations has announced it is immediately allocating $20m to scale up UN humanitarian operations in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made the announcement saying the UN and its humanitarian partners “are committed to staying and delivering, to support people in Ukraine in their time of need ... regardless of who or where they are,” Reuters reports. The UN chief said:

With deaths rising, we are seeing images of fear, anguish and terror in every corner of Ukraine.

People - everyday innocent people - always pay the highest price.”

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said the $20m from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund will support emergency operations along the contact line in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk and in other areas of the country, and will “help with health care, shelter, food, and water and sanitation to the most vulnerable people affected by the conflict.”

Less than two hours ago, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave a national address, confirming 137 civilians and military personnel have been killed so far in the Russian invasion of his country.

The president said all border guards on Zmiinyi island in were killed as Russia took the island. Zelenskiy also said he and his family have become targets as he vowed to remain in Ukraine.

You can watch the video below.

The Ukrainian military has also provided an update as to events unfolding across Ukraine.

The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces gave an address which has since been published by the Ukrainian parliament.

In it he said Ukraine continues to fight in the south western part of the Black Sea while the bases and ports of Odessa and the Black Sea are being defended.

He added that military forces have also been deployed to the defence of Kyiv.

According to the Kyiv Independent, major Ukrainian cities are being threatened by an early morning offensive.

The publication believes Russian forces are expected to launch attacks against Sumy, Chernihiv, Kherson, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, and Kharkiv oblasts during the early morning, citing a report from the Ukrainian parliament.

Guardian reporter Elias Visontay has compiled a useful rundown of what we know so far on the Russia Ukraine invasion.

You can read the summary here:

The UK’s ministry of defence has released an intelligence update on the developments in Ukraine.

Russian forces have likely captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Workers have reportedly been detained by Russian troops.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces have reportedly halted Russia’s advance towards Chernihiv. Fighting probably continues on the outskirts of the city.

It is unlikely that Russia has achieved its planned day one military objectives.

Ukrainian forces have presented fierce resistance across all axes of Russia’s advance.”

Updated

Protests continue across the world against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Here, activists hold placards and flags as they gather in Lafayette Square in Washington, DC, today.

Activists hold placards and flags as they gather in Lafayette Square to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Washington, DC, on 24 February.
Activists hold placards and flags as they gather in Lafayette Square to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Washington, DC, on 24 February. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has called for an immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine, announcing a travel ban for Russian officials, and adding that she is considering expelling the Russian ambassador.

New Zealand calls on Russia to do what is right and immediately cease military operations in Ukraine, and permanently withdraw to avoid a catastrophic and pointless loss of innocent life.

New Zealand does not have a legal framework for creating autonomous sanctions independent of the United Nations security council, on which Russia sits. But Ardern said New Zealand had taken a number of steps, including a travel ban on Russian government officials associated with invasion, a ban on any exports that could be used by the Russian military for military or non-military purposes, and suspension of military bilateral consultations.

Ardern said New Zealand had not ruled out passing legislation to create an autonomous sanctions regime, but that it would have to be examined through a wider lens than the current conflict. She said she was also considering expelling the Russian ambassador. “It’s one of the things that countries are able to do and will consider, but not a decision you take lightly given the wider ramifications for citizens in-country,” she said.

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern.
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern. Photograph: Robert Kitchin/AAP

Updated

Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison says he will impose further sanctions on Russian individuals.

Australia will be imposing further sanctions on oligarchs whose economic weight is of strategic significance to mask out and everything to members of the Russian parliament that voted to authorise the use of Russian troops in Ukraine to illegally invade Ukraine.

We are also working with the United States to align with their further sanctions overnight on key television commercials complicit with the aggressions. We are extending both sanctions to those. These actions are being prepared and close coordination with our allies and partners.

We have already announced two rounds of sanctions targeting fresh individuals, banks and companies and we have also seen overnight the latest measures announced by our key partners, including the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as strong statements from Japan and South Korea.

Russia has been planning these acts of violence for some considerable period of time. But there must be a cost. There must be a price. And it must be imposed by the global community.”

The Guardian team has compiled a compelling array of anti-war protests photographs from across Russia.

You can view the gallery below:

More from US president Joe Biden’s earlier speech authorising a new round of sanctions against Russia.

“We have purposefully designed these sanctions to maximise the long-term impact on Russia – and to minimise the impact on the United States,” Biden said.

Russians have also been bravely protesting against attacks on Ukraine despite the often heavy-handed consequences of doing so.

United Nations representative Mohamad Safa posted this photo earlier, writing: “The breathtaking bravery of the Russians who know they’ll be arrested for protesting this war and do it anyway.”

The government of Ukraine is asking for volunteers from the country’s hacker underground to help protect critical infrastructure and conduct cyber spying missions against Russian troops, according two people involved in the project who spoke with Reuters news agency.

As Russian forces attacked cities across Ukraine, requests for volunteers began to appear on hacker forums on Thursday morning, as many residents fled the capital Kyiv.

Ukrainian cybercommunity! It’s time to get involved in the cyber defence of our country,” the post read, asking hackers and cybersecurity experts to submit an application via Google docs, listing their specialties, such as malware development, and professional references.

Yegor Aushev, co-founder of a cybersecurity company in Kyiv, told Reuters he wrote the post at the request of a senior Defence Ministry official who contacted him on Thursday. Aushev’s firm Cyber Unit Technologies is known for working with Ukraine’s government on the defence of critical infrastructure.

A defence attache at Ukraine’s embassy in Washington said he “cannot confirm or deny information from Telegram channels” referring to the mobile messaging platform, and declined further comment.

The US is ready to accept Ukrainian refugees fleeing Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said.

When asked by CNN’s MJ Lee whether the US was prepared to accept Ukrainian refugees, she said:

We are. But we certainly expect that most if not the majority will want to go to Europe and neighbouring countries. So, we are also working with European countries on what the needs are, where there is capacity. Poland, for example, where we are seeing an increasing flow of refugees over the last 24 hours.”

Updated

Zelenskiy says Ukraine ‘left alone’ to fight Russia in national address

Ukrainian tanks move into Mariupol on Thursday.
Ukrainian tanks move into Mariupol on Thursday. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

Ukraine’s president has said his country has been left on its own to fight Russia after the Kremlin launched a large-scale invasion that killed more than 130 Ukrainians in the first day.

In a video address to the nation just after midnight, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said:

We have been left alone to defend our state.

Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of Nato membership? Everyone is afraid.

Zelenskiy said that 137 Ukrainians, both military personnel and civilians, had been killed since the start of the attack early Thursday. Another 316 had been wounded, he said.

The president added that he and his family remained in Ukraine, despite Russia identifying him as “target number one”.

They want to destroy Ukraine politically by taking down the head of state.

I am staying in the government quarter together with others.

The enemy has designated me as the target number one, and my family as the target number two”.

Updated

The Guardian team has compiled a handy video to explain Putin’s motives in waging war on Ukraine.

Guardian foreign correspondent Luke Harding says Vladimir Putin has plunged Europe back into war and a conflict that “I think will reverberate far beyond Ukraine and have huge implications for Europe, for the rest of the world”.

Reporting from Kyiv, he examines why the Russian president launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour, if Putin can be stopped, and what might come next

Japan joins the growing list of countries to strengthen sanctions against Russia.

The Asian nation will target three areas including financial institutions and military equipment exports, prime minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday, Reuters reports.

Japan will also do the utmost to limit the economic impact to Japan from the fall-out from the Ukraine crisis, he said.

Staff at the Chernobyl power plant “held hostage” by Russian forces: Psaki

Military vehicles at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl.
Military vehicles at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. Photograph: AP

Reports are just coming in that staff at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine are being “held hostage” by Russian soldiers.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told a news conference:

We are outraged by credible reports that Russian soldiers are currently holding the staff of the Chernobyl facilities hostage.

This unlawful and dangerous hostage-taking, which could upend the routine civil service efforts required to maintain and protect the nuclear waste facilities, is obviously incredibly alarming and gravely concerning.

We condemn it and we request their release.”

The report comes after Russian forces captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after a fierce battle.

Updated

In his grim video statement, the Ukrainian president signalled that his country is facing dire odds. But he also put on a brave face: “We are not afraid. We are not afraid of anything.”

Having ordered a full military mobilization against the Russian invasion, with all Ukrainian men 18-60 ordered to remain in the country and potentially at ready to fight, Zelenskiy said he’s staying put as well.

Russian operatives “want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state,” he said. However, “I am staying in the government quarter together with others,” he added.

Echoing messages from US and international intelligence, Zelenskiy said that Kyiv was a main target for Russia. “We have information that enemy sabotage groups have entered Kyiv,” he said.

Having asked Nato nations to come to Ukraine’s aid, he said that Ukraine is on its own. “I see no one” to fight alongside Ukrainians, he said.

Every single soldier guarding Zmiinyi Island, or Snake Island, in the Black Sea has died, Zelenskiy said.

The Ukrainian president said he will honor the soldiers posthumously.

Zelenskiy orders full military mobilization

Zelenskiy has decreed a full military mobilization against the Russian invasion, which is to last 90 days.

The Ukrainian military will determine how many people are eligible for service, and the cabinet will allocate money for a mobilization.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks at a news briefing in Kyiv, where he announced the mobilization of his country. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters

Meanwhile, “It is forbidden for men aged 18-60, Ukraine citizens, to leave the borders of Ukraine,” according to the State Border Guard Service. “This regulation will remain in effect for the period of the legal regime of martial law. We ask the citizens to take this information into consider.”

The Ukrainian president has said he will remain in Kyiv, even as, he says, Russia has marked him as “target #1” and his family and “target #2”.

Updated

Joe Biden briefed Democrats and Republicans in Congress about the crisis in Ukraine, the US White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a briefing.

The US president “spent an hour this afternoon on the phone” with leaders she said,

Members of congress are looking to approve hundreds of millions of dollars in additional military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. The US has already sent $400m in military assistance to Ukraine since the middle of last year.

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, said lawmakers are looking to provide $600m for “lethal defense weapons”.

“What we’re doing with Ukraine is making sure that we have humanitarian assistance to help the people, that we have lethal defense weapons going into Ukraine to the tune of $600 million for them to fight their own fight,” Pelosi said.

Zelenskiy: 137 people have died in the Russian invasion

In a televised address, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was disheartened after speaking to Western leaders.

“I see no one,” to fight alongside Ukraine, he said.

Zelenskiy said that 137 have died so far in the invasion, and 316 wounded.

A US defense official echoed to Reuters that Kyiv will be one of three axes of assualt from Russia.

From Reuters:

“The indications we’ve seen thus far, in just these first, not even 12 hours, are in keeping with our assessment earlier, that would be his goal: to decapitate this government,” the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official did not provide evidence.

The official said this appeared to be only the first phase of a large-scale Russian invasion that so far has used a limited number of the more than 150,000 Russian troops arrayed around Ukraine.

“We don’t believe he has committed anywhere near a large portion of the forces that he has available to him,” the official said.

Previously, U.S. officials had told Reuters that a Russian invasion could last 10-15 days but this official declined to speculate on how long the Russian onslaught would last, saying putting a timetable on it would be “a fool’s errand.”

The Chinese embassy in Kyiv is arranging for the evacuation of Chinese nationals in Ukraine.

“Improve awareness of safety precautions and stock up on daily necessities such as food and drinking water in due course,” the Chinese embassy said in a bulletin to nationals earlier this week. “Strengthen contacts with local overseas Chinese associations, international student associations, Chinese chambers of commerce as well as acquaintances and friends, and help each other when necessary.”

But China has refused to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was the first leader to meet Putin after Moscow attacked Ukraine.

Khan’s office said that both leaders held wide-ranging consultations on bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interests.

The statement further reads that the Prime Minister of Pakistan regretted “the latest situation between Russia and Ukraine and said that Pakistan had hoped diplomacy could avert a military conflict. Khan also stressed that conflict was not in anyone’s interest, and that the developing countries were always hit the hardest economically in case of conflict. He underlined Pakistan’s belief that disputes should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

Khan also focused on the importance of Pakistan-Stream Gas Pipeline as a flagship economic project between Pakistan and Russia and also discussed cooperation on prospective energy-related projects. They also talked about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and Islamophobia, and other issues.

US secretary of state says 'Russia intends to encircle and threaten Kyiv'

Secretary of State Tony Blinken said that “all evidence suggests that Russia intends to encircle and threaten Kyiv”, in remarks to a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).in remarks

“We believe Moscow has developed plans to inflict widespread human rights abuses – and potentially worse – on the Ukrainian people,” he said.

“For months, Russia has engaged in the pretense of diplomacy while insisting that they had no intentions of invading Ukraine,” Blinken said. “All the while, the Kremlin has been preparing this cold-blooded attack, the scale of which has not been seen in Europe since the Second World War.”

“The entire international community now plainly see Russia’s complete abandonment and abdication of the commitments it made to the world – and we will never forget,” he added.

Updated

Images of local Ukraine residents taking shelter in metro stations in Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv and the city of Kharkiv, from reporter Benoît Vitkine with the French newspaper Le Monde:

The mayor of Kyiv said four metro stations would be used as air raid shelters, while the local Ukrainian leadership in the Donetsk region said Russian forces had hit a hospital there, killing four people, reported Reuters.

