President Biden has condemned Russia’s ‘unprovoked and unjustified attack,’ after Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine and told Ukrainian service members to ‘lay down their arms and go home.’
‘President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,’ Biden said in a statement Wednesday night.
‘Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable.’
An US officials said Biden was speaking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, NBC reported.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted late Wednesday night that Biden was briefed on a secure call by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Chairman Mark Milley and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
Biden said he will be monitoring the situation from Washington, DC, and will continue to get regular updates from his national security team.
He announced he will join G7 counterparts tomorrow morning, and plans to address the country later on Thursday to ‘announce the further consequences the United States and its allies and partners will impose on Russia.’
‘We will also coordinate with our NATO Allies to ensure a strong, united response that deters any aggression against the Alliance. Tonight, Jill and I are praying for the brave and proud people of Ukraine,’ the statement added.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia’s actions were a ‘grave breach of international law’ and that allies would meet to address the ‘renewed aggression’.
He said on Twitter: ‘I strongly condemn #Russia’s reckless attack on #Ukraine, which puts at risk countless civilian lives. This is a grave breach of international law & a serious threat to Euro-Atlantic security. #NATO Allies will meet to address Russia’s renewed aggression.’
‘Once again, despite our repeated warnings and tireless efforts to engage in diplomacy, Russia has chosen the path of aggression against a sovereign and independent country,’ Stoltenberg added in a separate statement.
President Joe Biden has condemned Russia’s ‘unprovoked and unjustified attack’
Biden said he will be monitoring the situation from DC and will be joining US counterparts on Thursday
In a statement Wednesday, Biden said he will announce ‘the consequences the US and its allies will impose on Russia’
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia’s actions were a ‘grave breach of international law’ and that allies would meet to address the ‘renewed aggression’
An explosion is seen in the early hours of Thursday in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv
Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres also denounced the Kremlin’s attack on Ukraine, after pleading with Putin to ‘give peace a chance.’
‘Under the present circumstances, I must change my appeal: President Putin, in the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia. This conflict must stop,’ Guterres tweeted.
Putin announced the invasion in a 5.50am speech Thursday to the Russian people, saying he wants to ‘demilitarize’ and ‘de-Nazify’ the neighboring country – not occupy it. Putin also gave a chilling warning to the West.
‘To anyone who would consider interfering from the outside – if you do, you will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history,’ he said on a television broadcast around 6am Moscow time.
Putin said Russia could not exist with a ‘constant threat emanating from the territory of Ukraine’ as he said clashes between Russian and Ukrainian solders was ‘inevitable’.
Within minutes of his public address, explosions could be heard in the capital city of Kiev as well as the city of Kramatorsk in central Ukraine and Odessa in the south.
Putin has recognized two areas in eastern Ukraine as independent and authorized Russian troops to go in on ‘peacekeeping’ missions. Rebels already hold part of that territory (in red) but Putin has recognized a much-wider region (yellow) amid fears he will now try to seize it. There are also fears he is preparing to attack Kharkiv in Ukraine (green)
Putin has ordered an invasion of Ukraine and told Ukrainian service members to ‘lay down their arms and go home’
Putin told Russians: ‘I have decided to conduct a special military operation. Russia cannot exist with a constant threat emanating from the territory of Ukraine.
‘You and I have been left with no opportunity to protect our people other than the one we use today.’
It comes after explosions were heard near the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, as fears mounted that shelling is underway.
Residents in the city, which is located in south eastern Ukraine, have been woken up at 3.30am this morning by blasts 30 miles from the Russian border.
Video footage appeared to show clouds of smoke rising up into the night sky near Mariupol, but it was unconfirmed whether it was as a result of shelling.
Putin earlier this week said he wanted to take the major Azov Sea Port of Mariupol, which handles 50 per cent Ukraine’s steel and mineral exports.
The explosions come just hours after the US warned the Ukrainian government that Putin’s troops are ‘ready to go now’ with an invasion of Ukraine, with 80 per cent of Russian soldiers now assembled around the country in attack positions.
Unconfirmed reports said that Russian forces had destroyed or rendered unusable the Ukrainian navy, and taken control of Boryspil Airport in Kiev.
Access to the Black Sea and Azov Sea was cut off.
Unconfirmed reports on Twitter appeared to show a huge seaborne landing by Russian forces in the Black Sea port of Odessa, involving large landing craft and helicopters shortly before 6am local time.
Footage shows smoke supposedly rising on the skyline after the blasts were heard near Mariupol, eastern Ukraine
Russian armored vehicles are loaded onto railway platforms at a railway station in the Rostov-on-Don region, not far from Russia-Ukraine border, on Wednesday
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed that the Ukrainian people will ‘fight back’
Within minutes of Putin’s public address, explosions could be heard in the capital city of Kiev as well as the city of Kramatorsk in central Ukraine, and Odessa in the south.
