President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned Vladimir Putin for his invasion of the Ukraine and announced a series of new sanctions on Russian financial insitutitions that he said will have a ‘severe’ effect on that nation’s economy.
‘Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences,’ Biden said in remarks at the White House.
He accused Putin of empire building with Thursday’s invasion into the Ukraine. And he said he didn’t underestimate the Russian leader.
‘He has much larger ambitions than Ukraine. He wants to re-establish the former Soviet Union. That is what this is about,’ the president said.
He said he had no plans to speak with Putin.
Biden’s speech, which was delayed twice on Thursday afternoon as Russian forces made their way swiftly across the Ukraine. The Kremlin seized control of Chernobyl nuclear power plant after a ‘fierce’ battle with the condition of nuclear storage facilities ‘unknown’, Ukraine said, sparking fears of a radiation leak that could cause fallout in Europe.
Video revealed Russian tanks and armoured vehicles standing in front of the destroyed reactor, which sits just 60 miles north of the capital Kyiv.
‘Now the entire world sees clearly what Putin and his Kremlin allies are really all about. This was never about a genuine security concern on their part. It was always about naked aggression,’ the president noted.
He said putting sanctions on Putin himself was ‘on the table.’
But, in a baffling moment, he conceded that earlier sanctions – put on Russian financial institutions and Putin’s inner circle – didn’t prevent the Kremlin from invading its neighboring country. The president, however, then argued sanctions would work with time.
‘No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening. It’s going to take time. And we have to show resolve so he knows what’s coming,’ Biden noted. ‘He is going to test the resolve of the West to see if we stay together.’
Biden said four more major banks in Russia would be subject to sanctions as will more Russian billionaires. The U.S. and its allies already targered some Russian financial insitutions and members of Putin’s inner circle.
Biden emphasized the international community was backing this effort.
‘We will limit Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds, and yen,’ he said. ‘Between our actions and those of our allies and partners, we estimate that we will cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports. We will strike a blow through their ability to modernize their military.’
Specifically, the United States targeted Russia’s largest bank Sberbank, which holds nearly one-third of the overall Russian banking sector’s assets, and fully sanctioned Russia’s second largest bank VTB.
Families close to Putin were also targeted: Sergei Sergeevich Ivanov, a senior Russian official who became friends with Putin when they were in the KGB together; Andrey Patrushev, a Russian business CEO and banking executive whose father Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev is the former head of Russia’s security services; Ivan Igorevich Sechin, who works closely with his father Igor Ivanovich Sechin, who is considered Putin’s deputy.
Russian financial executives were also targed: Alexander Aleksandrovich Vedyakhin, the First Deputy Chairman of Executive Board of Sberbank; Andrey Sergeyevich Puchkov and Yuriy Alekseyevich Soloviev, two high-ranking VTB Bank executives; and Soloviev’s wife Galina Olegovna Ulyutina.
The sanctions notably did not target Russian energy companies, a major source of the nation’s wealth. But Biden and his fellow leaders have expressed concern about energy prices particularly as the cold weather lingers.
Biden also has been presented with a range of options for a cyber security attack on Russia that would hamper its ability to run the invasion. The options include cutting off Russia from the internet and shutting down the switches that control the railway system that is moving troops into position, NBC News reported.
The White House pushed back on the NBC report. Press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted: ‘This report on cyber options being presented to @POTUS is off base and does not reflect what is actually being discussed in any shape or form.’
Ukraine, meanwhile, demanded Russia be kicked out of the SWIFT banking system. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, is a cooperative of financial institutions formed in 1973. It acts as a secure messaging system that links more than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories, alerting banks when transactions are going to occur. To throw Russia out would cut the country off from most international transactions.
‘Right now that’s not the position Europe wishes to take,’ Biden said, ruling it out. ‘The sanctions we imposed exceed Swift.’