People shelter in Pushkinskaya underground station in Kharkiv.
People shelter in Pushkinskaya underground station in Kharkiv. Photograph: Sergey Kozlov/EPA
Kharkiv station.
Kharkiv station. Photograph: Marcus Yam/LOS ANGELES TIMES/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Fighting has continued throughout the night in Ukraine, with reports of battle in the Ukrainian city of Sumy.

During a phone call with Putin earlier today, French president Emmanuel Macron demanded that Putin immediately cease military operations in Ukraine, reports Reuters.

According to the Elysee palace, Macron’s demand came after a discussion with the Ukraine president.

“After having spoken with the Ukrainian president, and in coordination with him, the president (Macron) called Vladimir Putin to demand the immediate halt of Russian military operations, noting that Russia risked massive sanctions,” said the Elysee as Macron attended an EU summit in Brussels.

Putin provided a different account of the meeting, with the Russian government reporting that Putin provided Macron with an “exhaustive” list of reasons for Russia’s military action in Ukraine.

The Russian government also said that the two had a “serious and frank exchange of views,” adding that the call took place at Macron’s initiative.

The Russian government finally reported that the two world leaders agreed to stay in touch.

Macron has remained a key representative for Western countries during discussions with Putin, as Macron has hoped an open communication channel could usher in diplomatic solutions, reports AFP.

More on the economic impact of the Ukrainian invasion from the Guardian’s Dominic Rushe, explaining how the war declaration has impacted US markets:

Stock market panic following the Ukraine invasion appears to have eased - for now - following Biden’s press briefing.

US stock markets collapsed this morning as the conflict sent oil prices soaring and investors worried about the financial impact of the Russian attack.

By the end of the day, all the major US markets ended up with the Dow Jones closing over 100 points higher having been down 859 points earlier in the day.

Investors were encouraged by Biden announcing that the sanctions against Russia will not disrupt the global oil and natural gas markets, triggering a fall in oil prices which had passed $100 a barrel earlier in the day.

Biden’s sanctions also stopped short of kicking Russia off the SWIFT international banking system, one of the most severe financial sanctions the US and its allies could take and a move that would cut Russia off from most international financial transactions. “It is always an option, but right now that’s not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take,” said Biden.

But with the situation in Ukraine deteriorating and the crisis certain to worsen already high energy costs in the US, there are likely to be more wild swings in the markets as the conflict continues.

Amid Russia’s declaration of war on Ukraine, global markets have taken a hit, especially European share markets, reports the Guardian’s Peter Hannam.

European share markets have largely borne the initial brunt of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with steep falls in stocks, while Wall Street has so far avoided following suit.

Russia’s main share index plunged by a third, erasing some $US200 billion in value, in a record rout for that country’s bourse, Bloomberg reported.


Europe’s benchmark Stoxx50 index sank 3.6%, a decline echoed in major financial centres from London to Paris and Frankfurt, with those markets all losing about 4%...

On currency markets, the Euro, too, lost as much as 1.8% against the US dollar, touching its weakest level of $1.11 since June 2020, according to Bloomberg data. Russia’s ruble hit fresh record lows against the US dollar.


Crude oil, meanwhile, pared its earlier advances, with Brent dropping back below the $US100 a barrel level that it reached earlier on Thursday. Still, oil remains near its highest levels since 2014.

The invasion of Ukraine, a major wheat exporter, also pushed up food commodity prices, with wheat rising 5% to hit decade highs. Rabobank, an agribusiness specialist, estimates that some 5 million tonnes of Ukraine’s wheat crop had still to be shipped before the invasion, creating a shortfall that would likely be made up US and European supplies.

The EU has agreed to roll out another round of sanctions against Russia’s financial, energy and transport sectors as well as impose export controls, reports Reuters.

“The European Council today agrees on further restrictive measures that will impose massive and severe consequences on Russia for its action,” read a statement from the 27 national EU leaders who are currently meeting in Brussels.

The newest round of sanctions will also include blacklisting more Russian individuals over the Ukrainian invasion.

Uncertainty surrounds the situation at Hostomel airfield as an advisor to the Ukrainian presidential office who said that Ukrainian forces had recaptured the airfield is now saying that fighting is ongoing, reports Reuters.

While previously declaring the airfield recaptured by Ukrainian military, the advisor is now saying that fighting is still occurring over control of the airbase.

Additional explosions have also been reported from the direction of Ukraine’s Hostomel airport, an international cargo airport and testing facility, following attacks by Russian forces this morning.

From reporter Jane Lytvynenko:

Big explosion from direction of Hostomel airport just now. Bigger than previous ones. One explosion, not several.

Lytvynenko adds:

Second powerful explosion.

Updated

The city of Mariupol in Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea, is under heavy fire with reports of hundreds of explosions.

From the Kyiv Post:

The Ukrainian city of Mariupol is under heavy fire with reports of hundreds of explosions. The city is one of the biggest Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea. Taking Mariupol would help Russia secure a direct land route to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

A woman walks past the debris in the aftermath of Russian shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine.
A woman walks past the debris in the aftermath of Russian shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

Updated

Ukraine’s health minister, Oleh Lyashko, has reported that 57 people have been killed and 169 wounded following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reported Reuters.

The deputy defence minister separately added that heavy shelling was ongoing in the eastern Donetsk region.

Updated

More on Biden’s remarks today following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: Biden warned that Putin was not likely to stop his expansion with Ukraine.

“He has much larger ambitions than Ukraine. He wants to, in fact, re-establish the former Soviet Union. That’s what this is about,” said Biden.

Biden added: “And I think that his ambitions are completely contrary to the place where the rest of the world has arrived.”

Biden further remarked that Putin would be a pariah on the international stage and that his actions would cost Russian civilians dearly, reported Reuters.

Biden also has not ruled out personal sanctions against Putin, saying that those remained “on the table.”

Follow Biden’s remarks on the Guardian US Live blog here.

Updated

In remarks today, the US president, Joe Biden, called out Putin as having sole responsibility for attacks in Ukraine, implementing even harsher sanctions in response to the expanded invasion.

“Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences,” said Biden following the full-out invasion.

Biden also said that the US would be deploying more troops to Germany ahead of increased attacks, but none to Ukraine itself.

On increased troop presence in Germany, Biden said: “Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our Nato allies and reassure those allies in the east.”

Biden also confirmed that he would not be speaking with Putin following the full-out invasion.

Follow Biden’s remarks on the Guardian US Live blog here.

Updated

More images coming out of Ukraine as civilians try to cope and stay safe with Putin’s full-out invasion in Ukraine under way:

Emergency personnel work at the crash site of a Ukrainian military plane south of Kyiv.
Emergency personnel work at the crash site of a Ukrainian military plane south of Kyiv. Photograph: Ukraine Emergency Ministry Press/AFP/Getty Images
A wounded woman is seen after an airstrike damaged an apartment complex in city of Chuhuiv, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine.
A wounded woman is seen after an airstrike damaged an apartment complex in city of Chuhuiv, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
People take shelter in a subway station in Kyiv, Ukraine.
People take shelter in a subway station in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters

Updated

Summary

Here is a summary of some key events on the day Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine, triggering warnings from world leaders of the biggest conflict in Europe since 1945.

  • Minutes after Vladimir Putin ended weeks of agonised speculation by announcing a “special military operation” at dawn on Thursday, explosions were heard near major Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv. According to Ukrainian officials, the initial wave of strikes appeared to involve cruise missiles, artillery and airstrikes which struck military infrastructure and border positions, including airbases.
  • Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, responded to the invasion by declaring martial law and saying Kyiv would issue weapons to every Ukrainian who wanted to defend their country. As Ukrainian diplomats pleaded with the world to stop the Russian aggression, Zelenskiy warned of a bleak return to the past.
  • By mid-afternoon on Thursday, Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have “neutralised” Ukraine’s airbases and air defences, destroying 74 military ground facilities, including 11 airfields, three command posts and 18 radar stations for anti-aircraft missile systems. Ukrainian authorities said Russia had carried out 203 attacks and that fighting was raging across almost the entire territory.
  • Thousands of Ukrainians are already on the move and leaving the country, with tens of thousands more preparing to flee, after the Russian attack ordered by Vladimir Putin. Videos and photos on social media show lines of cars moving out of cities and heading west, as well as an increase of people on foot near the southern and western borders.
  • The UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced its “largest ever” set of economic sanctions on Russia, including pushing to end Russia’s use of the Swift international payment systems, freezing assets of all major Russian banks, limiting cash held by Russian nationals in UK banks and sanctioning more than 100 individuals and entities.
  • Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, voiced his anger as EU heads of state and government appeared to hold back from imposing the potentially most damaging sanction on Russia. With casualties mounting, Kuleba warned that European and US politicians would have “blood on their hands” if they decided against blocking Russia from an international payments system through which it receives foreign currency.

Updated

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing or preparing to flee the country with videos and photos on social media showing lines of cars moving out of cities and heading west, as well as an increase of people on foot near the southern and western borders while reports of casualties mount.

We spoke to Maria Romanenko and Alena Dalskaya-Latosiewicz from their cars as they tried to escape the conflict, as well as Romeo Kokriatski a Ukrainian-American, who says he hopes to stay in the capital, Kyiv, for as long as possible.

People try to get onto a bus as they leave Kyiv, Ukraine.
People try to get onto a bus as they leave Kyiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Emilio Morenatti/AP

Updated

The Czech president, Miloš Zeman, has issued an unequivocal condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a dramatic volte face that won widespread praise and surprised his detractors, writes Robert Tait.

In a televised address, Zeman - who has gained a reputation for being an ally and admirer of Vladimir Putin - called the Russian president Vladimir Putin “a madman” and admitted he had been wrong to dismiss the prospects of an invasion of Ukraine. He called for sweeping sanctions in response, including the expulsion of Russia from the Swift international banking system.

Zeman said:

This is an act of unprovoked aggression that needs to be condemned in the strongest possible terms, not just in words, but also in deeds.

Acknowledging respect for Russia’s culture and the country’s sacrifices during the second world, he added:

That does not mean that I will agree to a foreign army entering the territory of a sovereign state without a declaration of war.

He said he had studied Putin’s speech justifying the invasion and responded with “a single sentence”.

Perceived or real mistakes, such as the bombing of Yugoslavia or the entry into Iraq, cannot be a justification for mistakes of one’s own.

Russia’s actions amounted to “a crime against peace”, he said.

In a remarkable reference to Putin - with whom he has had several warm public exchanges - Zeman said:

The madman needs to be isolated and defended against, not just with words but with concrete measures.

Zeman, 77, who is recovering from a prolonged bout of ill health, had previously called US predictions of an imminent Russian military attack “an embarrassment to the CIA”. He has previously justified Kremlin policy towards Ukraine, describing the situation following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea as akin to a civil war.

But the invasion has touched a nerve in Czech public opinion and popular culture, evoking memories of the 1968 Moscow-led invasion by Warsaw Pact forces to crush the Prague Spring. There have also been comparisons to Nazi Germany’s 1938 annexation of German-speaking regions of Czechoslovakia, an action that presaged a full-scale invasion of months later.

Zeman’s speech won praise from Petr Fiala, the recently-appointed Czech prime minister, who is notably more pro-western than the president.

Fiala tweeted:

It is good that the president is aware of the importance of a common approach and that the main political representatives of the Czech Republic speak the same way.

Jiří Pehe, a Czech political analyst and former adviser to Vaclav Havel, the first president of post-communist Czechoslovakia, also hailed Zeman’s comments, writing on Twitter:

Thanks to him for that, but his world seemed to collapse.”

Updated

Uefa will move this season’s Champions League final from St Petersburg, with an extraordinary meeting called for Friday morning to confirm Russia is being stripped of the showpiece match, our reporter Paul MacInnes writes.

The executive committee will meet to discuss the consequences for football of the military invasion of Ukraine by Russia, with the aim of the meeting “to evaluate the situation and take all necessary decisions”.

Uefa has come under increasing pressure to act after the escalation of tensions this week and said in a statement on Thursday that it strongly condemned Russia’s invasion, was “resolute in our solidarity with the football community in Ukraine” and “ready to extend our hand to the Ukrainian people”.

The governing body added: “We are dealing with this situation with the utmost seriousness and urgency.”

The British government has called for the match, scheduled for Saturday 28 May, to be moved and on Thursday members of the European parliament wrote to Uefa calling for an extraordinary meeting, to discuss not only moving the final but terminating sponsorship arrangements with the Russian gas company Gazprom.

US President Joe Biden has been presented with a menu of options for the US to carry out massive cyberattacks designed to disrupt Russia’s ability to sustain its military operations in Ukraine, NBC News reports.

Four people familiar with deliberations told the news channel that US intelligence and military cyber warriors were proposing the use of American cyber weapons “on a scale never before contemplated”.

Among the options are disrupting internet connectivity across Russia, shutting off electric power, and tampering with railroad switches to hamper Russia’s ability to re-supply its forces, three of the sources said.

One person briefed on the matter said:

You could do everything from slow the trains down to have them fall off the tracks.

Updated

The UK is to impose its “largest ever” set of economic sanctions on Russia, including pushing to end Russia’s use of the Swift international payment systems, freezing assets of all major Russian banks, limiting cash held by Russian nationals in UK banks and sanctioning more than 100 individuals and entities, our chief political correspondent, Jessica Elgot, reports.

Boris Johnson has urged European leaders to agree that Russia’s use of the major payments system should be suspended, making the argument in a call with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and in a meeting of G7 leaders. The move is likely to be resisted by EU countries.