Across Ukraine, cruise and ballistic missiles were destroying military infrastructure and strategically important facilities, according to unofficial Russian sources.
Mariupol, on the Black Sea 50 miles from the Russian border, appeared to be under fierce attack. Taking this strategic location would give the Donbas republics access to the sea.
The moment Ukraine and the rest of Europe had dreaded for months finally came shortly after 4.35am local time when huge explosions were heard in Kiev and other cities across the country.
Terrified citizens rushed to bomb shelters, though no air raid warnings sounded in the capital – only the frequent muffled crump of missile or air strikes breaking through the pre-dawn stillness.
In Kiev, people were sheltering in basements as the sounds of distant explosions became a constant backdrop.
Within an hour Russians special force and airborne troops were reported to be on the ground at Kiev’s Boryspil Airport, amid fierce fighting.
A woman in the Ukrainian capital said: ‘I was woken by a friend.
‘I am in the centre of Kyiv.
‘I hear the sound of distant explosions and ambulance sirens.’
Explosions can also be heard from Ukraine in the Russian city of Belgorod.
Putin told Russians: ‘I have decided to conduct a special military operation. Russia cannot exist with a constant threat emanating from the territory of Ukraine.
‘You and I have been left with no opportunity to protect our people other than the one we use today.’
It comes after explosions were heard near the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, as fears mounted that shelling is underway.
Residents in the city, which is located in south eastern Ukraine, have been woken up at 3.30am this morning by blasts 30 miles from the Russian border.
Video footage appeared to show clouds of smoke rising up into the night sky near Mariupol, but it was unconfirmed whether it was as a result of shelling.
Putin earlier this week said he wanted to take the major Azov Sea Port of Mariupol, which handles 50 per cent Ukraine’s steel and mineral exports.
The British foreign secretary Liz Truss tweeted her condemnation of the attack just after 4am local time.
‘I strongly condemn the appalling, unprovoked attack President Putin has launched on the people of Ukraine,’ she said.
‘We stand with Ukraine and we will work with our international partners to respond to this terrible act of aggression.’
The explosions come just hours after the U.S. warned the Ukrainian government that Putin’s troops are ‘ready to go now’ with an invasion of Ukraine, with 80 per cent of Russian soldiers now assembled around the country in attack positions.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken issued a further stark warning and said, hours before the invasion, that he believed Russia would invade before the night is over.
Russia on Wednesday afternoon issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) which closed the airspace along its northeastern border with Ukraine to all civilian air traffic.
Ukraine later said early on Thursday it had restricted civilian flights in its airspace due to ‘potential hazard’.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that the Ukrainian people will ‘fight back’ if Putin threatens their freedom and lives by launching a full-scale invasion.
President Zelenskyy made an emotional address to his nation after Moscow-backed rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine asked Putin for military assistance in fending off Ukrainian ‘aggression’.
In an emotional televised address on Wednesday night, President Zelenskyy said: ‘The people of Ukraine and the government of Ukraine want peace.
‘But if we come under attack, if we face an attempt to take away our country, our freedom, our lives and lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. When you attack us, you will see our faces, not our backs.’
The Ukrainian President said he had tried to call Putin this evening, but there was ‘no answer, only silence’, adding that Moscow now has around 200,000 soldiers by Ukraine’s borders.
The United Nations Security Council quickly scheduled an emergency meeting Wednesday night – the second in three days – at Ukraine’s request. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the separatists’ request ‘a further escalation of the security situation.’
Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine was placed on a war footing: A state of emergency was declared and approved by parliament, 200,000 military reservists called up, border zones were restricted and three million Ukrainians told to leave Russia, with Kiev acknowledging for the first time that an attack could now take place anywhere, at any time.
U.S. President Joe Biden today warned President Zelenskyy of an ‘imminent’ attack by Putin’s troops in the next 48 hours, just hours after Ukraine was hit by a ‘massive’ cyberattack targeting its government and banks.
But Blinken cut that time frame of a Russian invasion drastically and said on Wednesday he expected Russia to invade Ukraine before the night was over.
U.S. intelligence chiefs fear Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, is at particular risk of being targeted in a Russian invasion as it is close to the Ukrainian-Russian border.