In other major developments in the hours since Putin’s assault:
- Global markets tanked off the back of the invasion, with Russia’s ruble sliding to its lowest value ever and the price of oil shooting up to over $100 per barrel
- EU will freeze Russian assets, halt access to financial market and target ‘Kremlin interests’
- Central European countries started preparations to receive potentially hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting in Ukraine
- UN Security Council will discuss a resolution condemning the invasion
- Ukraine demanded the world banish Russia from SWIFT banking system
- At least 40 Ukrainian soldiers killed, Ukrainian government says
- French President Emmanuel Macron said that Russian’s aggression against Ukraine constituted ‘the most serious attack on peace, on stability in Europe for decades’
- European soccer’s governing body stripped St. Petersburg, Russia, from hosting the Champions League final, the biggest club game of the year, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
- U.S. sending more military assets to Eastern Europe: Six F-35s will arrive in Estonia, Lithuania and Romania today — two to each country — the Pentagon said. Additionally, a group of attack helicopters ‘are on their way,’ a Pentagon official said, but noted there’s been ‘some weather issues’ to get them to their locations
President Joe Biden condemned Vladimir Putin for his invasion of the Ukraine and announced a series of new sanctions on Russian financial insitutitions that he said will have a ‘severe’ effect on that nation’s economy
Russian armoured vehicles park on roads near the Chernobyl plant, amid fears that damage to the facility could cause a radiation leak that would blanket Europe with fallout
A Russian T-72 tank is pictured sitting in front of the main reactor at Chernobyl after Putin’s forces seized it in a ‘fierce’ battle with the condition of nuclear storage facilities ‘unknown’
A night view of Kyiv as the mayor declared a curfew from 10pm to 7am
President Biden meets holds an emergency meeting with his National Security team in the Situation Room on Thursday morning in the midst of Vladimir Putin’s terrifying invasion of Ukraine from all sides
French President Emmanuel Macron takes part in a video-conference of G7 leaders on Ukraine just hours after Putin launched an all-out assault and launched attacks from multiple fronts
Biden appears in the top left corner of the Zoom meeting after he released a late night statement condemning Putin’s actions and vowing he would pay for the invasion of Ukraine
In this satellite image courtesy of Planet Labs PBC, smoke rises from the Chuhuiv Airbase outside of Kharkiv, Ukraine
Russian Mi-8 attack helicopters stage an assault on Gostomel air base, just on the outskirts of Kyiv, after Vladimir Putin launched an all-out attack on the country
A huge explosion is seen at Vinnytsia military base, in central Ukraine, as the country comes under all-out attack by Russia
An image captured near Kyiv shows what appears to be the wreckage of a downed Russian attack helicopter with a soldier parachuting out of it (to the left of the frame)
Biden met with G7 leaders on Thursday morning to discuss options and coordinate a severe economic and financial response.
The leaders of the seven industralized nations condemned Putin in a strongly-worded statement, saying the Russian president ‘re-introduced war to the European continent.’
‘He has put himself on the wrong side of history,’ the G7 leaders said of Putin after their Thursday morning meeting.
The virtual, closed-door meeting of G7 leaders – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – started at 9:17 a.m while shocking footage emerged of missiles hitting airports and military bases. The leaders concluded their conversation little more than an hour later, at 10:27 a.m.
As the meeting concluded, Ukrainian troops were fighting Russian forces for control of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, 60 miles north of the capital Kyiv, amid fears the battle could damage storage facilities holding nuclear waste sparking a fallout that could blanket Europe.
And the Pentagon said Russian forces are moving to decapitate the Ukrainian government and install their own.
‘Our assessment is they have every intention of decapitating the government and installing their own method of governance,’ a senior defense department official told reporters.
Biden started his day with a meeting of his National Security Council in the Situation Room at the White House as Russian helicopters swooped over Kiev and Putin launched an all-out attack from the north, south and east.
President Biden held a virtual meeting with G7 leaders, speaking from the Situation Room in the White House
The attack has come to Ukraine on all fronts, with bombs and missiles striking targets across the country, ground forces rolling in from Belarus, Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, and paratroopers dropping on Kharkiv
Elsewhere, Kyiv ordered civilians into bomb shelters and declared a curfew amid fears Russia is about to strike the Ukrainian capital as Kyiv’s troops lost control of a key airfield around 15 miles away. Russian forces had attacked it with around two dozen attack helicopters earlier in the day, four of which are thought to have been shot down.
Some Republicans criticized Biden for not immediately addressing the nation on Wednesday night, after the first explosions were heard in Kyiv, which was around 10 p.m. ET in the United States and 6 a.m. in the Ukraine.
Former President Donald Trump was scathing of Biden’s response, telling Fox News in a wild interview that Biden was ‘probably in bed right now’ rather than monitoring developments.