Announcing a package of sanctions that Johnson had promised would “hobble” Russia’s economy, the PM said legislation would be tabled on Tuesday to ban major Russian companies from raising finance on UK markets and to prevent Russia from raising sovereign debt on UK markets.

The sanctions include more key oligarchs who will have assets frozen, though sources said more names – including what they said would be more recognisable figures – would be released in the coming weeks.

The prime minister announced 10 measures the UK was taking immediately. The UK will freeze assets of all major Russian banks including VTB, the country’s second largest bank with assets totalling £154bn.

Individual sanctions will be imposed on more than 100 individuals, entities and subsidiaries, including Rostec, the country’s biggest defence company, which exports £10bn in arms a year, as well as four other defence companies.

Oligarchs who will be sanctioned include Putin’s former son-in-law Kirill Shamalov, Russia’s youngest billionaire; Denis Bortnikov, the chair of VTB Bank’s management board; and Yury Slyusar, the director of the United Aircraft Corporation. The Russian airline Aeroflot will be banned from landing in the UK.

Updated

US President Joe Biden is expected to deliver an address to the American people from the White House in the next few minutes, where he is expected to outline tougher sanctions against Russia.

For more live updates from the US, here is Joan E Greve’s live blog. I will continue here with global Ukraine coverage, and the top lines that emerge in the US.

Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol is under heavy fire with reports of hundreds of explosions, a diplomatic source told Reuters.

More to follow.

Russia captures Chernobyl nuclear power plant after fierce battle, Ukrainian officials say

Russian forces have captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after a fierce battle, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak has said.

Podolyak said:

It is impossible to say the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe after a totally pointless attack by the Russians.

This is one of the most serious threats in Europe today.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, also said the Chernobyl area near Kyiv was now under the control of Russian troops.

Chernobyl nuclear plant.
Chernobyl nuclear plant. Photograph: Twitter

Updated

The White House has released a statement from Joe Biden saying the G7 leaders have agreed to move forward on “devastating packages of sanctions”.

Biden will be delivering an address to the American people from the White House in half an hour.

President Joe Biden addresses the Russian invasion of Ukraine, from the East Room of the White House.
President Joe Biden addresses the Russian invasion of Ukraine, from the East Room of the White House. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder is facing pressure over his links to Russian companies as three other ex-European leaders renounced board roles, Reuters reports.

Schröder, who served as German chancellor from 1998 to 2005, is on the board of Russian oil giant Rosneft and chairman of the shareholders’ committee of the company that is in charge of building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

He has also been nominated to the board of Russian gas giant Gazprom.

In a LinkedIn post on Thursday, Schröder warned against Europe and Russia severing their links:

There have been many mistakes - on both sides. But Russia’s security interests do not justify the use of military means either.

It comes after three other former European leaders announced they were leaving positions on the boards of Russian companies in protest at Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi quit car-sharing service Delimobil, Finland’s ex-premier Esko Aho left Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, and Austria’s former chancellor Christian Kern said he was stepping down from Russian Railways.

Updated

From our China affairs correspondent, Vincent Ni:

Russian forces are attempting to seize control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry echoed Zelensky’s comments, warning:

In 1986, the world saw the biggest technological disaster in Chernobyl. If Russia continues the war, Chernobyl can happen again in 2022.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, said Russian forces had attempted to seize control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, adding that the Ukrainian National Guard was working to protect the nuclear plant from attack.

Markarova said during a press briefing:

They made an attempt to seize the Chernobyl nuclear power station, and the fight is going right there with the Ukrainian National Guard protecting the Chernobyl station from the attack.

She added:

For the first time since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster — after which Ukraine has been protecting, together with our European and American friends and allies, the world from another nuclear disaster — we have to defend it again from the Russian forces.

Updated

At the Luzhanka border crossing with Hungary in western Ukraine, hundreds of cars waited in a queue snaking more than 2 km back from the border on Thursday afternoon, writes Shaun Walker.

A steady stream of people crossed on foot, carrying suitcases and holdalls stuffed with belongings. Many were Ukrainians from the Hungarian minority that live in the west of the country, and said they were traveling to stay with relatives for a few days in the hope the danger would pass.

Others had come from other parts of Ukraine and planned to drive on to western Europe.

“The people who have money are leaving,” said one of the customs officials at the post. He said over 1,500 people had left through the crossing by 4pm on Thursday, as opposed to just a few hundred on a normal day.

One 19-year-old man from the town of Svyalava said he had left both because he was scared of Russian assault and of potentially being called up to the Ukrainian army.

“My brother lives in Hungary and I’ll stay with him as long as it takes,” he said, waiting at the border post. He asked not to use his name. Others also said they were fleeing before receiving army call-ups.

Updated

At least 705 people reportedly arrested at Russian anti-war protests

At least 705 people have been arrested today at anti-war protests that have taken place in 40 Russian cities, the OVD-Info protest monitor said.

The OVD-Info monitor has documented crackdowns on Russia’s opposition for years.

Police officer detain a woman during a protest against Russia’s attack on Ukraine in Moscow, Russia.
Police officer detain a woman during a protest against Russia’s attack on Ukraine in Moscow, Russia. Photograph: Dmitry Serebryakov/AP

Updated

The UK will impose the “largest and most severe” package of economic sanctions Russia “has ever seen”, Boris Johnson says.

The UK prime minister has been addressing the House of Commons, where he said the UK will do its “utmost” to offer support to Ukraine.

All major Russian banks will be excluded from the UK financial system and a full asset freeze is being imposed on VBT, Russia’s second-largest bank.

There will be limits on the amount Russians can have in British bank accounts, with asset freezes extended to around 100 more people.

Airline Aeroflot will be banned from the UK.

Similar measures will be imposed on Belarus, Johnson added.

Describing Vladimir Putin as a “bloodstained aggressor who believes in imperial conquest”, the PM said Putin was “always determined to attack his neighbour, no matter what we did”, adding:

Putin will stand condemned in the eyes of the world and history. He will never be able to cleanse the blood of Ukraine from his hands.

Boris Johnson updating MPs in the House of Commons on the latest situation regarding Ukraine.
Boris Johnson updating MPs in the House of Commons on the latest situation regarding Ukraine. Photograph: House of Commons/PA

The UK prime minister Boris Johnson is making a statement to MPs about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He is expected to focus on the beefed-up sanctions being imposed by the UK in response.

For more live updates from the UK, here is Andrew Sparrow’s live blog. I will continue here with global Ukraine coverage, and the top lines that emerge in the UK.

Updated

An errant Russian missile struck a Turkish-owned ship off the coast of the Ukrainian port city of Odesa in the Black Sea, our reporter Ruth Michaelson writes.

The ship, Yasa Jupiter, was flying under the flag of the Marshall Islands, and reported no casualties or injuries following the incident.

Pictures from Turkish channel NTV showed destruction on board:

The Turkish general directorate of maritime affairs said the ship issued no request for help and was now in transit to Romania.

Turkey is under increasing international pressure, particularly from Ukraine, to prevent Russian warships from passing through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, which provide entry to the Black Sea.

Despite maintaining alliances with both Ukraine and Russia, the conflict in Ukraine is likely to negatively impact the Turkish economy and test Turkey’s membership of Nato. Turkey’s membership of the alliance was already under pressure following its decision to purchase Russia’s S400 missile defence system, leading to sanctions from the US.

Earlier today, Turkey’s foreign ministry condemned Russian action in Ukraine.

We find the military operation launched unacceptable, and reject it. This attack, beyond destroying the Minsk agreement, is a grave violation of law and a serious threat to the security of our region and the world. The territorial integrity and sovereignty of countries should be respected.

It added:

Our support for the political unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine will continue.

Updated

Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, is the first leader to meet President Putin after Moscow attacked Ukraine this morning, writes Shah Meer Baloch in Islamabad.

Khan arrived in Moscow yesterday on a two-day trip when tensions between Kyiv and Moscow were rising but Putin had not ordered a military attack on Ukraine.

Khan was given a guard of honour on his arrival in Moscow. On his arrival to Moscow, Khan said:

What a time I have come here. So much excitement.

The opposition and experts raised concerns over Khan’s visit, describing it as “ill-timed”. Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center in the US said:

There is a risk that Khan’s visit to Moscow will be perceived by many in the west as an indirect endorsement of Putin’s decree on eastern Ukraine – a move that much of the world has condemned and that Pakistan itself likely does not support.

Even though Khan’s visit was planned weeks ago and focuses on bilateral relations, the timing will raise eyebrows and present some problems of optics.

Khan was in Moscow during military attacks on Ukraine. Indian media, such as the Hindu and a few more media networks shared fake news that Khan had ended his two-day visit to Moscow after the attack on Ukraine. Pakistan denied the news.

Adil Shahzeb, a Pakistani journalist tweeted from Moscow that both Russian and Pakistani officials had denied reports that Khan had ended the visit.

There is no cancellation of the visit, PM Khan will be meeting President Putin as per schedule. Khan’s planned interaction with the media has been cancelled.

Pakistan and the US do not enjoy cordial relations and the US blames Pakistan for its dubious role in Afghanistan.

Husain Haqqani, a former ambassador to the US and a scholar, told the Guardian:

Imran Khan has consistently signalled his derision for the US and the west while also seeking economic assistance. The timing of his visit to Russia will only reaffirm his anti-western worldview.

The image of Pakistan’s prime minister next to Vladimir Putin soon after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will not endear Pakistan to Americans or western Europeans.

Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin meet at Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia on Thursday.
Imran Khan and Vladimir Putin meeting at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow on Thursday. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Updated

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has ‘re-introduced war to the European continent’, the leaders of the G7 have said.

In a joint statement following a virtual meeting, the leaders of France, Germany, Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada as well as the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Council president, Charles Michel, and the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, strongly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The crisis is a “serious threat to the rules-based international order, with ramifications well beyond Europe”, the G7 leaders said, adding that Putin had “put himself on the wrong side of history”.

The statement reads:

We condemn President Putin for his consistent refusal to engage in a diplomatic process to address questions pertaining to European security, despite our repeated offers.

We stand united with partners, including Nato, the EU and their member states as well as Ukraine and remain determined to do what is necessary to preserve the integrity of the rules-based international order.

Updated

Russian troops based in Belarus are advancing towards Kyiv, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said.

In its intelligence update posted on Twitter at 4pm UK time, the ministry said Russia had conducted an air assault on an airfield on the outskirts of Kyiv.

Strikes had been delivered through “a combination of Russian ground, air and sea-launched missiles and by artillery bombardment” and had targeted military infrastructure, it said.

Heavy casualties had been suffered on both sides, the ministry said, although exact numbers were currently unclear.

Updated

At 6pm local time there were huge queues of cars trying to escape Kyiv and to head west, writes Luke Harding in the Ukrainian capital.

The main road out of the city was jammed with vehicles including buses and taxis. The queue was stationary for much of the time. Drivers stood next to their vehicles, patiently waiting for the route to clear.

Over at the capital’s central train station, Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi, hundreds of passengers were seeking to leave. There were long queues for tickets and information. Several trains had been cancelled - red on the departure board - but others were functioning as normal. Many milled around with luggage but no tickets.

A group of Pakistani students from the International European university in Kyiv said they had found a taxi to take them to Lviv for $500. One said:

We’ve been here for our studies. Maybe we will stay in the west, maybe we will come back.

We can’t go to Poland because we don’t have visas.

Several families were among those trying to depart including a group with a baby in a pram, and a couple with a pet dachshund.

This vast human exodus seemed out of place in 2022 and more of a throw-back to Europe’s dark last century, all caused by the paranoid behaviour of one man.

A woman reacts as she waits for a train trying to leave Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday.
A woman reacts as she waits for a train trying to leave Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday. Photograph: Emilio Morenatti/AP
People stand in front of the train schedule at Central Railway Station as they try to leave Kyiv.
People stand in front of the train schedule at Central Railway Station as they try to leave Kyiv. Photograph: Volodymyr Petrov/Reuters

Updated

Kyiv curfew announced

The mayor of Kyiv has ordered a curfew in Ukraine’s capital from 10pm to 7am, according to a statement shared on his official Facebook page.

Public transport will not work during curfew, Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, writes. but metro stations will be available as shelters around the clock.

Klitschko writes:

We ask all Kyivites to return home on time. If you need to move around the city during the curfew, in particular, as employees of critical infrastructure companies, you must have identification documents.

Updated

Summary

Here is a summary of some key events on the day Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine, triggering warnings from world leaders of the biggest conflict in Europe since 1945.

  • According to Ukrainian officials, the initial wave of strikes appeared to involve cruise missiles, artillery and airstrikes which struck military infrastructure and border positions, including airbases.
  • Regional authorities in the southern Odessa region of Ukraine said 18 people were killed in a missile attack. At least six people were killed in the town of Brovary, near Kyiv, local authorities said. Four people died when a shell hit a hospital in the city of Vuhledar in Donetsk, Ukrainian officials said. Thousands of Ukrainians are already fleeing the country.
  • Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have destroyed 74 Ukrainian military ground facilities, including 11 airfields, three command posts and 18 radar stations for anti-aircraft missile systems.
  • Western leaders united in condemnation: US President Joe Biden said Washington and its allies will announce “severe sanctions” later on Thursday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to outline a new package of measures to parliament at 1700 GMT.
  • The EU has also vowed “massive sanctions” ahead of a meeting of leaders in Brussels, but is yet to agree what they should cover. The union has also said it will hit Belarus with sanctions for its role in supporting Putin’s invasion.

