Russian President Vladimir Putin began a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday with explosions heard across the country and its foreign minister warning of a “full-scale invasion” was underway.
“Military infrastructure at Ukrainian army air bases has been rendered out of action,” the defence ministry said in a statement carried by news agencies, which added that Kyiv’s air defence systems were “eliminated”.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military claimed to have shot down five Russian planes and a helicopter near a rebel-held enclave in the country’s east.
“According to the Joint Forces Command, today, February 24, in the area of the Joint Forces operation, five planes and a helicopter of the aggressors were shot down,” the army general staff said.
After Russia launched what they called a full-scale invasion, US President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
The conversation took place shortly after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine overnight, with explosions heard across the country.
Russian forces launched missiles at several Ukrainian cities and landed troops on the country’s south coast on Thursday, according to officials and media, after President Vladimir Putin authorised a “special military operation” in the east.
Weeks of intense diplomacy and the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia failed to deter Putin, who had massed between 150,000 and 200,000 troops along the borders of Ukraine.
Biden, who had for weeks sought to lead a Western alliance to deter Putin from invading Ukraine, spoke with Zelensky after the Russian operation began to vow US “support” and “assistance”.
Biden condemned the “unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces,” and urged world leaders to speak out against Putin’s “flagrant aggression”.
He also vowed Russia would be held accountable.
“President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” he said in a statement.
The United Nations Security Council met late Wednesday for its second emergency session in three days to address the crisis, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres making a personal appeal at the meeting, which coincided with Putin’s announcement.
“President Putin, in the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia,” Guterres said.
In the recent past, Guterres says that he never believed rumours that Russia would invade Ukraine and was convinced that nothing serious would happen.”
“But I was wrong, and I like not to be wrong again. So if indeed an operation is being prepared I have only one thing to say from the bottom of my heart, Stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died”, He added.
“In the name of humanity, do not allow to start in Europe what could be the worst war since the beginning of the century.”