But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the president was being updated by Blinken, Defense Secretary Loyld Austin, Joint Chief Chairman General Mark Milley and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
‘@POTUS was briefed on a secure call this evening by Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin, Chairman Milley and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan about the ongoing attack on Ukraine by Russian military forces,’ Psaki tweeted at 11:23 p.m.
Biden also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky late Wednesday night, where he pledged American support.
‘President Zelenskyy reached out to me tonight and we just finished speaking. I condemned this unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. I briefed him on the steps we are taking to rally international condemnation,’ Biden said in a statement on the conversation.
International condemnation of Russia’s actions has been swift.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday that the UK, in concert with our allies,’ would approve ‘a massive package of economic sanctions designed in time to hobble the Russian economy.’
The European Union has moved closer to a massive package of sanctions targeting both sectors of the Russian economy and individuals. It’s unclear if Putin himself will be targeted.
EU ambassadors met in Brussels Thursday morning to hash out the response.
The European Union will ‘make it as difficult as possible’ for the Kremlin to pursue its ‘aggressive actions’ in Ukraine, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned.
She said the EU will ‘hold Russia accountable for this outrageous violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.’
The U.S. has already issued a series of sanctions, targeting two Russian financial institutions, VTB and Russia’s military bank.
Biden also said Russia’s sovereign debt will be sanctioned so Russia ‘can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade its new debt on our markets, or European markets either.’
Additionally, Biden went after Putin’s inner circle, targetting wealthy Russians who are close to the Russian president: Alex Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service, Putin’s deputy chief of staff Sergey Keriyenko, and the CEO of Russian Promsvyazbank, the country’s largest military bank.
And on Wednesday the White House stepped up pressure by imposing sanctions on the firm building the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and its corporate officers, a move Biden had resisted for months.
Putin personally gave the order to attack around 5am, unleashing a salvo of rocket fire that American intelligence said involved more than 100 short and medium-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles, and 75 bombers that targeted military sites including barracks, warehouses and airfields in order to knock out the country’s military command structure.
‘I have decided to conduct a special military operation… to protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide… for the last eight years,’ the Russian leader said.
Russia said the strikes destroyed 74 Ukrainian military ground facilities, 11 airfields, three command posts and 18 radar stations controlling Kiev’s anti-aircraft batteries.
The Kremlin launched simultaneous attacks from south, east and north, by land and by air. Missiles and bombs rained from the sky, tanks rolled across the border, helicopters buzzed in and explosions were seen across the country after Putin gave the order to attack.
By midday Thursday, the skies over Kyiv swarmed with Russian attack helicopters which seized control of Gostomel air base.
Russian policemen detain a protestor during rally against entry of Russian troops into Ukraine in St. Petersburg, Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall on his way to a meeting with Russian businessmen at the Kremlin in Moscow
Footage shows smoke supposedly rising on the skyline after the blasts were heard near Mariupol, eastern Ukraine
Smoke rises over Chuhuiv military airfield in eastern Ukraine after a Russian airstrike aimed at taking out the air force
The President condemned Vladimir Putin’s ‘unprovoked and unjustified attack’ on Ukraine in a statement soon after war was declared 11.43pm US time. He said ‘the prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight’
Zelensky, in an address to the nation on Thursday morning, said the history of Ukraine has now changed forever and that Russia has ’embarked on a path of evil’ – comparing the Russian attack to Hitler’s forces in World War Two. But he vowed to fight back, saying the military has already inflicted ‘serious losses’ on Russia.
He called on all Ukrainian citizens willing to defend their homeland to step forward, saying guns will be issued to everyone who wants one. He also asked for civilians to give blood to help wounded troops. And he asked world leaders to impose the ‘harshest sanctions possible’ on Putin.
But Putin issued a chilling warning to any country thinking of coming to Ukraine’s aid, vowing ‘consequences greater than any you have faced in history’.
‘I hope I have been heard,’ he said.
How the Ukraine invasion unfolded minute-by-minute: Russian shells rain down on Mariupol at 3.30am, Putin declares war two hours later and then all hell breaks loose across nation and capital Kyiv
Russian launched total war on Ukraine today, with missiles raining from the sky, tanks rolling across the border from Belarus , and masses of paratroopers descending on eastern regions after Vladimir Putin personally gave the order to attack.
