Despite Russia's President Vladimir Putin denying for months they would not invade, at around 4:30am local time today (February 24), the people of Ukraine began hearing explosions in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Since then many people have been fleeing their homes with many Brits living in the capital being told to leave whilst commercial flights were still available.
The BBC have since reported that they were able to verify a video which shows a "missile attack on an airport in western Ukraine."
However now flights between the UK and Ukraine are said to have been grounded.
Carriers such as Ryanair, Wizz Air and Ukraine International Airlines have all axed due to safety fears.
Speaking about the situation, budget airline Ryanair said: "Due to the closure of Ukrainian airspace overnight and the apparent invasion by Russian forces, all Ryanair flights to/from Ukraine have been suspended for at least the next 14 days.
"All affected passengers will receive email notices later this morning and all flights to/from Ukraine have been removed from sale for at least the next four weeks until further information becomes available from EU safety agencies.
"Ryanair remains committed to our services to/from Ukraine and we look forward to restoring flight services there as soon as it is safe to do so. We sincerely regret and apologise for these unprecedented disruptions and any inconvenience that they will inevitably cause to our Ukrainian customers."
East European-owned Wizz Air also suspended their flights stating that due to "current events in Ukraine and the airspace closure" flights are temporarily suspend.
Also discussing the situation Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), which links Gatwick Airport with Kyiv, has suspended all flights to and from Ukraine stating they have taken "all possible measures to ensure the safety of our passengers."
Ukraine's State Air Traffic Services Enterprise closed the country's airspace at 12:45am GMT today due to the "high risk of aviation safety for civil aviation."
Transport secretary Grant Shapps went on social media to report he had instructed the Civil Aviation Authority to "ensure airlines avoid Ukraine airspace to keep passengers and crew safe" adding "we continue to stand with the people of Ukraine and work with our international partners to respond to this act of aggression."
Today the UK Foreign Office also confirmed that "Ukraine’s airspace is closed."
Russia and Ukraine misleading social media post warning
The BBC have said that fake news is now spreading on social media.
Their warning reads: "Soon after President Putin declared the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, videos and images claiming to be from the conflict began trending on major social networks.
"While there is lots of genuine footage, some viral clips racking up hundreds of thousands of views show events from past conflicts or old military exercises. Many of these seem to coming from users posting content without checking."
The BBC said they have seen videos from the 2014 Russia-Ukraine war, the 2011 Libyan war and the 2020 Beirut explosions going viral with some users claiming it is from the ongoing situation.
They added: "In one example, a former Ukrainian ambassador to the US tweeted a video which he claimed was taken in Mariupol, but a version of the same clip was uploaded to TikTok weeks ago and apparently showing a lightning hitting a power station.
"Another viral video claiming to show Russian military paratroopers landing in Ukraine first appeared online in 2016.
"But Twitter seems to be taking a proactive role in confronting misleading content, as it seemed to have removed several videos proven to be old or false by fact-checkers and researchers."