Greece says it will begin evacuating members of its expatriate community in Mariupol, the frontline city in eastern Ukraine, Helena Smith reports from Athens.

Athens’ deputy minister in charge of diaspora affairs, Andreas Katsaniotis, said around 100 ethnic Greeks would be be transferred to safety via Romania.

Not many of our community members have as yet requested to leave but a small group, around 100 people, will leave Mariupol.

There is a plan and we are implementing it ... when other countries were withdrawing their diplomats, we were reinforcing our general consulate in Mariupol.

In Odessa, Greece’s former honorary consul to Ukraine Panayiotis Bouboulouras told the Greek daily Protothema:

Unfortunately very few of us believed this would happen. The Americans said the fascist Russians had been preparing this attack for a long time but neither us, nor the Europeans, believed them.

Greece, alone among EU states, has a large expatriate community in Ukraine and is closely watching events there. Although spread across the country, most of the estimated 120,000 strong minority live in the coastal city of Mariupol close to the frontline.

Bouboukouras who presides over Ukraine’s federation of ethnic Greek businessmen, said many were either trying to flee Kiev or the country. Katerina Svefkenko, who heads the association of Greeks in Kharkiv, in Ukraine’s northeast, said inhabitants had heard a barrage of explosions. “In the 40 years that I have lived here I have never experienced anything like it,” she said.

Greece traditionally has strong ties with fellow Orthodox Russia but from the outset has firmly come out on the side of its fellow EU and Nato partners blasting Putin for violating international law by staging the attack.

In an excoriating statement the Greek foreign ministry said it “unequivocally condemns” the Russian attack which “undermines European peace and security.”

Russia’s ambassador to Athens had been called in for explanation, diplomats said.

Russia’s invasion risks a “health emergency” in Ukraine and “a humanitarian catastrophe in Europe”, the World Health Organisation has warned, writes the Guardian’s health policy editor Denis Campbell.

In a statement the WHO’s regional office for Europe also urged combatants to ensure that health workers and hospitals were not targeted, though its plea came after reports that a Russian shell had already struck a hospital in Vuhledar in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Amid the conflict rapidly unfolding in Ukraine, the WHO regional office for Europe reiterates its deepest concern for the safety, health and wellbeing of all civilians impacted by the crisis in the country and possibly beyond.

It added that, through its country office in Ukraine, the WHO’s European section “continues to deliver much-needed support on urgent health issues, particularly in the face of an ongoing polio outbreak and the long-running Covid-19 response”.

The right to health and access to services must always be protected, not least during times of crises. Health workers, hospitals and other facilities must never be a target and be allowed to continue to serve the health needs of communities.

Separately, the World Medical Association, which represents doctors’ organisations globally, also demanded that Russia does not attack health facilities.

The World Medical Association deplores the unprecedented aggression in Ukraine by the Russian leadership. It calls on Russian leaders to respect the work of doctors and nurses in the country and the neutrality of health care institutions.

A small number of Russians joined Ukrainians for the anti-war protests outside Downing Street, Ben Quinn reports.

While those gathered outside the protest outside Downing Street in London were almost entirely Ukrainian, a small group of young Russians working in in sectors ranging from IT to fashion were also present, though they declined to give their names – such were their concerns at the consequences of speaking out against Putin.

“I literally couldn’t look at my colleagues in the face this morning,” said one woman, who spoke of a feeling of shame.


Alongside her were friends who had taken part in some of the last major opposition protests in Moscow before the regime, before it clamped down on the opposition movement led by Alexei Navalny. They spoke of mixed feelings among their compatriots living in the UK, who they said included a rich elite that was in hoc to Putin’s nationalism but also many who were just as disgusted as they were about the invasion and his stranglehold on their country.
“It’s a feeling of shame that this is being done in our name,” said another, with years in her eyes.”

Updated

EU to sanction Belarus for supporting Putin's invasion – leak

EU leaders will call for sanctions against Belarus for its role in supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a leaked summit text.

A draft statement seen by the Guardian, to be finalised by EU leaders meeting later on Thursday night, condemns “the involvement of Belarus in this aggression against Ukraine” and calls on Minsk to abide by its international obligations.

The document states:

The European Council [of EU leaders] calls for the swift preparation of a further sanctions package that will also cover Belarus.

Belarus is already subject to EU sanctions, targeting individuals and sectors of its economy, following President Alexander Lukashenko’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in 2020.

The draft text repeats EU warnings that Russia will be hit with further sanctions that “impose massive and severe consequences” - but does not spell out what those measures are. That has to agreed by the EU’s 27 leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday evening.

Updated

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has just given a televised address calling on Putin to bring an immediate end to hostilities in Ukraine and to revoke Moscow’s recognition of Russian-controlled territory in Luhansk and Donetsk, reports Sam Jones from Madrid.

Sánchez said:

The facts are as serious as they are simple: a nuclear power has violated international legality and has begun the invasion of a neighbouring country. At the same time, it has threatened to retaliate against any nation that comes to the aid of the country under attack. However you look at it, this is a flagrant violation of international law and of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. But it’s something more than that: it’s a head-on attack on the principles and values - above all the value of peace - that have brought Europe years of stability and prosperity.

Sánchez warned that the conflict and the attendant sanctions would have an economic impact on Spain and the EU as a whole, particularly in energy markets.

As you know, the Spanish government has been working with the EU for a while now to prepare its response to the risk of military aggression and to the crisis that’s now sadly been confirmed.

We will take whatever measures are needed to mitigate the economic and energy impact this crisis will have on Spanish society, on its businesses, homes, industries - and also on the economic recovery we’re seeing as we get over the pandemic.

Ukraine urges EU to provide air-defences, sanction Belarus

Ukraine is calling on the European Union and its member states to urgently provide air-defence and anti-missile systems, as well as use “all means” to jam Russian satellite signals.

In a list of requests sent to the EU leaders ahead of an emergency summit on Thursday night in Brussels, Ukraine also calls for the “fiercest restriction measures against Belarus, which directly supported [the] Russian full-scale invasion”.

The paper, drafted by Ukrainian diplomats in Brussels and seen by the Guardian, also calls for:

  • ending software licenses for military and civilian equipment in Russia and Belarus;
  • blocking or interfering with Russian satellite navigation systems in the air, over the Black Sea and Sea of Azov;
  • using all means to block the Russian satellite navigation system Glonass, including jamming its signal over the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, Belarus and Ukrainian airspace.

As well as an appeal to end “business as usual” with Russia, Kyiv wants the EU to open its emergency aid system (the civil protection mechanism) to Ukrainians.

Military helicopters apparently Russian, fly over the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine
Military helicopters apparently Russian, fly over the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine Photograph: AP

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The strains of Ukraine’s anthem rippled through a crowd of hundreds of Ukrainians gathered outside the gates of Downing Street today to protest against Russia’s invasion, reports Ben Quinn in London.

But while shock, anger and defiance were among the common sentiments, events in the early hours of the morning had also heralded difficult personal dilemmas for many Ukrainians living abroad, such as Aleksandra Legosteva, a worker in the tech sector, and her mother, Olena, who had come to visit on Saturday.

“I don’t want her to go back,” admitted Legosteva, who told of a largely sleepless night as the family monitored Russia’s invasion and worried about relatives in northern Ukraine who were now stockpiling food and other supplies. Like others, she was eager for the British government step up and move towards “sweeping sanctions” towards Russia, while calls for military assistance and British military boots on the grounds was a common refrain in the crowd.

Yuriy Yurchuk, 35, an opera singer at the Royal Opera House, said that he had been due to perform at Moscow’s Bolshoi theatre in two weeks’ time but said that this was now not going to happen.

“There’s still a place for talking but there should be a comprehensive response to what is happening in Ukraine, including a military one and also international condemnation. Otherwise what is the UN for?”

Those present included the bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London, the Right Rev Kenneth Nowakowski, who said:

I don’t want to criticise the British government because we’re grateful for what they’ve done so far but there is so much more that can and should be done now.

It’s also worth remembering that this is a war that has been going on for eight years now. The rest of the world is now waking up to it and the fact that Putin may not just stop at Ukraine.


Dennis Ougrin, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at Queen Mary University, was meanwhile eager to get back to Ukraine to help with what he said would be the inevitable toll on his country’s very youngest as a result of the Russian bombardment.

It’s horrific but, as we know from Russian actions before, the type of offensive they undertake really strikes fear into children in particular. I’m thinking of the children in Ukrainian orphanages who’ve had to take shelter underground while missile and artillery attacks take place.

Ukrainians demonstrate against the Russian invasion of their country, outside Downing St, London
Ukrainians demonstrate against the Russian invasion of their country, outside Downing St, London Photograph: Andy Hall/The Observer

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The Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk wrote a powerful dispatch for the Guardian from Kyiv, as the Russian attack began.

Here is an extract from her piece:

For years I have been reluctant to compare any dictator to Hitler, or any war to the second world war. The comparison, to me, seemed exaggerated, even vulgar.

But what other analogy is there? With no reason, in an act of pure madness, an old-fashioned air assault has been inflicted on a neighbouring country.

I said that to my Russian colleague, and tried very hard not to show how my voice was trembling. She asked for forgiveness again.

There is a famous phrase ‘4am Kyiv is bombed’. Every Ukrainian and Russian kid knows it. That’s how the announcement of the German bombardment of Kyiv in 1941 sounded.

And here we are: 24 February 5am Kyiv is bombed by Russia.

Read the full article here: I’m in Kyiv and awake at the darkest hour – as Putin’s bombs rain down

Updated

Poland is preparing a medical train to transport Ukrainians wounded in the Russian invasion, the country’s health ministry has told Reuters.

In a statement to the newswire, Poland’s health ministry said:

Poland is preparing to accept migrants from Ukraine, including Ukrainian citizens affected by the armed conflict.

We will do everything to ensure that every person who enters the territory of Poland has access to healthcare, including hospitalisation. Beds are being prepared in hospitals for the admission of the wounded.

Poland’s health minister, Adam Niedzielski, said that Poland had prepared a list of 120 hospitals where people affected by the conflict in Ukraine could be treated.

“In total, we estimate at the moment that it would be possible to admit several thousand patients injured as a result of hostilities, including those seriously injured,” he told local media.

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It began in darkness soon after 4.30am local time. There were distant explosions in the Ukrainian capital and the whine of car alarms. A nation shook itself awake, writes Luke Harding in Kyiv. What had been foretold by western governments, by experts, and – late in the day – by the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was actually happening. Russia was attacking and invading.

Vladimir Putin’s apparent goal: the subjugation of a nation, a culture, a people. It was unthinkable in the 21st century. And yet, with imperial swagger, Russian troops, tanks and planes were on the move.

The disaster unfurled itself on a grey, ordinary Thursday morning, sprinkled by rain. By 5am friends and loved ones were ringing each other, peering into their phones, making life-and-death decisions.

Stay or flee? Some packed and got ready to leave; others took refuge in apartment block basements. An underground garage began to fill up in Yaroslaviv Val, close to Kyiv’s historic golden gate, dating back to the 11th century and to Kyivan Rus, a pre-Moscow dynasty. A family arrived. A mother shepherded her two bleary-eyed children to safety. The children were carrying colouring books, scant defence against Russian missiles.

Stay or flee? Kyiv comes to terms with disaster of Russian invasion

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Four killed in hospital attack, says Ukraine

Ukraine’s military command has said four people were killed and 10 injured when a Russian shell hit a hospital in Vuhledar in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. The injured were said to include six doctors.

Ukraine has said Russia has carried out 203 attacks since the start of the day with fighting going on across almost the entire territory, Reuters reports.

In a separate update from Ukraine’s foreign ministry, issued at 2pm local time, officials said one Russian K-52 helicopter and three helicopters near Hostomel were shot down in the Kyiv region near Mezhyhirya.

Fighting is going on in Luhansk region, near the town of Schastye and “the enemy continues to suffer losses” the statement said.

It added that “border guards together with the armed forces and the NMU hold the defence and repel attacks”.

In the Odesa region, 10 servicemen were said to have received shrapnel wounds during an attack.

Updated

At a meeting of EU ambassadors held in Brussels to discuss the next steps, it is understood that there is a consensus on the need for a major package of sanctions across the financial and energy sectors and including export-controls on key components.

But sources said Italy, Germany and Cyprus - dubbed the “incrementals’” – still want to leave some proposed sanctions out of the EU package tonight. There is further concern that a number of key oligarchs will be left out of the punitive measures, a diplomat said.

Some member states want the EU to make public the full scope of the package within hours. France and Germany are said to be “actively pushing to slow down the sanctions train so that leaders can present it themselves tonight”.

One diplomat from a hawkish member state complained:

This means the sanctions will trail those of the US and the UK and will come into effect later than they could.. So while Putin is driving forcefully into Ukraine, the EU moved to the back seat, lounging and waiting, just to present [Charles] Michel with a nice photo opportunity?

Here is a view from a former prime minister of Finland, Alexander Stubb:

Journalist Kevin Rothrock has been following anti-war protests in Moscow.

Sofya Rusova’s sign reads: “War with Ukraine is Russia’s disgrace.” Any protest is a brave act, given the restrictions on public demonstrations and readiness of the police to step in.

Updated

Following a meeting with Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, spoke about the planned impact of the sanctions that will be debated by EU leaders later on Thursday, reports Daniel Boffey in Brussels.

