KYIV / OSLO (VG) Russia is attacking Ukraine with full force from fronts across the country. Ukrainian president claims that Russian saboteurs invaded the capital.
Thursday night there are still tough battles in a number of places in the country.
According to the Ukrainian channel Espresso TV, Russian saboteurs entered Kiev. This is what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was said to have told the channel Thursday night, they wrote. Twitter.
Zelensky also says he is “the Russians’ enemy number one,” according to Paul Sun, a journalist at Washington Post.
A video clip, released by a consultant to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, shows a man being arrested with “special equipment” at Hostomil Airport in Ukraine.
The man is accused of Russian sabotage, but this has not been officially confirmed.
tough fights
Fierce battles took place between the Russian and Ukrainian forces on several fronts on Thursday night. Reports of a number of Ukrainian media and authorities.
Ukrainian Defense Tweets The fighting took place on Thursday night near the city of Kherson in the southeast of the country.
According to the defense, Ukrainian forces regained control of a bridge and established themselves on the banks of the Dnipro River.
According to journalist Christo Grosev, fierce battles are also taking place in the northeastern town of Sumy. Grosev newspaper reported that the Russians claimed to have taken control of the city of Sumy earlier on Thursday.
TV channel back He also reported difficult battles in Sumy.
The Russian army is already deep in eastern Ukraine in the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, and on Thursday they launched a large-scale invasion from at least five fronts. Here are the latest developments:
- Air strikes are carried out in a number of places, including the capital, Kiev. At about 3 PM Norwegian time, the townspeople are asked To seek refuge in shelters.
- In the northeast, the important border city of Kharkiv was attacked, and in the town of Chernev, just north of Kiev, Russian military vehicles were reported.
- From the west, Russian tanks rolled across the border from Belarus in the morning, and Ukrainian border guards reported an exchange of fire.
- Ukrainian border guards wrote on Twitter that Russian military vehicles were also moving along the annexed Crimea.
- Cities such as Mariupol and Odessa were also attacked from the southeast. According to the Ukrainian Interfax Agency 22 people were killed in an attack on a military base in Odessa.
- According to the Ukrainian border guards, Russian forces are trying to enter the Kiev region on Thursday morning.
- Reuters, citing local Ukrainian authorities, said that a hospital in Donetsk was attacked by Russian forces, and four people were killed.
- Ukraine has lost control of the southern Kherson region following ground, sea and air attacks, according to Reuters.
- According to a senior US Defense Department official, Russian forces are now advancing on three main fronts in Ukraine. Reuters wrote that one of them is against the capital, Kiev.
- Russia He must have taken control of the military airport Hostomil, about 2.5 miles from Kiev. Later there were reports that Ukraine has They took back the airport.
- Both Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba This was stated by Minister of Health Viktor Lyashko Russia bombed a hospital in Ukraine.
- 137 people were killed, including ten officers, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It’s reports France Press agency. 316 people were injured.
– We had no other choice. All our previous attempts to change the situation failed. We have had to take these measures, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a televised meeting at 5.30 pm Norwegian time.
“If you, dear European leaders, the leaders of the free world, do not help us, tomorrow war will knock on your doors,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday afternoon.
according to British Ministry of Defense The Russians did not cross the Ukrainian line in the Donbass. They reported it at 19.35.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet entered the Ukrainian waters of the Black Sea and the Gulf of Azov, where they stopped civilian ships. The British Ministry of Defense believes it is most likely preparing for a blockade.
At the same time, they say that there is no evidence of a Russian invasion from the waters of Odessa.
Chernobyl has fallen
At 18.22, Reuters reported that the nuclear power plant is under Russian control.
– After heavy fighting, control of the Chernobyl plant was lost. The state of the former nuclear power plant and the nuclear waste storage system was unknown, Mikhailo Podolak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, told Reuters.
Right after 3 pm Foreign Minister Anken Heitfeldt (Labour) announced that they are taking the necessary measures Norwegian embassy employees are leaving Ukraine due to the security situation.
Workers have already been evacuated from the capital, Kiev, to Lviv, near the border with Poland, and will leave the country from there.
1 of 9Photo: Emilio Morenatti / AP
Attacks continue
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced on Twitter On 04.55 Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under air attack. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. He wrote that it was time to act.
On Thursday morning, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that Russia will continue to launch large-scale attacks from several directions at the same time. There are constant reports of airstrikes and explosions from different parts of the country.
Russian Ministry of Defense Claims according to Interfax They destroyed 74 military installations. 11 of them will be airstrips, three command posts, a naval base and 18 missile radar systems.
