Russia orders military action against Ukraine

World leaders condemned what they deemed the start of an invasion by Russia when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a military operation in Ukraine.

Putin claimed that the operation was meant to protect eastern Ukraine from a "regime" in a televised address Thursday morning.

In the country's capital, Kyiv, as well as in Kharkiv, a city in the northeast, there are reports of explosions. On NBC, footage showed Russian tanks entering Ukraine through Belarus, the quickest way to reach Kyiv, after landing in Odessa, the southernmost port city of Ukraine.

According to Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia attacked Ukraine's military infrastructure and border guards during martial law. As the country has increasingly eyed territory in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, Russia has gathered about 190,000 troops along Ukraine's border with many of its neighbors.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the attacks “a full-scale war against Ukraine.”

As Putin states in his order, "circumstances require us to take decisive action now" and that "the People's Republic of Donbas has asked Russia for help."

Despite U.S. and NATO allies warning the Russians not to escalate tensions in the region, the Russian military has steadily been building up its forces throughout the region.

“President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. 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,” President Biden said.

Just hours before Putin's public announcement, Zelensky appealed directly to the Russian people, pleading for peace and contending that the country had provoked Russia. A previous Russian invasion of Ukraine took place in 2014, when Crimea was annexed.

U.S. intelligence predicts that anywhere from 1 million to 5 million Ukrainians will leave if there is a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

24 Feb 2022