She said:

These sanctions will suppress Russia’s economic growth, increase the borrowing costs, raise inflation, intensify capital outflow and gradually erode its industrial basis.

Our measures will weaken Russia’s technological position in key areas from which the elite makes most of their money - this ranges from high-tech components to cutting-edge software.

Stoltenberg said:

I welcome the coordinated actions announced by the European Union, Nato Allies and partners. This sends a strong message of unity.


He was speaking shortly before a virtual meeting of leaders of the G7, the forum for the world’s seven largest economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US.

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In a televised address to the nation, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Vladimir Putin had flouted Ukrainian sovereignty and brought the “most serious attack on peace and stability in Europe for decades”, writes Angelique Chrisafis in Paris.

Macron said France would respond “without weakness” and with “sang froid, determination and unity”. He said decisions would be taken today in a G7 meeting, as well as at the European council in Brussels and a Nato summit and Russia would be made to answer to the UN security council. He said the events in Ukraine were “a turning point in the history of Europe and our country”, adding that “they will have lasting and deep consequences on our lives. They will have consequences on the geo-politics of our continent.”

Macron said sanctions against Russia would be at a level with the “aggression it is guilty of”. He said there would be “no weakness” at the military and economic level, “we will support Ukraine without hesitation” and “we will protect the sovereignty and security of our allies”.

France has previously said it was ready to reinforce its presence in advanced Nato positions in Romania, and to send extra forces to Romania. This is likely to be discussed by France at the Nato summit tomorrow.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on the situation in Ukraine, at the Elysee Palace in Paris
French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on the situation in Ukraine, at the Elysee Palace in Paris Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, are giving a briefing now. The live feed is above.

Updated

Ireland’s taoiseach has described Russia’s attack on Ukraine as “an outrageous and moral breach of the most fundamental principles of international law”.

In a televised address, Micheál Martin described the invasion as “immoral and totally beyond comprehension”.

It has been difficult to confirm some of the military operations taking place in Ukraine at the moment.

But one that Ukrainian officials have confirmed is this helicopter assault near Hostomel in the Kyiv region.

The videos have shown Mi-8 and Ka-52 helicopters flown in from Belarus to take an airfield close to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

At least 20 aircraft were involved in the assault, which was filmed from several different angles by locals at the scene.

One of the helicopters was shot down by anti-air fire and its pilot was reportedly taken prisoner.

Rob Lee, a senior analyst with Foreign Policy Research Institute, said that the Russian troops were likely trying to take the airport as they prepared to take Kyiv.

Note: events are moving fast and the above footage has not been independently verified.

Updated

Johnson says UK and its allies will ‘hobble Russian economy’ with sanctions

The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, has said the UK will respond with “a massive package of sanctions” that will “hobble the Russian economy”.

Ukraine is a country that for decades has enjoyed freedom and democracy and the right to choose its own destiny. We and the world cannot allow that freedom just to be snuffed out. We cannot and will not just look away ...

Today, in concert with our allies, we will agree a massive package of economic sanctions designed in time to hobble the Russian economy.

And to that end, we must also collectively cease the dependence on Russian oil and gas that for too long has given Putin his grip on western politics.

Our mission is clear; diplomatically politically, economically, and eventually, military, this hideous and barbaric venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure.

Boris Johnson records an address at Downing Street after he chaired an emergency Cobra meeting to discuss the UK response to the crisis in Ukraine in London
Boris Johnson records an address at Downing Street after he chaired an emergency Cobra meeting to discuss the UK response to the crisis in Ukraine in London Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/PA

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In a rare act of public dissent against the war, the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta has announced that its next edition will come out in Russian and Ukrainian languages.

Dmitry Muratov, the Nobel prize-winning editor of the paper, said that “together with our grief we feel shame” about a war that he directly blamed on Vladimir Putin.

“What’s the next step?” he said. “A nuclear salvo?

“We’re going to release this next edition of Novaya Gazeta in two languages because we will never see Ukraine as an enemy or Ukrainian as the language of the enemy.”

He added a call for protests against the war.

“Only an anti-war movement of Russians in my opinion can save life on this planet.”

Russia invading on multiple fronts, says former Ukrainian defence minister

Our correspondent Luke Harding, who is in Kyiv, has spoken to Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Ukraine’s former defence minister.

Zagorodnyuk describes multiple ground invasions on several fronts.

The situation is extremely tense, obviously. The first shock this morning was when there were missile attacks, rocket strikes and drone strikes. Some of the buildings in our armed forces are simply destroyed. All of them are military infrastructure. They [the Russians] are trying to break the border and to enter into the country with their ground forces. Ukrainian armed forces are trying to stop them. The city of Mariupol is pretty quiet. There is no breakthrough attempt. At the joint forces operation line [between Ukrainian and separatist forces] there is lots of artillery but no attempt to break through.

He adds:

There are thrusts taking place. They are quite close to the city of Kherson now. The situation is really critical there. They are also trying to surround Kharkiv. It seems like Kharkiv at the moment is the main target. They also try to get to Kyiv using one battlefield group. The group went from Belarus and it was stopped. There’s quite a bad road [to Kyiv]. It was strange that they sent such a small group on such a road. Clearly it was miscalculation on their side for the moment. There were some Russian losses and on our side. Ukrainian armed forces are fighting quite seriously. There is no panic. There are attempts to resist and in many directions it’s working out.

Updated

Roads out of Kyiv were jammed with traffic on Thursday morning, as people sought to flee the city following Russia’s invasion.

Reports suggested Russian tanks were advancing to Kyiv from Belarus, two hours’ drive and 100 miles away.

Updated

Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said Russia was waging war with air and missile attacks, ground forces and special forces from multiple directions, targeting the military infrastructure and major urban centres, writes Daniel Boffey in Brussels.

Stoltenberg said:

This is a brutal act of war. Our thoughts are with the brave people of Ukraine.

Sadly, what we have warned against for months has come to pass. Despite all calls on Russia to change course and tireless efforts to seek a diplomatic solution.

Peace in our continent has been shattered. We now have war in Europe, on a scale and of a type we thought belonged to history.

This is a grave moment for the security of Europe.

Stoltenberg said Finland and Sweden, which are not Nato members, would be represented at the alliance’s summit on Friday.

This is a deliberate, cold-blooded and long-planned invasion.

Despite its litany of lies, denials and disinformation, the Kremlin’s intentions are clear for the world to see.

Updated

Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has announced that there will be a virtual summit of the alliance’s member states on Friday, reports Daniel Boffey in Brussels.
Stoltenberg said: “It will be a new reality, a new Europe after the invasion we saw today.”

The alliance has issued new guidance to its military commanders to allow them to move military forces more quickly around Europe.

We have already increased and we are increasing the presence of Nato troops in the eastern part of the alliance.

We do not have Nato troops in Ukraine and we do not have plans to send Nato troops to Ukraine.

Nato allies warned Russia it would pay a “heavy economic and political price” in a joint statement issued after an emergency meeting on Thursday morning.

We urge Russia in the strongest terms to turn back from the path of violence and aggression it has chosen. Russia’s leaders must bear full responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Russia will pay a very heavy economic and political price ...

Throughout this crisis, Nato, the allies and our partners have made every effort to pursue diplomacy and dialogue with Russia, including at the highest levels, and made many substantive proposals to enhance the security of all nations in the Euro-Atlantic region. We have repeatedly invited Russia to talks in the Nato-Russia Council. Russia has still not reciprocated. It is Russia, and Russia alone, which has chosen escalation.

Updated

EU vows 'massive' sanctions on Russia

The European Union has pledged to impose “massive” sanctions that have severe consequences on Russia.

A statement just issued by the European Council, ahead of emergency talks between the EU’s 27 leaders on Thursday night, said:

We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s unprecedented military aggression against Ukraine. By its unprovoked and unjustified military actions, Russia is grossly violating international law and undermining European and global security and stability.

We also condemn the involvement of Belarus in this aggression against Ukraine and call on it to abide by its international obligations.

We demand that Russia immediately ceases military actions, unconditionally withdraws all forces and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine and fully respects Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence. Such use of force and coercion has no place in the 21st century.

We will meet later today to discuss this blatant aggression and agree in principle on further restrictive measures that will impose massive and severe consequences on Russia for its action, in close coordination with our transatlantic partners.

The EU also said it stood “firmly by Ukraine and its people as they face this war”, with promises of further political, financial and humanitarian assistance.

Updated

Multiple explosions heard in Kyiv

Multiple explosions could be heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Thursday, Reuters reports.

Smoke and flame rise near a military building after an apparent Russian strike in Kyiv
Smoke and flame rise near a military building after an apparent Russian strike in Kyiv Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP

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Russia’s invasion into Ukraine has left western observers disappointed by Beijing’s initial response, writes the Guardian’s China affairs correspondent Vincent Ni. On Thursday, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, insisted the situation has a “complex historical background”. She also refused to use the word “invasion”.

Russia’s act clearly violated China’s own position that sovereignty is sacrosanct. This is a discourse Beijing often deploys when it talks about Taiwan, for example. But on the other hand, Beijing also takes issue with Putin’s opposite side in this crisis: the US and Nato. So far, on Beijing’s scale, the latter appears to be weighing heavier in its messaging.

This dynamic is perfectly illustrated on China’s social media platform. On Tuesday afternoon, at least seven of the top ten “hotly-searched topics” on Weibo are related to the crisis in Ukraine. Of course, Taiwan was also featured on this list.

At the moment, the top searched topic is the situation in Ukraine. The hashtag: #Follow the latest developments in the situation in Russia and Ukraine has been read at least 1.57bn times. The latest entry under this hashtag is Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy deciding to cut diplomatic ties with Russia. Factual reporting with users’ comments (although many of them seem pretty pro-Russia).

The second and seventh topics on the list write #NATO still owes China a blood debt and #The US is not qualified to tell China what to do. The two hashtags have now been read for over 200m times. Clearly, Beijing has found a good opportunity to remind Chinese netizens of what happened more than 20 years ago.

On 7 May, 1999, Nato missiles struck the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and set it ablaze in a predawn strike, killing three Chinese citizens. The US said it was a mistake caused by an out-of-date map, but China was never convinced. Back then, it was a huge event in China that led to rare anti-America protests.

Meanwhile, Taiwan is also under the spotlight on Chinese social media. The future of the democratically-run island has been getting a lot of attention in recent weeks as analysts see parallels to the Ukraine crisis. The related hashtag has received over 600,000 reads so far.

China’s defence ministry spoke about Taiwan today, but its main target was what it called “Taiwanese separatists and independence forces”. The remark followed Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen yesterday urging her citizens to be “vigilant”. Unsurprisingly, on today’s Chinese internet, such a comment again stoke up much nationalism.

Updated

Ukraine urges Turkey to close Russian access to Bosphorus

Ukraine has requested that Turkey close the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to Russian warships, which use the passages to enter the Black Sea, reports the Guardian’s Ruth Michaelson.

Turkey alone controls the straits according to the 1936 Montreux Convention, which stipulates that warships belonging to nations bordering the Black Sea may pass through, while others may pass for a limited time only if they satisfy certain conditions mostly based on tonnage.

According to Turkish outlet Hurriyet, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Ankara Vasyl Bodnar reiterated the request to halt Russian access to the straits at a press conference this morning: “We conveyed our official request to the Turkish side regarding the closure of the airspace, the Dardanelles [Strait] and Bosphorus [Strait] for Russian ships,” he said, adding that Ukraine is also requesting that Turkey sanction Russian business and a wider request for Turkish support. He added:

We call on you to prevent the aggression in question. Today, Ukraine is protecting your security.

Turkey, a Nato member and ally of both Ukraine and Russia as well as a major recipient of Russian natural gas, is attempting to appease both sides of the conflict despite recently strengthening ties with Ukraine including through weapons sales.


Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly proposed a trilateral summit between Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Turkey, including during a visit to Kiev earlier this month. Turkey has also sold Ukraine its Bayraktar TB2 drones. Baykar, the Turkish company which produces Bayraktar drones, last year began plans to build training and maintenance centres for existing drones in Ukraine as well as factories to jointly produce new drones, a deal which risked angering Moscow.

Erdoğan and Putin spoke by phone yesterday, where Erdoğan told Putin that Turkey would “not recognise any step against Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

According to AFP, Erdoğan told journalists on a return flight from Africa yesterday that Turkey would seek to maintain its alliances with both Ukraine and Russia.

It is not possible for us to give up on both.

We have political and military relations with Russia. We also have political, military and economic ties with Ukraine.

We want this issue to be resolved without us having to choose between the two.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkiye, Vasyl Bodnar (2nd R) addresses the press at the Embassy of Ukraine in Ankara after talks at Turkish Foreign Ministry
Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkiye, Vasyl Bodnar (2nd R) addresses the press at the Embassy of Ukraine in Ankara after talks at Turkish Foreign Ministry Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Updated

From Moscow correspondent Christopher Miller:

So far Russia’s cyber offensive against Ukraine has consisted of denial of service attacks and deployment of “wiper” malware, writes the Guardian’s global technology editor Dan Milmo.

The use of distributed denial of service attacks ahead of the invasion of Ukraine is designed to spread confusion, according to US cyber security firm Mandiant. In a DDoS attack websites are deluged with vexatious requests for information and become unreachable. The targets on Wednesday included the Ukrainian defence ministry and PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest commercial bank. (Both sites were accessible this morning).

