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Russia has launched a major invasion of Ukraine from three main directions.
Reports say troops are advancing from the north in the direction of Kyiv; from the east through Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv; and from Crimea in the south.
In less than 24 hours, dozens of targets have been struck, as Russian troops have poured into Ukraine.
Russian forces are making advances on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and Moscow has continued to flow forces into the country, a senior US defence official said on Thursday.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that so far Russia had fired more than 160 missiles at Ukrainian targets.
Russian forces fired missiles at several cities in Ukraine and landed troops on its coast on Thursday, officials and media said, after President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a special military operation in the east.
Shortly after Putin spoke in a televised address on Russian state TV, explosions could be heard in the pre-dawn quiet of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
The Kremlin on Wednesday said the heads of east Ukraine’s rebel republics have asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for “help” to “repel aggression” from the Ukrainian army.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the separatist republics “ask the president of Russia for help in repelling the aggression of the armed forces in Ukraine.” The statement was carried by Russian state news agencies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron that he will recognize two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin announced Monday.
“I deem it necessary to make a decision that should have been made a long time ago: To immediately recognize the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic,” Putin said later in an address to the Russian people, before signing a decree to make his intentions official.