‘Hundreds’ of Ukrainian troops have already been killed in early clashes, Kyiv said, as the fight came to them on all fronts at a moment’s notice. Cruise missiles, guided bombs and GRAD rockets took out targets from east to west – aimed at airfields, military bases, ammo dumps, and command posts including in the capital.
The first sign an invasion was imminent came at just before 12am Ukrainian time (10pm in the UK), when Russian-backed rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine issued a request for military assistance from Moscow in what is being widely seen as a ‘False Flag’ operation to justify Putin’s decision to attack.
Moments later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a defiant message to the nation, vowing his countrymen would ‘fight back’ in the event of an invasion, telling Moscow: ‘When you attack us, you will see our faces, not our backs.’
A frenzied string of diplomatic manoeuvres, including an emergency UN Security Council meeting in New York, were not enough to dissuade Putin, who declared a ‘special military operation’ at around 3am Ukraine time.
At around 6am, Zelenskyy declared martial law in a video message filmed on his phone, urging his people ‘not to panic’ and promising: ‘We will win over everybody because we are Ukraine.’
As Europe faced its worst military crisis for decades, here is how this morning’s dramatic events unfolded, minute by minute. All times are shown first in Ukrainian time with the GMT equivalent following in brackets.
12:00am (10pm)
‘We will fight back’: Ukrainian president delivers emotional TV address
Volodymyr Zelenskyy vows the Ukrainian people will ‘fight back’ if Putin launches a full-scale invasion.
His comments follow a request by Moscow-backed rebel leaders in the east of the country for military assistance to fend off Ukrainian ‘aggression’ – considered by the West to be a ‘false flag’ to justify an invasion.
A solemn President Zelenskyy says: ‘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 the lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. When you attack us, you will see our faces, not our backs.’
The Ukrainian president says he tried to call Putin earlier in the evening, but there was ‘no answer, only silence’, adding that Moscow has around 200,000 soldiers by Ukraine’s borders.
At Ukraine’s request, the United Nations Security Council quickly schedules an emergency meeting – the second in three days.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba calls the separatists’ request ‘a further escalation of the security situation.’
Ukraine readies for conflict and enters a month-long state of emergency, effective at midnight.
3:30am (1:30GMT)
Explosions heard in strategically important port city of Mariupol
Residents in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol are woken up at 3.30am by the sound of explosions.
Video footage appears to show clouds of smoke rising up into the night sky nearby, but it is unconfirmed whether this is as a result of shelling.
Mariupol, located on the Black Sea 50 miles from the Russian border, handles 50 per cent Ukraine’s steel and mineral exports.
Taking the strategic location would give the people’s republics of Donbas access to the sea, and choke off a vital economic artery for Ukraine’s legitimate government.
4:30am (2:30am GMT)
UN meeting where Ukraine’s ambassador tells Russian counterpart: ‘war criminals go straight to hell’
The UN Security Council holds an extraordinary emergency meeting in New York to try to dissuade Russia from sending troops into Ukraine.
During the charged session, Ukrainian ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya implores the council, chaired by Russia, to ‘do everything possible to stop the war’.
He demands that Russia’s ambassador relinquish his duties as chair.
‘There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, ambassador,’ a visibly emotional Kyslytsya says.
At a charged UN Security Council meeting, Ukrainian ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told his Russian counterpart: ‘There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, ambassador’
Secretary General Antonio Guterres urges Putin to stop his tanks.
‘If indeed an operation is being prepared, I have only one thing to say from the bottom of my heart,’ he says.
‘President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died.’
Mr Guterres says he is witnessing, ‘the saddest moment in my tenure as Secretary General of the United Nations’ and that Europe risks, ‘the worst war since the beginning of the century’.
Afterwards, he warns Russian action would not only be ‘devastating for Ukraine’ and ‘tragic’ for Russia ‘but with an impact we can not even foresee in relation to their consequences for the global economy.’
‘In a moment when we are emerging from Covid and so many developing countries absolutely need to have space for the recovery, which would be very, very difficult with the high prices of oil, with the exports of wheat from Ukraine and with rising interest rates caused by instability in international markets,’ he adds.
5am (3am GMT)
Putin’s announces ‘special military operation’ and threatens West
Putin announces a ‘special military operation’ in eastern Ukraine, claiming it’s intended to protect civilians.