Jamie Collier, a Mandiant consultant, described a DDoS as akin to stuffing a thousand envelopes through a letterbox every second.

It’s not so much the technical disruption, it’s what it does to undermine confidence, like in the financial sector. It gets people quite nervous. It’s more that kind of secondary impact.

Collier adds that the impact of the wiper malware has yet to be fully understood:

We don’t fully understand the full implications of it for now. If a big Ukrainian financial services entity or defence entity is impacted, it might take some time before they go public with that.

On Wednesday ESET Research Labs, a Slovakia-based cyber security company, said it had detected a new piece of data wiper malware on “hundreds” of machines in Ukraine. The NotPetya attack in 2017, which devastated Ukrainian businesses, was a wiper attack that irretrievably encrypted computers. ESET said “large” organisations had been affected this time, while security experts at Symantec Threat Intelligence said the malware had hit Ukrainian government contractors in Latvia and Lithuania and a financial institution in Ukraine (NotPetya also went beyond Ukraine’s borders). ESET has called the malware HermeticWiper.

However, Dr Lennart Maschmeyer at the Center for Security Studies at Swiss university ETH Zurich, says Russia’s cyber strategy so far seems more improvised.

A plausible scenario for more devastating cyber attacks was that Russia had planned this invasion for a long time, and prepositioned implants across Ukraine’s critical infrastructure in order to cause mass disruptions coinciding with the military invasion. That does not seem to be the case. The cyber operations we have seen do not show long preparation, and instead look rather haphazard.

Updated

Ukraine claims 50 Russians killed on eastern front

Ukraine has claimed 50 Russians have been killed on the eastern front, AFP reports.

Ukrainian forces say they have killed around 50 “Russian occupiers” while taking back control of the eastern frontline town of Shchastya. The agency says it could not independently confirm that claim.

Here is an extract from their report on the fast-moving situation as Russian tanks advance far into Ukrainian territory, well beyond the areas controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.

After holding a series of emergency calls with world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, Ukraine’s leader Voldymyr Zelensky convened a meeting of the top military brass.

Zelensky “gave orders to inflict maximum losses against the aggressor,” Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Major General Valeriy Zaluzhny, said.

Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said Ukraine’s forces were “waging heavy combat” and repelling Russian advances in some parts.

Ukrainian officials said Russia was primarily targeting military infrastructure and silos, hitting a string of air fields.

These included Boryspil airport in Kyiv, the armed forces said.

Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian traffic. Tracking websites showed no civilian airliners within the country’s airspace on Thursday.

The invasion was also staged from several positions in Belarus, where Russian armed forces have been holding massive military drills this months involving an estimated 30,000 troops.

But Belarus strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko said his forces were “not taking part in this operation”.

Ukraine also claimed it had downed six Russian planes, a helicopter, and destroyed four tanks.

Moscow did not confirm suffering any casualties or other military losses.

Russia’s ambassador to Rome, Sergey Razov, was summoned by Italy’s foreign ministry secretary general, Ettore Francesco Sequi, on Thursday morning, reports Angela Giuffrida from the Italian capital.

Sequi told Razov that the Italian government strongly condemns “the very serious, unjustified and unprovoked attack by Moscow against Ukraine, which constitutes a clear violation of international law”.

All parties in prime minister Mario Draghi’s broad coalition government were unanimous in their condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Enrico Letta, leader of the centre-left Democratic party, said:

Italy must condemn without ambiguity the attack against Ukraine and, together with our allies, react to this unprecedented challenge to the principles of freedom and democracy in Europe.

Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League who in 2019 was praised by Putin for being “welcoming” to Russia, wrote on social media:

A horrible Thursday, images we never wanted to see again, let’s hope it ends soon and reason returns to prevail.

He added that the League strongly condemns any form of military aggression and supported Draghi for a common response among allies, while urging coalition partners not to use the tragedy as an excuse for “internal quarrels”.

Salvini has previously described the Russian president as one of the greatest statesmen alive” and called sanctions against Russia “idiotic”.

Updated

Peter Beaumont in Lviv, western Ukraine, writes:

On the streets of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv the queues on Thursday morning for banks, pharmacies and supermarkets snaked around the block.

On the cobbled streets, there were two classes of people: those glued to the news of the Russian invasion on their phones, and those talking about it.

Outside the Kredo Bank on Schevchenka Avenue, in the centre of the city this sits just 60 kilometres from the Polish border, one couple were discussing how much the price of bread would be in a day’s time, while two younger men talked about the how to find thermal imaging equipment for the country’s troops.

In recent weeks Lviv has seemed one of the country’s safer places. Western embassies concerned about the possibility of a Russian invasion relocated here.

But the morning air raid sirens and the news of Russian strikes in Lutsk to the north and Ivano-Frankivsk to the south have punctured that illusion.

One of those glued to his phone was Ivan Taibov, aged 27, a sailor from Odessa in Ukraine’s south west. He displays a screen showing video of smoke rising from Odessa. “It’s my city. They’re calling for people to come to it’s defence,” he explained. “I’ve been visiting Lviv. Now I’m trying to see if it is possible to get back to Odessa because there will be a fight.”

For Tanya Hrunyk, a 43-year-old economist waiting in one of the bank queues, the question is whether to stay in Lviv and for how long. “I haven’t made up my mind yet. I have family in the country where I could go and stay. I’ll go if the authorities call for an evacuation. Until then I’m not sure.”

Asked what she made of Vladimir Putin’s reasons for attacking on her country she replied sharply: “He’s a crazy man. He’s mentally ill. Our task is to stay calm and united.”

For some, the military offensive that was launched on Thursday morning, caught them far from home and wondering what the Russian offensive augurs for other neighbouring countries.

Some are concerned that this will not be a short crisis.

Weighed down with plastic bags, bartender Ivan Borislavsky had been buying baby formula to last four months for his infant and the baby his partner is expecting in a month.

“I’m worried things will be in short supply and the prices will go up.” Asked by the Guardian if he was thinking of leaving he replied: “I need to stay. I need to fight for my wife and children and my land.”

People queue at an ATM in Lviv, Ukraine.
People queue at an ATM in Lviv, Ukraine. Photograph: Pavlo Palamarchuk/Reuters

Updated

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday called on all citizens who were ready to defend the country from Russian forces to come forward, saying Kyiv would issue weapons to everyone who wants them, Reuters reports.

Zelenskiy also urged Russians to come out and protest against the war.

Separately Ukraine’s foreign ministry has said “the situation is under control” and that Russian troops are suffering losses.

And here is a tweet from a Ukrainian diplomat about the pain the invasion will inflict on ordinary people.

Oksana Grytsenko has been speaking to people in the south and east of Ukraine. Some refused to give their surnames for fear of reprisals.

Mariupol

Yulia, a local journalist, says she heard the sounds of an explosion from the eastern part of the city, which is located close to Russian-occupied territory. “There was shelling there. A shell hit a residential house and it was burning,” she said. Yulia and her young son are based in the Primorsky district in the southwest of the city and she said it’s quiet there. “We’ve collected our stuff and are ready to run to a bomb shelter if necessary,” she said.

She added she’s worrying because she can’t reach her mother, who lives in the eastern part of the city, by phone. “I hope it’s just because her phone battery has run out.”

Odessa

Maxim Holenko, a theater director, said he’s heading to his theatre for a meeting with his colleagues to decide how to live under martial law. “Performances have been canceled for the time being,” he said. He said it’s quiet in the city center but there are sounds of shelling from the south of the city. There were rumors about Russian airborne forces landing in the city, but they turned out to be fake. “But I’ve seen the news about explosions in Podolsk [a city in the northern part of Odessa Oblast]. They were reportedly shelled from Transnistria,” he said. He sent a video of black smoke resulting from shelling in Odesa filmed by an actor from his theatre.

Kherson Oblast

A column of Russian tanks, APCs, military trucks, and multiple rocket launches are moving to the north of Kherson Oblast in direction of Nova Kakhovka. Russian troops are passing Ukrainian villages without stopping there, a local resident told the Guardian.

“We are just sitting near our houses,” said Svitlana, a resident of the town of Chaplynka in Kherson Oblast. “The shops are closed, nothing is working.” She added that there were sounds of shelling in the morning, but now it’s quiet.

Emmanuel Macron has said he firmly condemned Russia’s decision to go to war in Ukraine and demanded an immediate end to military operations, writes Angelique Chrisafis in Paris.

Macron said France stood by Ukrainians and would work with its partners and allies to stop the war. The French president spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy on his mobile at 8am this morning and is currently holding an emergency defence meeting at the Elysée with the prime minister, the defence minister and top members of cabinet.

Vladimir Putin will not be easily swayed by western sanctions or condemnation, suggests the Moscow-based political analyst Alexander Baunov.

The Guardian’s defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh, has been assessing Russia and Ukraine’s military forces and what western analysts believe Vladimir Putin wants from his all-out invasion.

Here is his report :

Russia has amassed more than 150,000 combat troops on the borders of Ukraine, with another 34,000 lightly armed separatist forces in the pro-Russian self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk. That amounts to an estimated two-thirds of Russia’s total ground forces. Half of Moscow’s air force is also deployed in the region.

The invasion of Ukraine is set to be the biggest war seen in the world since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, in which around 175,000 troops were deployed; and western military leaders have warned could lead to the most serious fighting in Europe since the end of the second world war.

Western defence sources have said they expect Russia to invade on “multiple axes” of attack – but the key focus is expected to be the capital, Kyiv, which has a population of around 3 million. They believe the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, wants to engage in “regime change” in Kyiv, encircling the city with its military and hoping to oust the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, without engaging in urban warfare.

Britain has warned that Russia’s FSB spy agency has been tasked with delivering Kyiv and Ukraine’s other major cities, while the US has gone further and claimed that Russian officials have drawn up lists of Ukrainian figures to round up in areas where its military has attained control. Ukraine has a regular army that numbers 125,600 according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), but has mobilised its reserves of at least 36,000. Many others in the country have said they are willing to fight, and there are around 300,000 people who have had military experience of fighting in the east, some of whom may join an armed resistance.

Kyiv’s military is largely concentrated in the east of the country, near the occupied Donbas region, and western analysts believe a key goal of early Russian operations will be to try and degrade Ukraine’s fighting forces. Russia also has significant advantages in air power: its total air force has 1,172 combat aircraft against Ukraine’s 124, according to the IISS. Russia’s navy is dominant in the northern Black Sea where there are concerns that the Kremlin may try to launch a sea-based attack on Odessa.

Although Ukraine has sought to modernise its military over the past year, receiving Javelin anti-tank missiles from the US, shorter range anti-tank weapons from the UK, and a small number of TB2 drones from Turkey, the bulk of its army and equipment are older versions of equipment whose designs date back to the Soviet era and will be familiar to Russian generals. There will be no direct military support from Nato as Ukraine is not a member of the military alliance.

Updated

The British opposition leader Keir Starmer has said “the influence of Russian money must be extricated from the UK”, as he cancelled a planned speech on the economy following the developments in Ukraine, writes Aubrey Allegretti from Westminster.

The Labour leader said Vladimir Putin’s order to send in troops “will have horrendous and tragic consequences that will echo throughout the world and throughout history”.

All those who believe in the triumph of democracy over dictatorship, good over evil, freedom over the jackboot of tyranny must now support the Ukrainian people.

After the government was criticised for what were derided as weak sanctions announced by Boris Johnson on Tuesday, Starmer urged the prime minister to “match our rhetoric with action”.

The hardest possible sanctions must be taken against all those linked to Putin.

The influence of Russian money must be extricated from the UK. And those who have for too long turned a blind eye to Russia’s actions must reckon with their own consciences.

Johnson is expected to give an update following the COBR meeting, as well as make a statement to the Commons this morning where Starmer will respond.

Updated

Rouble falls to all-time low

The Russian central bank will step into the market to support the rouble, it said on Thursday, as the currency crashed to an all-time low, Reuters reports.

Moscow correspondent Pjotr Sauer writes that cash exchange points in the Russian capital have stopped trading roubles for dollars and euros. At a popular exchange point on the Tverskaya street the office manager said that they stopped converting roubles “two hours ago” as the Russian currency further spirals.

Here are the key points on the rouble’s slide from Reuters:

Russia’s currency, bonds and stocks all tanked, prompting the central bank to announce its first foreign exchange intervention designed to shore up financial stability since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

The rouble skidded to an all-time low of 89.60 against the dollar and neared a crucial threshold of 100 versus the euro. It was around 70 to the dollar and 81 to the euro before the recent round of geopolitical tensions between Moscow and the West started escalating in October.

‘To stabilise the situation on the financial market, the Bank of Russia decided to start interventions on the currency market,’ the bank said on Thursday. The move helped the rouble to slightly narrow losses.

Updated

From Reuters:

ADVISER IN UKRAINE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE SAYS SITUATION UNDER CONTROL, THERE WILL BE NO BLITZKRIEG

Lithuania’s president, Gitanes Nausėda, is to ask Nato for security consultations, reports Reuters.

Lithuania wants to invoke the defence alliance’s article 4, which allows any Nato country to ask for talks on an issue of concern, “especially related to the security of a member country”. The article has been invoked several times since Nato was founded in 1949.

Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, is due to meet the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Brussels this morning. Stoltenberg will then hold an emergency press conference at Nato’s headquarters.

Updated

In a strongly worded statement, the Spanish government has called Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine “a totally unjustified aggression of unprecedented seriousness and a flagrant violation of international law that risks global security and stability”, writes Sam Jones in Madrid.

