Assault on Kiev: Russian helicopters swoop above Ukraine’s capital as Putin launches all-out invasion from north, south and east, with cruise missiles hitting airports and military bases, tanks rolling in and scores killed.
- Russia has invaded Ukraine in a massive attack coming from south, east and north, both by land and air
- Helicopters have reached Kiev where they have seized an air base, and taken a power plant on the Dnieper
- Russian tanks broke through lines at Kherson, near Crimea, and were driving freely towards Dnieper River
- But Ukrainians were putting up a fight around Khakriv, where Russian tanks and armour were destroyed
- Volodymyr Zelensky branded Russia ‘evil and vowed to fight back, promising a gun to every citizen willing to have one while calling on them to donate blood to treat wounded soldiers
- Boris Johnson branded Putin a ‘dictator’ while vowing a ‘massive’ package of sanctions targeting Russia
Russia has today launched all-out war on Ukraine with simultaneous attacks coming from south, east and north, by land and by air. Missiles and bombs rained from the sky, tanks rolled across the border, helicopters buzzed in the air and explosions were seen across the country after Vladimir Putin gave the order to attack.
By midday Thursday, the skies over Kiev swarmed with Russian attack helicopters which seized Gostomel air base – though Ukrainian forces launched a fight-back, with ground forces moving in to retake the air field as jets streaking over the city, followed by reports that up to four Russian choppers had been shot out of the air.
Meanwhile Russian tanks, driving out of Crimea, broke through Ukrainian lines near Kherson and were moving towards the Dnieper River where they linked up with more helicopters and seized power plants – with a Russian flag seen raised over Kakhovka Hydroelectric plant in the early afternoon.
Border guard units said they were fighting for control of Sumy, also in the east, against Russian forces. Earlier in the day, they had reported coming under attack from Belarus as Russian and Belarusian tanks rolled across the border and opened fire.
It came after cruise missiles, guided bombs and GRAD rockets took out targets from east to west – aimed at airfields, military bases, ammo dumps, and command posts including in the capital. Six Russian jets were shot out of the sky over the eastern Donbass region, Ukraine claimed.
Estimates of dead and injured were almost non-existent as of early afternoon. One Ukrainian official said ‘hundreds’ had been killed in early fighting, while another put the death toll at 40 Ukrainians and 50 Russians. Ukrainian police said fighting is going on ‘in almost the entire country’ and could not give an estimate of the dead.
Blasts were reported in the west – in Zhytomyr and Lviv, close to the border with Poland. Extraordinary video footage showed what appeared to be a Kalibur cruise missile slamming into Ivano-Frankivsk airport. An apartment block in Kharkiv was also struck, causing civilian casualties including a young boy. Video also appeared to confirm cruise missiles had been launched by Russian troops stationed in Moldova.
Meanwhile pro-Russian rebel forces pushed out from the occupied Donbass region, capturing two villages and claiming to have shot two Ukrainian jets out of the skies. The port cities of Mariupol and Odessa, where Ukraine’s main naval bases are located, were also attacked. Russian tankers appeared to have blockaded the Kerch Strait, leading from the Back Sea to the Sea of Azov, cutting off Mariupol.
Volodymyr Zelensky, in an address to the nation on Thursday morning, said the history of Ukraine has now changed forever and that Russia has ’embarked on a path of evil’ – comparing the Russian attack to Hitler’s forces in World War Two. But he vowed to fight back, saying the military has already inflicted ‘serious losses’ on Russia.
He called on all Ukrainian citizens willing to defend their homeland to step forward, saying guns will be issued to everyone who wants one. He also asked for civilians to give blood to help wounded troops. And he asked world leaders to impose the ‘harshest sanctions possible’ on Putin.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, addressing the nation at midday, said western allies are preparing a ‘massive’ package of sanctions against Russia and told the people of Ukraine: ‘We cannot and will not just look away.’ Johnson referred to Putin as a ‘dictator’ who would never ‘subdue the national feeling of the Ukrainians’.
It came after the Russian strongman gave an extraordinary address to the Russian nation – broadcast in the early hours during a UN meeting aimed at avoiding war – in which he declared a ‘special military operation’ to ‘de-militarise’ and ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine in what amounted to a outright declaration of war. The video appeared to have been pre-recorded, around the same time as Putin’s Monday address recognising Donbass as independent.
Putin also issued a chilling warning to any country thinking of coming to Ukraine’s aid, vowing ‘consequences greater than any you have faced in history’. ‘I hope I have been heard,’ he said.
Source: Daily Mail UK