*This is a developing story, more updates to come.*
This morning as many people were just starting the new day, news that we have all been anxiously wondering about finally broke. According to CBS News, “Russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine late Wednesday.” The sound of explosions could be heard early in the morning in Ukraine’s central capital Kyiv, signaling the start of a potential European conflict.
Following the attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin made an appearance on Russian state television where he stated that “whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so to create threats for our country, our people should know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences that you have never experienced in your history.”
Putin calls this attack on Ukraine a “special military operation.”
In hopes of keeping his citizens safe and calm, Ukrainian President Vololdymyr Zelensky turned to Facebook Live to tell them that “today each of you should stay calm, stay at home if you can. We are working, the army is working, the whole sector of security and defense is working. No panic, we are strong, we are ready for everything, [and] we will win over everybody because we are Ukraine.”
Zelensky told the nation that they would move towards Martial Law at this time. According to the Washington Post, on Wednesday night, “Zelensky made a plea to Russia” by trying to call Putin, but he was “met with silence.”
While this leaves a lot of questions open about what will happen next in regard to American involvement as well as any potential involvement from other global powers, it is important to understand why all of this is happening in the first place.
Putin has made it clear to the world that this was an act of defense on Russia’s end. According to CBS News “the Russian leader portrayed his attack on Ukraine as a defense of ethnic Russians in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, whom he has repeatedly claimed are suffering ‘genocide’ at the hands of the government in Kyiv.”
Just days before this morning’s attack, two self-proclaimed “people’s republics” located in the Donbas region, which Putin had recognized as independent, turned to Russia for help.
As many of us around the world are still trying to understand the actions behind such an attack, multiple world leaders are denouncing Russia’s actions against Ukraine. President Joe Biden tweeted after news of the attacks, stating that “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.” He then went further to say that “the world will hold Russia accountable.” World leaders from countries such as the UK, Belgium, Poland, Romania and Japan, among others, have joined Biden in disapproving of Russia’s actions.
Washington Post reporter Siobhán O’Grady who is in Kyiv shared that many Ukrainians were trying to not live in fear during these past weeks leading up to the invasion.
“This is definitely a scary moment,” Grady stated. “It’s unbelievable now that we were out to dinner last night in Kyiv… Everyone was sort of going about their days as normal despite the anxiety that we knew was surrounding us.”
According to NBC News, “Biden is set to meet with G7 leaders later to discuss ramping up sanctions against Russia.”
For more up to date information check out this live feed from CNN.