It said King Felipe would preside over a meeting of the national security council at midday on Thursday. It added:

We demand an immediate cease to hostilities before the number of victims rises, and for the return of troops to the internationally recognised Russian Federation territory.

In these most difficult hours, we also want to reiterate our support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and to show our solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

The government said Spain was working with its EU partners and Nato allies to come up with a response to match “the seriousness of the illegal conduct of the Russian Federation”.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is due to attend the emergency EU summit in Brussels this evening.

Updated

Ukraine’s ambassador to Ireland, Larysa Gerasko, held back tears this morning telling RTE she “cannot believe this is happening in the 21st century”, reports Ireland correspondent Lisa O’Carroll.

“My thoughts are with my people, with my family,” she said. She condemned the “cynical” attack of Russia on her country, which she said started just as the Russian federation was making its speech to an emergency UN security council.

“Putin is testing Ukraine and the security architecture of the whole world,” she said.

Gerakso told RTE:

The devastating and tough sanctions have to be imposed now immediately. Millions of lives are at stake now, life of Ukrainians, the democratic world has to isolate Russia by all means. And Ukraine needs financial support and humanitarian assistance, and of course military.

The foreign minister, Simon Coveney, told RTE that EU diplomats, including the two Irish representatives, had moved to a safe place in Kyiv and would be meeting in the next half hour.

Updated

Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, has joined the condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, writes Angela Giuffrida in Rome.

Draghi said:

The Italian government condemns Russia’s attack on Ukraine. It is unjustified and unjustifiable. Italy is close to the Ukrainian people and institutions in this dramatic moment. We are working with European and Nato allies to respond immediately, with unity and determination.

Italy had been one of the EU countries, along with France and Germany, arguing for a gradual approach to sanctions against Russia. But all calculations have been upended by the invasion. EU leaders are to discuss imposing “massive and severe consequences on Russia for its action” at an emergency summit on Thursday evening.

As this tweet from a German diplomat shows, preparations are already underway.

Updated

Russian state media have spent the morning praising the military operation in Ukraine, calling it a military intervention in Donbas, while largely ignoring missile strikes on infrastructure and some cities throughout the country, writes Andrew Roth from Moscow.

As Russian tanks crossed the borders into Ukraine from points north, east, and south of Kyiv, Rossiya-24, the 24-hour news channel, displayed a chyron reading: “Ukrainian neo-nationalists are waiting for the right moment to strike against Russia.”

Live reports were aired from cities in Donetsk and Luhansk, where correspondents were mainly focused on local battles for cities rather than the broader Russian invasion taking place across the country.

For Russians who are watching the news, they might think this is largely focused in the areas where fighting has been taking place for eight years. While many ordinary Russians were expressing shock at the attack, some reporters and managers at state-run channels were clearly enjoying the moment.

A reporter at one state media agency told the Guardian: “Unfortunately all I’ve heard this morning is pride.”

Margarita Simonyan, the newly sanctioned head of RT, wrote in a tweet: “This is a standard parade rehearsal,” she wrote. “Except this year we have decided to hold the parade in Kyiv.”

Updated

China’s embassy in Ukraine is warning its citizens there to take cover as the situation has “deteriorated sharply”, according to a post on its WeChat page. It urges Chinese citizens and Chinese-funded enterprises to take shelter, and stay indoors away from glass windows, and to keep in touch with Chinese associations and representatives in the country. Those traveling by car should make sure they are able to refuel, and if they get stuck the embassy is suggesting they affix a Chinese flag to their car.

The reason for this isn’t totally clear. China has not so far ordered or suggested its citizens evacuate from Ukraine, as other governments have done in recent days and weeks. China’s government and President Xi Jinping have been forging closer ties with Russia and Putin in recent years, and there is a lot of speculation over exactly how China will handle the invasion. We reported a little earlier today that China’s ministry of foreign affairs is so far saving its condemnation for the US and allies, accusing them of fanning tensions and inciting war, while at the same time rejecting the characterisation of Russia’s move today as an “invasion”.

Updated

From Reuters:

An adviser in the Ukraine president’s office says there is a massive Russian artillery bombardment of infrastructure.

He says Ukrainian armed forces are fighting hard.

Updated

Red Square is relatively empty this morning with only the occasional local tourist taking photos, reports Pjotr Sauer in Moscow.

There is a noticeable police presence, likely to prevent any potential demonstrations and pickets.

“We just arrived to Moscow last night for a weekend holiday and then saw the shocking news,” a visitor from Irkutsk said.

Russian honour guards attend the changing of guards ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall in downtown Moscow
Russian honour guards attend the changing of guards ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall in downtown Moscow Photograph: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has called an urgent meeting of the nation’s foreign and defence council, to discuss the invasion and how best to protect ethnic Greeks living in Ukraine, writes Helena Smith in Athens.

The government’s supreme policy-making body, Kysea, is expected to focus on Athens’ plans to support the 120,000-strong community in the east of the country. Most of the diaspora reside in the coastal city of Mariupol, which may well become a battle front as the full-scale invasion develops.

The centre right government has vowed to protect the community amid speculation that Hellenic navy ships could be dispatched to evacuate ethnic Greeks.

After a similar Kysea meeting earlier this week Mitsotakis said:

Our country has an additional reason for concern when following developments, the protection and support of ethnic Greeks in Ukraine and the very large community in Mariupol which has been present in the region for over 2,000 years.

Updated

Spain and Portugal have condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine, writes Sam Jones in Madrid.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, tweeted: ‘The government of Spain condemns Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and expresses its solidarity with the Ukrainian government and its people. I remain in close contact with our partners and allies in the European Union and Nato to coordinate our response.”

Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, said he “vehemently condemned” Russia’s attack on Ukraine, adding: “My thoughts are with the Ukrainian people in the face of this unjustified and lamentable attack.”

Both leaders are due at an emergency EU summit in Brussels on Thursday evening, a meeting called before the invasion began to discuss options for holding Russia to account.

Updated

UK vows ‘unprecedented’ sanctions to punish Russia's 'appalling decision’

A UK foreign office minister has promised “unprecedented” sanctions to punish Russia’s “appalling decision” to invade Ukraine, writes Aubrey Allegretti in London.

As a Cobra meeting chaired by Boris Johnson got underway, the foreign office minister James Cleverly promised an “unprecedented” set of sanctions would be imposed by the UK to punish Russia for the “appalling decision” to invade Ukraine.

In a direct attack on President Vladimir Putin, Cleverly accused him of “recreating some kind of tsarist, expansionist Russia” and being driven by ego as well as a “foolish attempt to write himself into the history books”.

Ukrainians will be “ferocious in the defence of homelands”, said Cleverly, but admitted that Nato could not provide troops or offensive weapons to help them fight back if troops advance toward Kyiv.

Asked if British intelligence suggested Putin was planning to try to seize control of the Ukrainian capital, Cleverly told Sky News: “We do, of course, fear that he might try and do something as reckless as that.”

Cleverly said Moscow had used lies and false flag operations to “justify the unjustifiable”.

He defended the nearly £2m of Russian-linked money taken in donations by the Conservative party since Johnson became prime minister. Cleverly - a former party chairman - insisted the sources of the cash were “certainly not Putin’s buddies”. When pressed on how he knew, he said: “Because we do our due diligence.”

He added: “I don’t think this attacking Ukraine has anything to do with London’s role as a Financial Services Centre.”

The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, and Tim Barrow (second left), the political director at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, arrive in Downing Street, London, for a Cobra meeting called by the prime minister to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, and Tim Barrow (second left), the political director at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, arrive in Downing Street, London, for a Cobra meeting called by the prime minister to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Updated

The head of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, Norbert Röttgen, has said he now supports sending weapons to Ukraine.

Germany has refused to send weapons to Ukraine, even blocking the release of German origin weapons being transferred from Estonia. Although Röttgen is not part of Germany’s governing coalition, it is a sign of the debate that will surely intensify in Berlin.

Updated

A report by Helen Davidson on China’s early response:

The invasion is the first question asked, but spokeswoman Hua Chunying takes issue with that term, and instead says the situation has a “complex historical background”.

Hua again accused the US and others of fanning tensions and inciting war, saying China’s approach so far had been responsible. “China again calls for all sides to not close the doors on peace and stay committed to dialogue and negotiation,” she said.

The language largely repeated the message of yesterday’s briefing in which Hua also expressed hope that all sides could be “cool-headed and rational” and commit to a peaceful resolution. Chinese state media is today promoting one of her more fiery quotes from that presser, again attributing more hostility and blame over the crisis to the US than to Russia:

When the US drove five waves of Nato expansion eastward all the way to Russia’s doorstep and deployed advanced offensive strategic weapons in breach of its assurances to Russia, did it ever think about the consequences of pushing a big country to the wall?

Among China watchers, several have suggested this reasoning could one day be used in the event Beijing decides to move on Taiwan - an increasingly EU-friendly government that makes big weapons purchases from the US.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying answers questions during the daily press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Beijing
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying answers questions during the daily press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Beijing Photograph: Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Initial reports of casualties: At least eight people have been killed and nine were wounded by the Russian shelling, an adviser to the Ukrainian minister of internal affairs has said, according to Reuters.

People are seen outside the cordoned off area around the remains of a shell in a street in Kyiv
People are seen outside the cordoned off area around the remains of a shell in a street in Kyiv Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Pjotr Sauer sends reactions from Moscow’s Arbat Street:

Confusion is felt throughout Moscow this morning. On the Old Arbat, one of Moscow’s busiest pedestrian streets, many expressed shock that Russia had launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine.

“I didn’t think Putin would be willing to go all the way. How can we bomb Ukraine? We have our disagreements, but this is not to a way to solve them,” said Ksenia Fadeeva.

“I am embarrassed for my country. To be honest with you, I am speechless. War is always scary. We don’t want this,” said Nikita Golubev.

“I couldn’t believe the news I read this morning. A war with Ukraine? What are we doing? I feel powerless,” said Tatyana, who asked for her surname not to be published.

The Ukrainian Cultural Center in central Moscow said it was shut today due to the invasion . The Ukrainian administrator, who didn’t want to give his name, said: “We are being bombed as we speak. Of course we are closed! Jesus, what is happening?”

More on the still unconfirmed Russian ground invasion in the east:

Reuters is citing the Ukrainian border guard as saying separate Russian military columns have crossed the Ukrainian border into Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions.

On the confusion around whether Putin may have recorded his declaration of war message days ago, more details here from Moscow correspondent, Andrew Roth:

Other reports suggest that Novaya Gazeta may have been incorrect in their analysis of the video of Putin’s speech. The newspaper reported that he filmed the speech three days ago, according to metadata.

But Aric Toler of the Bellingcat investigative group and other Russian journalists have noted that it’s likely that Novaya Gazeta scraped the data from the wrong file. The video uploaded to the Kremlin website shows that the file was created late Wednesday evening.

France’s president Emmanuel Macron, who had made a last-ditch but ill-fated effort to broker peace through a summit between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, said:

France strongly condemns Russia’s decision to wage war on Ukraine. Russia must end its military operations immediately. France stands in solidarity with Ukraine. It stands with the Ukrainians and works with its partners and allies to end the war.

Guardian reporter Luke Harding has this audio dispatch from Kyiv this morning:

Ukraine says Russia moving military equipment into the country's south east

Ukraine has accused Russia of moving military equipment into the country from annexed Crimea, according to Reuters.

A Reuters photographer has taken photos of tanks and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) heading to the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

It is not immediately clear if they are tanks from Russia.

Tanks move into the city, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, in Mariupol.
Tanks move into the city, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, in Mariupol. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

Police officers inspect the remains of a missile that fell in the street, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Police officers inspect the remains of a missile that fell in the street, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
Fire is seen coming out of a military installation near the airport, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, in Mariupol.
Fire is seen coming out of a military installation near the airport, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, in Mariupol. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters
Tanks move into the city, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized military operation in eastern Ukraine, in Mariupol.
Tanks move into the city, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized military operation in eastern Ukraine, in Mariupol. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

Video footage indicates that Russian rockets have hit population centres in major Ukrainian cities despite claims by the Russian military that it is only targeting military infrastructure.

Images from the city of Kharkiv showed what appeared to be the tail section of a rocket fired from a Smerch heavy multiple rocket launcher. The rocket’s payload failed to explode on impact and it was left sticking out of the pavement in the city close to an Orthodox church.

CIT, an open-source research group, confirmed that the video was shot in Kharkiv and that the tali section resembled a Smerch rocket. The use of those rockets against population centres is a “war crime,” the group claims.

Rob Lee, a former marine and senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said it was unlikely that the rocket would be a precision-guided munition, calling it an “ominous sign”.

Putin likely pre-recorded his declaration of war, Russia media report

  • Editor’s note: there is now scepticism from other reports on this claim. See here.

Russian media have reported that Putin likely pre-recorded his declaration of war as early as Monday. Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta found that the metadata on the video file uploaded to the Kremlin website was created at 7pm on February 21, nearly three days before Putin announced the beginning of his military operation on Thursday morning.

The similarities between Putin’s appearance today and earlier this week had already raised questions about whether he filmed his declaration of war in advance. He is wearing the same tie and seated at the same desk when he announced his recognition of the Russian-controlled territories on Monday, and when he announced the start of his military operation on Thursday.

