MOSCOW, Russia
Russian troops launched their
anticipated attack on Ukraine on Thursday, as President Vladimir Putin cast
aside international condemnation and sanctions, warning other countries that
any attempt to interfere would lead to “consequences you have never seen.”Russian armored vehicles are loaded onto railway platforms at a railway station in region not far from Russia-Ukraine border, in the Rostov-on-Don region, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy introduced martial law, saying Russia has targeted Ukraine’s military
infrastructure and explosions are heard across the country. Zelenskyy said he
had just talked to President Joe Biden and the U.S. was rallying international
support for Ukraine.
He urged Ukrainians to stay
home and not to panic
Biden pledged new sanctions
meant to punish Russia for an act of aggression that the international
community had for weeks anticipated but could not prevent through diplomacy.
Putin justified it all in a televised address,
asserting the attack was needed to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine — a
false claim the U.S. had predicted he would make as a pretext for an invasion.
He accused the U.S. and its allies of ignoring Russia’s demand to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and offer Moscow security guarantees, and credulously claimed that Russia doesn’t intend to occupy Ukraine but will move to “demilitarize” it and bring those who committed crimes to justice.
Biden in a written statement condemned the
“unprovoked and unjustified attack” on Ukraine and he promised the U.S. and its
allies “will hold Russia accountable.” Biden said he planned to speak to
Americans on Thursday after a meeting of the Group of Seven leaders. More
sanctions against Russia were expected to be announced Thursday.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba described
the action as a “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” and a “war of aggression,”
adding, “Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop
Putin. The time to act is now.”
The Russian military said it has struck Ukrainian
air bases and other military assets and hasn’t targeted populated areas. The
Russian Defense Ministry statement said the military is using precision weapons
to target Ukrainian air bases, air defense assets and other military
infrastructure. It claimed that “there is no threat to civilian population.”
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s
interior minister, said on Facebook that the Russian military has launched
missile strikes on Ukrainian military command facilities, air bases and
military depots in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro.
After the initial explosions in Kyiv, people could
be heard shouting in the streets. But then a sense of normality returned, with
cars circulating and people walking in the streets as a pre-dawn commute
appeared to be starting in relative calm.
Beyond casualties that could overwhelm Ukraine’s
government, the consequences of the conflict and resulting sanctions levied on
Russia could reverberate throughout the world, affecting energy supplies in
Europe, jolting global financial markets and threatening the post-Cold War
balance on the continent.
Asian stock markets plunged and oil prices surged
after the military action got underway. Earlier, Wall Street’s benchmark
S&P 500 index fell 1.8% to an eight-month low after the Kremlin said rebels
in eastern Ukraine asked for military assistance
Anticipating international condemnation and
countermeasures, Putin issued a stark warning to other countries not to meddle,
saying, “whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country
and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead
to the consequences you have never seen in history.”
Putin urged Ukrainian servicemen to “immediately
put down arms and go home.”
In a stark reminder of Russia’s nuclear power,
Putin warned that “no one should have any doubts that a direct attack on our
country will lead to the destruction and horrible consequences for any
potential aggressor.” He emphasized that Russia is “one of the most potent
nuclear powers and also has a certain edge in a range of state-of-the-art
weapons.”
Though the U.S. on Tuesday announced the
repositioning of forces around the Baltics, Biden has said he will not send in
troops to fight Russia.
Putin announced the military operation after the
Kremlin said rebels in eastern Ukraine asked Russia for military assistance to
help fend off Ukrainian “aggression,” an announcement that the White House said
was a “false flag” operation by Moscow to offer up a pretext for an invasion.
Putin’s announcement came just hours after the
Ukrainian president rejected Moscow’s claims that his country poses a threat to
Russia and made a passionate, last-minute plea for peace.
“The people of Ukraine and the government of
Ukraine want peace,” Zelenskyy said in an emotional overnight address, speaking
in Russian in a direct appeal to Russian citizens. “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.”
Zelenskyy said he asked to arrange a call with
Putin late Wednesday, but the Kremlin did not respond.
In an apparent reference to Putin’s move to
authorize the deployment of the Russian military to “maintain peace” in eastern
Ukraine, Zelensky 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.”
At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security
Council called by Ukraine because of the imminent threat of a Russian invasion,
members still unaware of Putin’s announcement appealed to him to stop an
attack. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the meeting, just before
the announcement, telling Putin: “Stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give
peace a chance. Too many people have already died.”
NATO Secretary-General Jen Stoltenberg issued a
statement saying he strongly condemns “Russia’s reckless and unprovoked attack
on Ukraine, which puts at risk countless civilian lives. 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.”
Anxiety about an imminent Russian offensive soared
after Putin recognized the separatist regions’ independence on Monday, endorsed
the deployment of troops to the rebel territories and received parliamentary
approval to use military force outside the country. The West responded with
sanctions.
Late Wednesday, Ukrainian lawmakers approved a
decree that imposes a nationwide state of emergency for 30 days starting
Thursday. The measure allows authorities to declare curfews and other
restrictions on movement, block rallies and ban political parties and
organizations “in the interests of national security and public order.”
The action reflected increasing concern among
Ukrainian authorities after weeks of trying to project calm. The Foreign
Ministry advised against travel to Russia and recommended that any Ukrainians
who are there leave immediately.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Wednesday
the Russian force of more than 150,000 troops arrayed along Ukraine’s borders
is in an advanced state of readiness. “They are ready to go right now,” Kirby
said.
Early Thursday, airspace over all of Ukraine was
shut down to civilian air traffic, according to a notice to airmen. A
commercial flight tracking website showed that an Israeli El Al Boeing 787
flying from Tel Aviv to Toronto turned abruptly out of Ukrainian airspace
before detouring over Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. The only other
aircraft tracked over Ukraine was a U.S. RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned
surveillance plane, which began flying westward early Thursday after Russia put
in place flight restrictions over Ukrainian territory.
Another wave of distributed-denial-of-service
attacks hit Ukraine’s parliament and other government and banking websites on
Wednesday, and cybersecurity researchers said unidentified attackers had also
infected hundreds of computers with destructive malware.
Officials have long said they expect cyberattacks
to precede and accompany any Russian military incursion, and analysts said the
incidents hew to a nearly two-decade-old Russian playbook of wedding cyber
operations with real-world aggression.
Even before Putin’s announcement, dozens of nations
imposed sanctions on Russia, further squeezing Russian oligarchs and banks out
of international markets.
Biden allowed sanctions to move forward against the
company that built the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and against
the company’s CEO.
Germany said Tuesday that it was indefinitely
suspending the project, after Biden charged that Putin had launched “the
beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine” by sending troops into the
separatist regions. The pipeline is complete but has not yet begun operating.
Even before the Russian military attack on Ukraine
began, the threat of war had shredded
Ukraine’s economy and raised the specter of massive casualties, energy
shortages across Europe and global economic chaos.
European Union
sanctions against Russia took effect, targeting several companies
along with 351 Russian lawmakers who voted for a motion urging Putin to
recognize the rebel regions and 27 senior government officials, business
executives and top military officers.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has shrugged off the sanctions, saying that “Russia has proven that, with all the costs of the sanctions, it is able to minimize the damage.”
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