Russia Launches Invasion of Ukraine

Thursday morning, Russian forces moved across the Ukrainian border and began a siege of Ukraine.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, Feb. 24, Russian forces moved across the Ukrainian border in a move President Biden called, "a premeditated attack that Putin has been planning for months."

The attack comes weeks after rising tensions along the Russian-Ukrainian border, where the Associated Press (AP) reported that number of Russian troops and tanks had been increasing.

According to another AP News report, numerous civilians witnessed explosions in the capital city of Kyiv, as well as the cities of Kharkiv, Odessa, Mariupol, and Kramatorsk as Russia launched missiles against Ukrainian military facilities. In an early report released by Reuters, Denys Monastyrskiy, the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs, said that there have been civilian casualties.

On the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 23, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss targeted sanctions on Russia. The sanctions would be implemented if Russian military buildup crossed over into Ukrainian territory. At this same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech on Russian state television where he officially recognized the separatist claims for the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, two pro-Russian, eastern Ukrainian regions. “The Situation in Donbas is becoming critical… I have decided to conduct a special military operation,” said Putin.

Shortly following these announcements, Putin deployed troops into the eastern regions to carry out what he characterized as “peacekeeping functions,” Reuters reported.

In response, the United States, in partnership with the European Union, Australia, Japan, United Kingdom, and Canada, went ahead in imposing their first round of sanctions. According to a statement by the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 22, these sanctions were “blocking two large state-owned Russian financial institutions that provide key services crucial to financing the Kremlin and the Russian military.” The report laid out details on additional sanctions on five Russian oligarchs and their families who are close allies of Vladimir Putin and blocked U.S. firms and individuals from participating in Russian investment projects.

Regardless of the sanctions, Putin sent missiles and tanks into Ukraine’s main cities at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday. AP reported hearing the explosions in the Ukrainian cities of Odesa and Kharkiv. In his address, Putin issued a warning to the world that any interference in the conflict would “lead to the consequences you have never seen in history.”

Shortly after the explosions were reported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that “Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself and won't give up its freedom.”

Today at 10:07 a.m., Zelenskyy went on to tweet that there is full-scale war in Ukraine, and that he will be counting on allied support now more than ever.

Edit: Corrected date in first paragraph to Thursday Feb. 24

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