The Kremlin and its allies have already been caught for pre-recording other events that were supposedly broadcast live, like the meeting of the Kremlin’s Security Council or announcements of evacuations from Donetsk and Luhansk territories. But if true, the pre-recording of Putin’s declaration of war would further suggest that the Kremlin never took the diplomatic path seriously and was always preparing to launch an invasion of Ukraine.

Updated

Reports of casualties are already starting to come in.

Ukraine’s interior ministry adviser says shelling across Ukraine has killed one and wounded another in Brovary in the Kyiv region.

Ukraine’s military added that two Russian tanks and several trucks in eastern Ukraine were seen while Russia is moving military equipment across from annexed Crimea.

Meanwhile, Russian-backed separatists say they now control two towns in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, according to a report from RIA new agency.

This report was confirmed by Ukraine police who later said two villages in Luhansk region seized.

Russia’s defence ministry said it has taken out military infrastructure at Ukrainian air bases and degraded Ukraine’s air defences, Russian news agencies reported.

The Russian ministry denied reports that one of its aircraft had been downed over Ukraine. Ukraine’s military said earlier that five Russian planes and one helicopter had been shot down over its Luhansk region.

Updated

Oil price spikes 5% amid fears conflict will fuel inflation

The cost of oil has soared past $100 a barrel in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, fuelling fears about more inflationary pressures spreading through the global economy.

The attack also triggered heavy selling in stock markets in Asia, with similar large falls of more than 2% expected in London, Europe and the US today.

The benchmark Brent crude has risen 5.11% so far on Thursday and traders are concerned that the rising price of other key industrial commodities such as nickel will add to acute inflationary woes in western economies.

Kyle Rodda of IG Markets in Melbourne said the spike could be part of a pincer movement of prices that force the US Federal Reserve and other central banks to rais einterest rates into the teeth of inflation. He said:

A civil war would be both a huge growth shock to the European – and global economy – and inflation shock. That’s a dangerous mix, because the supply disruptions in commodity prices would drive costs higher, and exacerbate the inflation central banks are already struggling to contain.

That means despite, this the Fed – and others – would be unable to buffet the shock, and would potentially have to tighten policy – a very negative scenario for risk assets.

The Russian rouble dropped 5.4% earlier to hit a record low against the euro and its lowest since 2016 against the US dollar. Trade in the currency was later suspended.

Updated

UN security briefing held as war broke

In case you missed the United Nations emergency security briefing earlier, the Guardian’s Julian Borger has compiled a rundown.

Vladimir Putin delivered his speech while an emergency session of the UN security council was underway. It will go down as one of the most surreal sessions the chamber has ever witnessed, as the very war it was supposed to prevent, broke out while it was sitting.

The secretary general, Antonio Guterres, was the first to speak, and at that time, Putin’s intentions were not entirely clear. But Guterres pointed to the reports of troops moving into position, and did something notable and rare for a UN secretary general: he publicly called out the head of a security council permanent member.

“If indeed an operation is being prepared, I have only one thing to say, from the bottom of my heart,” Guterres said. “President Putin - stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died.”

By the time it was time for the Russian permanent representative, Vasily Nebenzya, to speak, Putin had given his address, and there was no more mystery. Peace was not to be given a chance, after all. Nebenzya, who had spent weeks deriding western states for their “hysterical” warnings of impending invasion, pivoted to argue it was not actually a war that was getting underway, but a “special military operation” to protect the people of the Donbas.

The Ukrainian ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, had been waiting for his turn to speak while receiving constant updates from Kyiv. When his time came, he had to dispense with his prepared speech because, he said, “most of it is already useless”. Instead he held up a copy of the UN Charter, a small sky blue booklet, and read the clause that said UN membership was open to all peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the charter.

“Russia is not able to carry out any of those obligations,” Kyslytsya declared.
He challenged Nebenzya to deny that Ukraine was under attack.

“You have a smartphone,” he said, taunting the Russian to check with his boss, the foreign minister, on what was really going on. “You can call Lavrov right now. We can make a pause to let you go out and call him.” Nebenzya declined.

“I have already said all I know at this point,” he said. “Waking up Minister Lavrov at this time is not something I plan to do.”

An hour or so into the meeting, the multiplying reports of bombardment of Ukrainian cities had reached the chamber, and if the futility of the council’s calls for peace and dialogue had not been clear before, they were now agonisingly obvious.

Some ambassadors demanded to speak for a second time to express their sense of betrayal.

“At the exact time as we were gathered in the council seeking peace, Putin delivered a message of war in total disdain for the responsibility of this council,” the US permanent representative, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said. “This is a grave emergency.”

Her British counterpart, Barbara Woodward declared it “a grave day for Ukraine and for the principles of the United Nations.” Kyslytsya himself was trembling with emotion. He stared at Nebenzya and demanded the Russian relinquish his duties as chair of the council.

“There is no purgatory for war criminals,” he warned him. “They go straight to hell.”
At that point, Nebenzya quickly closed the meeting, claiming that Russia’s aggression was not directed at the Ukrainian people, but “against the junta that is in power in Kiev”. Then he adjourned and left. A security council that had begun, just about, in peacetime, had broken up in a time of war, and perhaps at the start of a major conflict.

A quick tweet here from Ukraine’s president Zelenskiy who earlier made an urgent national address introduced martial law and urged people to remain calm.

Ukraine introduces martial law in face of 'full-scale invasion'

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy made an urgent national address to the nation in the wake of the Russian declaration of its “special military operation” this morning.

In a brief video address, Zelenskiy said Russia has carried out missile strikes on Ukraine infrastructure and on Ukrainian border guards with explosions being heard in many cities across the country. He has introduced martial law.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba 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.”

Updated

We’re beginning to get a picture of what the Russian invasion may be aiming to achieve although with the huge caveat that everything is incredibly chaotic.

CNN has pictures of what appears to be a column of tanks crossing in the area of the Senkivka border crossing with Belarus.

The Ukrainian border guard has said the country has been attacked from the northern border with Belarus and that Belarussian troops appear to be involved in the assault.

If – and again it is a big if – that is what we are seeing then the obvious route south is towards Cherniv which is on the road to Kyiv following the east side of the Dnieper river.

This is not the only axis of attack for Russian forces as far as we can gather. There are also reports of troops crossing further south towards Kharkiv and reports of on going clashes around Lukhansk and Donetsk.

The Russian defence ministry is also saying that Ukraine’s air bases have been neutralised. Bear in mind all of this is on top of air and missile strikes. Even where I’m sitting in Lviv in the far west of Ukraine where a lot of the diplomatic missions have withdrawn to I’m hearing what appears to be intermittent sirens in the distance.

Bear in mind too that we are just three hours into this. This has a long way to go.

Things to be looking out for, I suspect, are whether the Russian forces also make an incursion to the west of the Dnieper river and to the east of Kyiv which will give us a good idea whether Kyiv is one of the main centres of gravity for the invasion.

The Russian military has claimed that all of Ukraine’s aviation bases had been disabled in the barrage of missiles that began the Russian invasion this morning around 5am.

Smoke has been seen rising from near major airfields outside of Kharkiv and other cities in the east. But Russia also appears to have hit airfields in Kherson and as far west as Ivano-Frankivsk, which is nearer to the border with Poland.

It has also indicated that its forces have entered Ukraine, claiming that Ukraine’s border forces “are not putting up any resistance to Russian units.”

Air raid sirens in Kyiv as residents flee

Reports of explosions have been filtering in from Kyiv, as well as reports of air raid sirens and rocket attacks on Ukrainian fighter jets at an airport outside the city.

Russian forces fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities and landed troops on its south coast on Thursday, officials and local media report, after Russian president Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a “special military operation” in the east.

Heavy traffic heading out of Kyiv on Thursday morning.
Heavy traffic heading out of Kyiv on Thursday morning. Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Residents could be seen fleeing the city in buses and cars, and Kyiv’s metro system was busy with people carrying suitcases.

People board a bus at the Vydubytchi bus station in Kyiv.
People board a bus at the Vydubytchi bus station in Kyiv on Thursday. Photograph: Olga Shylenko/AFP/Getty Images

Guardian reporter Luke Harding who is based in Kyiv said explosions have been reported across the country, including in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Dnipro, Odessa, Slavayansk and Kramatorsk.

Two big blasts were reported being heard from the city of Mariupol one after another in an easterly direction, according to a Reuters witness.

People, some carrying bags and suitcases, at a metro station in Kyiv early on Thursday.
People, some carrying bags and suitcases, at a metro station in Kyiv early on Thursday. Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images

Ukraine’s defence minister said Russia began intense shelling of Ukrainian military units in the east, as well as military control centres and airfields.

A photo provided by the Ukrainian President’s office appeared to show an explosion in the country’s capital, Kyiv, early Thursday morning.

Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, presidents of the European Commission and Council, have issued a joint statement:

We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s unprecedented military aggression against Ukraine. By its unprovoked and unjustified military actions, Russia is grossly violating international law and undermining European and global security and stability.

We call on Russia to immediately cease the hostilities, withdraw its military from Ukraine and fully respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence. Such use of force and coercion has no place in the 21st century.”

President Michel of the European Council has urgently convened an extraordinary meeting of the European Council while EU leaders will meet later today to discuss the crisis and further restrictive measures upon Russia.

President von der Leyen will also outline a further sanctions package being finalised by the European Commission and which the Council will swiftly adopt.

We deplore the loss of life and humanitarian suffering. The EU and its Member States are ready to urgently provide humanitarian emergency response. We call on Russia and Russia-backed armed formations to respect international humanitarian law.

The EU stands firmly by Ukraine and its people as they face this unparalleled crisis. The EU will provide further political, financial and humanitarian assistance.

We are coordinating our response with our international partners, including NATO and G7 whose leaders will meet today.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaks during a press statement on Ukraine, at EU headquarters in Brussels
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaks during a press statement on Ukraine, at EU headquarters in Brussels Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AP

Updated

Ukraine shoot down five Russian planes, defence ministry says

Ukraine’s defence ministry says it has shot down five Russian planes and one helicopter in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

According to the Joint Forces Command, today, on February 24, 5 planes and a helicopter of the aggressor were shot down.

The Joint Forces give a worthy rebuff to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Military units are in their positions. The enemy is taking losses.

Stay calm and believe in the Ukrainian defenders. Together we will win! Glory To Ukraine!”

The Russian military has denied that one of its planes was shot down in fighting over Ukraine this morning.

Updated

Western leaders have decried Russia’s president Vladimir Putin as Russia launches attacks on Ukraine.

Western leaders responded with fury to Russia launching military attacks on Ukrainian cities, and vowed to hold the Kremlin accountable with strengthened sanctions and other measures.

Shortly after reports of explosions near Kyiv broke, US president Joe Biden accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of choosing a “premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering”.

“The prayers of the world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces,” he said.

Read the full story below.

If you have just joined us, here is a helpful run down from the Guardian’s world affairs editor Julian Borger.

Updated

Ukraine border attacked by troops from Russia and Belarus: border guard

Ukraine’s border service says guards were attacked by Russian troops from Russia and Belarus.

Meanwhile, CNN reports witnessing through a livestream video troops entering Ukraine via Belarus.

According to the outlet, troops atop a column of military vehicles were seen entering Ukraine from a border crossing with Belarus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko reportedly spoke by phone on Thursday, according to Belarusian state news agency Belta.

“At about 5am today, a telephone conversation took place between the Presidents of Belarus and Russia, during which Vladimir Putin informed his Belarusian counterpart about the situation on the border with Ukraine and in the Donbas,” Belta cited the Belarusian presidential press service as saying.

Scenes from Kyiv show residents carrying bags and suitcases at a metro station in the city.

Others show quiet streets and queues for cash machines.

People, some carrying bags and suitcases, walk at a metro station in Kyiv early on 24 February after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine.
People, some carrying bags and suitcases, walk at a metro station in Kyiv early on 24 February after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine. Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

I’m Samantha Lock and welcome to our rolling coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, which has escalated in recent hours with the start of a Russian attack on its neighbour.

Here are the main developments:

  • Russia has launched a military attack on Ukraine after president Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a “special military operation” to “demilitarise and denazify” the neighbouring country.
  • Putin’s justified the attack by claiming that “a hostile anti-Russia is being created on our historic lands”. His remarks came in a televised address at around 2.30am GMT – as an emergency meeting of the UN security council was under way in New York to avert conflict. He also vowed “consequences greater than any you have faced in history” if there was any attempt to interfere.
  • Explosions were heard and reported in many cities and military locations around Ukraine shortly afterwards at around 5am Ukraine time (3am GMT).
  • Russian troops have landed in Odessa while others are crossing the border into Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said, in what appeared to be a broad attack across the country.
  • Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the nation in a TV address on Thursday morning that Russia has carried out missile strikes on infrastructure and border guards.
  • Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia had launched “a full-scale invasion” of his country. “Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win,” he said.
  • Joe Biden issued a written statement saying that “the prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces”.
  • United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres made a direct plea to Russian present Putin, saying: “In the name of humanity bring your troops back to Russia.”
  • The British ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, has said that a “wholly unprovoked” attack on Ukraine is under way.
  • Stock markets in Asia Pacific plunged after the hostilities broke out and heavy losses are expected in Europe and the US later. Safe havens such as gold spiked, while Brent crude oil rose over $100 for the first time since 2014.
  • The two Russian-controlled territories in east Ukraine had earlier sent an official request to Moscow for military aid to “help repel the aggression of the Ukrainian armed forces”.

Updated

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