In a televised address, Putin says the action comes in response to threats coming from Ukraine.
He claimed Russia wanted to ‘de-Nazify, not occupy’ Ukraine. Putin says the responsibility for bloodshed lies with the Ukrainian ‘regime.’
Putin warns countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action will lead to ‘consequences they have never seen.’
The strongman could be seen wearing the same suit and red tie he wore on Monday to lay out his factually inaccurate version of Ukraine’s history, saying essentially that it was always part of Russia.
In hindsight, Putin’s attempts to rewrite history at his convenience, could be interpreted as evidence that he had already decided to invade Ukraine, and that he misled leaders in the West who pleaded with him for diplomacy.
5:30am (3:30am GMT)
Explosions are heard in Kyiv just minutes after Putin’s speech ends
Following the end of Putin’s speech, explosions are reported in Kyiv, Odessa, Ukraine’s third-largest city, as well as the city of Kramatorsk in the eastern Donetsk region.
A CNN reporter in Kyiv says: ‘I just heard a big bang right here behind me. I’ve never heard anything like it.’
Matthew Chance, Senior International correspondent for the network, says he heard between seven and eight blasts.
Chance quickly put on his flak jacket and headgear while he continued to report from a balcony in the Ukrainian capital.
A CNN reporter in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv puts on a flak jacket as he hears explosions just after 5.30am
‘There are big explosions taking place. I can’t see them or explain what they are. but I will tell you the U.S has warned the Ukrainian authorities there could be air strikes and ground attacks as well around the country, including the capital.
‘I don’t know if that’s what’s occurring now but it’s a remarkable coincidence that the explosions come just minutes after Putin gave his speech,’ Chance explained.
‘This is the first time we’ve heard anything. It has been absolutely silent. This is the first time. It has to be more than just a coincidence.
‘I think it’s safe where I am. I have a flak jacket,’ Chance remarked before ducking down to put on his protective gear.
He suggested that the blasts he heard were still some distance away from the centre.
6am (4am GMT)
Ukrainian president declares martial law
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposes martial law and urges his people to stay at home and not panic as Russian troops pour into the country.
In a video message published shortly after the Kremlin began its attacks across Ukraine, Zelenskyy says Russia has carried out missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and border guards, and that explosions have been heard in many cities.
The Ukrainian President also says he had spoken by telephone to US President Joe Biden.
He pleads: ‘Dear Ukrainian citizens, this morning President Putin announced a special military operation in Donbas. Russia conducted strikes on our military infrastructure and our border guards. There were blasts heard in many cities of Ukraine. We’re introducing martial law on the whole territory of our country.
‘A minute ago I had a conversation with President Biden. The US has already started uniting international support. Today each of you should keep calm. Stay at home if you can. We are working. The Army is working.
‘The whole sector of defence and security is working. No panic. We are strong. We are ready for everything. We will win over everybody because we are Ukraine.’
Paratroopers drop into Ukraine’s second largest city as Russians launch multiple attacks
From around 6am and onwards
Footage appears to show masses of paratroopers landing in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s largest city.
The US appeared to know an invasion was about to happen, according to ABC’s Martha Raddatz.
She said she received a text from a senior Pentagon official three hours before the invasion saying: ‘You are likely in the last few hours of peace on the European continent for a long time to come. Be careful.’
As violence spreads, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, writes on Facebook that the Russian military have launched missile strikes on Ukrainian military command facilities, air bases and military depots in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro.
Later in the morning, five Russian jets are reportedly shot out of the sky over the Donbass before Moscow boasts of taking out all anti-aircraft defences, giving them control of the skies.
Ukrainian border guards say they have come under attack by heavy artillery, tanks and troops from Russia and Belarus – as Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko throws his forces into the fight.
Luhansk, Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv in the east of Ukraine are all reported as coming under attack, but blasts are also reported in the west – in Zhytomyr and Lviv, close to the border with Poland.
Extraordinary video footage shows what appears to be a cruise missile slamming into Ivano-Frankivsk airport, also in the west.
Meanwhile pro-Russian rebel forces push out from the occupied Donbass region, capturing two villages and claiming to have shot two Ukrainian jets out of the skies. The port city of Odessa, where Ukraine’s main naval base is located, also comes under attack.