It Is Official! Putin Declares 'Military Action' On Ukraine, Explosions Reported From Kiev
The day the world had feared and tried to avoid seems to be here as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "military operation" in Ukraine on Thursday.
"I have made the decision of a military operation," Putin said in what came as a surprise televised announcement.
The announcement came after leaders of two Ukrainian separatist groups appealed to Moscow for help to stop alleged Ukrainian aggression.
He also called on the Ukraine military to lay down its arms.
Putin said he had ordered Russian forces to protect the people and demanded Ukrainian forces lay down their arms.
He repeated his position that NATO expansion to include Ukraine was unacceptable.
Earlier the separatist leaders of Donetsk and Lugansk sent separate letters to Putin, asking him to "help them repel Ukraine's aggression", Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Putin has also ordered the sending of the Russian Armed Forces to Ukraine's breakaway regions.
Responding to Putin, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky made an emotional late-night appeal to Russians not to support a "major war in Europe".
Speaking Russian, Zelensky said that the people of Russia are being lied to about Ukraine and that the possibility of war also "depends on you".
"Who can stop (the war)? People. These people are among you, I am sure," he said.
Zelensky said he had tried to call Putin but there was "no answer, only silence", adding that Moscow now had around 200,000 soldiers near Ukraine's borders.
Since the announcement, Russian media showed several visuals in which explosions were heard in the background.
Meanwhile, an emergency session of the UN Security Council on the prevailing situation in Ukraine is underway.
Ukraine requested an urgent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Meet after Heads of the Ukraine breakaway regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, have asked the Russian President for help.
US President Joe Biden on Thursday said the United States and its allies will respond in a united and decisive way to "an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces" on Ukraine.
"President (Vladimir) Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering," Biden said in a statement.
"Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring. The world will hold Russia accountable."
Biden said he would announce on Thursday further consequences to be imposed on Russia by the United States and its allies.
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