Later Thursday night, the number changed to 83.
From the northeastern border city of Kharkiv and from the capital, Kiev, powerful images appear showing wounded, dead and extensive property damage after the Russian air strikes.
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Local authorities said, according to Reuters, that at least 18 people were killed in a missile attack on the southeastern city of Odessa. Six people were also killed in an attack on the city of Brovary outside Kiev, according to the mayor.
Ukraine’s emergency services confirmed Thursday afternoon the downing of a Ukrainian military plane. There were 14 people on board. Five of them died when the plane started burning after crashing.
The VG team was in Kiev around 06.20 NST on the streets of Kiev. Riot police stormed Friday’s rally and drove hundreds of protesters out in trucks.
Read the report from the capital: Civilians flee, chaos reigns
Riot police stormed a rally on Friday, driving hundreds of protesters out by trucks, and riot police stormed a rally on Friday, driving hundreds of protesters out by trucks.
An eyewitness in the east of the country, outside Kharkiv, said there were many explosions in the morning, as well as long queues at gas stations and a lot of panic in the streets, in a letter to VG early Thursday morning.
The Ukrainian Border Service announced shortly afterwards that it had been attacked by Russian forces from both Belarus and Crimea. The attacks on border patrols and posts were launched with heavy artillery.
Then the Ukrainian emergency services reported artillery fire on the Lviv region in western Ukraine. Several embassies have transferred employees from the capital, Kiev, to Lviv.
Map of the location of the airstrikes said to have hit Ukraine on Thursday morning:
At least 90 soldiers were killed
The Ukrainian military claims to have killed about 100 Russian soldiers and destroyed 7 planes, four helicopters and more than 10 vehicles in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian reports. Pravda newspaper.
They quoted a statement of the country’s Defense Ministry, which was supposed to arrive at 14:00.
He. She the same newspaper He writes that Russia took control of Genichesk and Nova Nakhovka.
An advisor to the president stated that more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and dozens wounded, the news agency reported at 10.41 a.m.
Russia denies shooting down a plane, according to the RIA news agency. For their part, the Russian-backed separatists claimed to have shot down two Ukrainian warplanes in Luhansk.
Understand the conflict: Here are 10 questions you should know the answers to
Putin: Clashes are inevitable
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised address to the people on Thursday evening, before 4:00 Norwegian time, announced that he had approved a military operation in the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine.
In the letter, Putin said that conditions required immediate action from Russia, and that clashes between Russia and Ukrainian forces were inevitable – it was only “a matter of time”, he claimed.
The invasion began soon after.
The day before, the Kremlin announced the existence of two separatist republics Ask for help from Russia.
In his speech, Putin said that Russia will not occupy Ukrainian territory, and demanded that Ukrainian soldiers immediately lay down their weapons and return home, Russian news agency TASS wrote, according to Reuters.
He also said that any interference from other countries will be answered immediately.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations confirmed the launch of a military operation against Ukraine and says they are looking for a “military council that rules Kiev”.
Karsten Fries, a senior researcher at NUPI, told VG that he had long feared Russia would attack Kiev and overthrow the democratically elected government.
It is an attack on many fronts. It is often simple to weaken an opponent who does not know where the key shot is coming from, so it can also be tactical, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they go to Kiev, says Fris.
Store: – Serious
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told VG that he condemns the attack on Ukraine from Russia.
– It is a flagrant violation of international law. “I am sending my thoughts to the European women, men and children who are now suffering from the fear of war,” Store said Thursday morning.
– It is a dangerous moment we are in, which we have not seen in Europe for many decades, he says.
EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell wrote on Twitter that EU sanctions against Russia will be tougher than ever.
– This is one of the darkest hours in Europe since World War II, he writes.
Read also: Stoltenberg: – We now have a war in Europe that we thought belonged in history
US President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon with other leaders of the G7 alliance over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Later he will speak.
The meeting with the G7 leaders began at 3 pm on Thursday, Norwegian time.
He is scheduled to deliver a speech from the White House early in the evening.
In advance, Biden held a meeting of the US National Security Council.
Ukrainians are required to register for the service
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech to the people Thursday morning that emergency laws are being introduced across the country.
The law gives the military temporary control over normal societal functions and ensures preparedness in crisis situations.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that all Ukrainians who can carry weapons can register for service. At the same time, the Ukrainian police say they will hand over weapons to the war veterans.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also urged Ukrainian citizens to fight, promising weapons to whoever wanted them.
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