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Russian forces invaded Ukraine on the morning of February 24 from three directions, while explosions were heard in a number of cities, including the capital Kiev, a large-scale attack that began before dawn on Thursday.
Here’s how it turned out.
Putin announces attack
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech early Thursday morning, saying he had decided to “conduct a special military operation… to protect people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years,” repeating a baseless claim to the separatist-backed Donbass region of Ukraine.
However, he denied that Russia was planning to invade Ukrainian territories. “We will not impose anything on anyone by force.”
But in a deeply threatening passage, Putin added that anyone trying to interfere or threaten Russia would lead to “consequences you have never experienced in your history.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded a few hours later with a one-minute speech, saying he had spoken with the President of
US Joe Biden and that the US was collecting international support for Ukraine.
“The West is with us,” he said, declaring martial law across the country.
Before dawn
The attack began hours before dawn with a series of rocket attacks against locations near Kiev, as well as the use of long-range artillery against the northeastern city of Kharkiv, near the Russian border.
It quickly spread throughout central and eastern Ukraine as Russian forces attacked the country from three sides. In the early hours of the day, people in the cities of Odessa, Dnipro, Mariupol and Kramatorsk reported major explosions.
Several explosions in eastern Kiev released massive plumes of gray smoke rising into the night sky. One of the main targets was the main international airport in Boryspil.
Airports were also hit in Kharkiv, Ozerne, Kulbakino, Chuhuiv, Kramatorsk and Chornobaivka.
The immediate details of the victims were unclear. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry claimed that its troops suffered no casualties. But obviously there was considerable damage in and around some cities. In Kharkiv, video emerged of an apartment block being damaged by a long-range missile or artillery. Another video showed a rocket inserted into a road. The State Emergency Service reported that six people were trapped in the rubble in Nizhyn.
A convoy of Russian military vehicles was seen moving towards the border in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on 23 February.
Police officers inspect the wreckage of a rocket that crashed into a street in Kiev on February 24.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said ballistic missiles had been used as part of the offensive as planes were heard over the central city of Zaporizhzhye. The Russians used a wide range of weapons in their attack, including attack aircraft and helicopters, tanks, long-range artillery, and missiles.
Ukraine claimed to have shot down five Russian planes and a helicopter. Russia has denied having lost any aircraft. Russian ground forces entered Ukraine from the north – via a border post from Belarus – from the northeast and from Crimea to the south, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Dawn erupts
After dawn, air sirens were heard throughout Kiev and also in the western city of Lviv. A little later a single, unidentifiable plane was spotted over the capital.
Residents of Kiev leave the city after the Russian offensive of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
As the day began in Kiev, an influx of vehicles could be seen crossing the North Bridge, heading west, away from the focus of the Russian attack. Other people in the capital sought refuge on the subway.
Long queues were formed at gas stations and ATMs across the country. Some people gathered in the streets of Kharkiv to pray.
Under the cloudy sky on Friday morning, Kiev seemed to be in a state of shock. Roads were quiet and schools closed.
Here and across the country, Ukrainians are just beginning to come to terms with a cataclysmic nightmare and the prospect of a deeply uncertain future./ CNN / Adapted by M. Hoxha
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