On Wednesday night, a huge military convoy of more than 100 trucks with soldiers were heading in the direction of the city.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow…
Vladimir Putin praised the battle readiness of his armies and boasted of developing hypersonic weapons as he called Russia’s security interests ‘non-negotiable’ in an address to mark Defender of the Fatherland Day today
Boris Johnson is briefed by the Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin at the Ministry of Defence on the situation in Ukraine on Tuesday
A Russian attack on Ukraine could start in the Donbass region (top right) with attempts to expand rebel-held areas, that could either be in coordination with or before a much wider assault on the entire country (top right). Should the fighting spill over Ukraine’s borders, it could drag in NATO forces stationed in Europe (bottom centre)
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official warned Putin’s military is as ready as it can be to launch a full scale invasion of Ukraine, with 80 per cent of Russian troops assembled around Ukraine in attack positions within three to 30 miles of the border.
‘They are literally ready to go now,’ the official told NBC News, adding that Russia has brought in ‘nearly 100 percent of all the forces we anticipated [Putin] would need’ for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
‘He is as ready as he can be. We’ve been saying any day now and it’s certainly possible that today is that day,’ the U.S. defence official said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC Nightly News on Wednesday that he expected Russia to invade Ukraine before the night was over but still sees a chance to ‘avert a major aggression’.
‘Everything seems to be in place for Russia to engage in a major aggression against Ukraine,’ Blinken told NBC in an interview, adding he could not be precise about time or place.
In a significant move, the Kremlin said rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine asked Russia for military assistance Wednesday to help fend off Ukrainian ‘aggression’.
Many observers have suggested baseless and unfounded claims of Ukrainian military aggression to Moscow-backed separatist forces would form the pretext to a full-scale invasion.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the rebel chiefs in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk wrote to Putin, pleading with him to intervene after Ukrainian shelling caused civilian deaths and crippled vital infrastructure.
But the White House said the separatists’ request for Russian help was another example of the sort of ‘false-flag’ operations the West has consistently warned Moscow would use to create a justification for war.
‘We’ll continue to call out what we see as false flag operations or efforts to spread misinformation about what the actual status is on the ground,’ White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
In an apparent reference to Putin’s move to sanction the deployment of the Russian military to ‘maintain peace’ in eastern Ukraine, President Zelenskyy warned that ‘this step could mark the start of a big war on the European continent.’
‘Any provocation, any spark could trigger a blaze that will destroy everything,’ he said.
He challenged the Russian propaganda claims, saying that ‘you are told that this blaze will bring freedom to the people of Ukraine, but the Ukrainian people are free.’
If Russia does invade Ukraine, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby warned that any attack by Putin ‘won’t be bloodless’.
‘There will be suffering,’ Kirby said. ‘There will be sacrifice. And all of that must and should be laid at his feet. Because he’s doing this by choice.
And amid an ‘imminent’ Russian invasion, two separate convoys with no identifiable insignia were seen moving towards the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine along different roads from the direction of the Russian border, a Reuters witness said on Wednesday.
One convoy included nine tanks and an infantry fighting vehicle, while the other was made up of trucks and fuel tankers, said the reporter, who was in the territory of two Russia-backed rebel regions recognised as independent by Moscow on Monday.
Russia has up to 190,000 troops backed by tanks, artillery, fighter jets and bombers surrounding Ukraine from three sides, as the US warns of a full-scale invasion of the whole country including an attack on the capital, Kiev
Russian armoured vehicles and artillery pieces are seen at a rail yard in the Rostov-on-Don region, close to the border with Ukraine, as the country was today put on a war footing
Russian troops in full packs are seen marching through mud at a rail yard in Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia close to the frontline with Ukraine, with armoured vehicles loaded on to train carriages nearby
And on Wednesday night, the crack troops of Russia’s advanced units were banned from using all mobile phones in what was believed to be a key sign that they would invade Kyiv-controlled Ukraine.
The 1st and 2nd Army Corps in Donbas received an order to turn off mobile phones, according to the volunteer project Informnapalm on its Facebook page.
‘Attention! ….(we) received information from insiders from ORDLO that at 20:40 (Moscow time) all advanced units of the 1st and 2nd Army Corps were ordered to completely turn off phones and walkie-talkies.
‘They were strictly forbidden to go on the air for this time, they were even ordered to remove the batteries from their phones. As an option, the Russians will probably scan the space and all available phones on the line of contact in order to make target designations by coordinates,’ the statement said.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted on Wednesday that a night shift of the Titan chemicals plant in annexed Crimea had been evacuated from the facility.
He said it was a possible preparation for another staged provocation by Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014.
‘Moscow seems to have no limits in attempts to falsify pretexts for further aggression,’ he wrote.
Meanwhile, the websites of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service, and Cabinet of Ministers were all out of action Wednesday afternoon after a cyberattack. Bomb threats were also phoned in to several government buildings, thought to be part of a psychological pressure campaign by Moscow.
Deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov said banks were also targeted in a ‘massive’ distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack – which uses computer networks to bombard websites with information until they crash – in what analysts have warned would likely be the first stage of a Russian attack.
Russian armored vehicles are pictured at a railway station in the Rostov region, amid fears Putin is about to attack
Moscow’s foreign ministry announced on Tuesday that it would evacuate diplomats from the country soon, saying this was in order to ‘protect their lives’, and the withdrawal appeared to be underway on Wednesday, with workers pictured leaving the building in Kiev
A convoy of Russian military vehicles is seen as the vehicles move towards border in Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on Wednesday
As the noose tightened, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to send more weapons to help Ukraine defend itself against what the US has warned will be an all-out Russian assault. Johnson also promised more and tougher sanctions against Russia if Putin escalates further.
Earlier in the day, Vladimir Putin had given a sabre-rattling address to his troops to mark Defender of the Fatherland Day, praising their ‘battle readiness’ while saying he is assured that they will fight to defend Russian security interests – which he called ‘non-negotiable’. Russia also evacuated staff from its Kiev embassy.
Ukraine’s security agency claimed 45,000 plastic body bags have now been ordered to the Russian frontlines, giving the first hint of the amount lives Putin is willing to sacrifice to get what he wants – after Joe Biden said supplies of blood for transfusions have also been brought in.
The UN Security Council has also now scheduled an emergency meeting following a request from Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba asked for the meeting in a letter to Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, who holds the council presidency in February. The meeting is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday (02.30am GMT on Thursday).
The meeting comes two days after the 15-member council held an emergency open meeting, also at Ukraine’s request, which saw no support for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declaration of independence for two separatist areas in Ukraine’s east and his announcement that Russian troops would head there to keep the peace.
A convoy of Russian military vehicles is seen as the vehicles move towards border in Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on Wednesday
A convoy of Russian military vehicles is seen as the vehicles move towards border in Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on February 23
Russia has for months been massing troops, tanks, and support vehicles (pictured) on the border with Ukraine and is now thought to have up to 190,000 men ready to attack the country
Russia also began evacuating diplomatic staff from its Kiev embassy, with the flag lowered over the building (pictured, workers leave the building with their baggage on Wednesday, February 23)
Moscow’s foreign ministry announced on Tuesday that it would evacuate diplomats from the country soon, saying this was in order to ‘protect their lives’, and the withdrawal appeared to be underway on Wednesday, with workers pictured leaving the building in Kiev
Boris Johnson is briefed by the Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin at the Ministry of Defence on the situation in Ukraine on Tuesday
Meanwhile, Ms Truss sought to defend the UK’s own sanctions – criticised yesterday for not being harsh enough – by insisting that ‘nothing’ is off the table should Putin decide to escalate.
‘We’ve been very clear that we’re going to limit Russian access to British markets,’ Truss told Sky. ‘We’re going to stop the Russian government with raising sovereign debt in the United Kingdom.’
‘There will be even more tough sanctions on key oligarchs, on key organisations in Russia, limiting Russia’s access to the financial markets, if there is a full scale invasion of Ukraine,’ Truss said.
Separately, US Secretary of State Antony Bliken announced that he has called off a high-level summit with Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov scheduled for Thursday, saying it ‘does not make sense’ to go ahead with peace negotiations when an invasion is already underway.
Russia today began evacuating diplomatic staff from Ukraine, with the flag lowered over the embassy in Kiev.
Moscow’s foreign ministry announced on Tuesday that it would evacuate diplomats from the country soon, saying this was in order to ‘protect their lives’.
Asked if the evacuation had begun, the embassy’s spokesperson Denis Golenko told AFP by phone today: ‘Yes.’
Golenko said the evacuation was ‘linked to the fact that Western embassies announced evacuations of some of their staff, and that our ministry also took this decision.’
Some Western embassies, including the United States and Britain, moved their staff to the city of Lviv near the Polish border.
They did so fearing a Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying the capital could come under attack.
Fighting also escalated along the frontlines between separatist forces and Ukraine’s men overnight, with one Ukrainian soldier killed and six injured in shelling. A house was also hit in the village of Muratovo.
The Russian-backed leader of the breakaway Donetsk region said today that he wanted to peacefully settle its borders with Ukraine but reserved the right to ask ‘big Russia’ for help.
Denis Pushilin, who heads the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic that was recognised by Russia this week, said he favoured dialogue with Ukraine in the first instance.
But he told a news conference the situation in their long-running conflict had become critical and the separatists had accelerated a mobilisation of forces, in which healthy men between 18 and 55 have been called up to fight.
‘We will win. With people like this, we will win. With such a country, with big Russia, which we respect and value,’ he said. ‘We have no right to lose, or even to doubt in our victory.’