Russia Has Dramatically Escalated Its Attack On Ukraine
Russian shells and missiles hit cities and regions across the country, including many previously untouched by the conflict.
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by Christopher Miller, 
by Jason WellsUpdated 1 hour agoPosted 6 hours ago
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Pete Kiehart for BuzzFeed News An armored vehicle moves on Feb. 24, 2022, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine
{ "id": 128809433 }KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — A series of explosions rocked multiple cities across Ukraine early Thursday, moments after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation that he said was meant to force the country's central government and troops to surrender.
Ukraine's Interior Ministry reported missiles and shelling in at least 10 of the country's 24 regions — including many far beyond the front lines in eastern Ukraine, signifying a dramatic escalation of Russia's 2014 invasion. At least one child and six Ukrainian soldiers have died, according to early Interior Ministry casualty reports.
In Kramatorsk, a city of 150,000 residents in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the sky lit orange with multiple explosions just before 5 a.m. The Ukrainian military said that Russian missiles had struck the airport, which is 2,000 feet southeast of the city center.
About a hundreds miles north in Kharkiv, a city of 1 million people near the Russian border, three residents told BuzzFeed News in a series of text messages that they were awakened before dawn by a series of blasts.
“We will probably leave the city,” one woman said, asking that her name not be used for security reasons. “Don’t understand how this can happen in the 21st Century.”
In Kyiv, the capital, air raid sirens blared as reports emerged of explosions nearby, including at the Boryspil International Airport.
As the sun rose, many Ukrainians moved quickly to gather essential supplies for whatever comes next. Cars queued up outside gas stations; people waited in lines outside banks and pharmacies.
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Pete Kiehart for BuzzFeed News Cars wait in line for gas in Kramatorsk
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Pete Kiehart for BuzzFeed News People wait in line outside a pharmacy in Kramatorsk
{ "id": 128809433 }In an address posted on Twitter Thursday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told residents not to panic, and said Ukrainian forces were launching their own defensive measures.
The attacks began at about 5 a.m. Troops using artillery, heavy equipment, and small arms assaulted the border from Russia and from Belarus. The Border Guard Service of Ukraine also released footage of Russian forces invading from Crimea.
A few hours later, the Interior Ministry reported the first Ukrainian casualties: A Russian air attack in Podilsk, in the Odesa region, had killed at least six soldiers and wounded seven more. Another 19 soldiers were unaccounted for. And in Chuguiv, a small city south of Kharkiv, a "minor boy" died after Russian shelling hit a a five-storey apartment building, the Interior Ministry said.
The attacks represented a grave new escalation to a situation that has been rapidly deteriorating all week. On Monday, Putin recognized the “independence” of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions — two areas that actually belong to Ukraine but were taken by Russia during a war it started eight years ago. Reacting to bogus and unproven reports of alleged Ukrainian aggression, Putin then ordered his troops into the two territories on a “peacekeeping mission.”
The violence expanded on Thursday to reach cities and regions previously untouched by the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Video posted on social media Thursday morning appeared to show a missile hitting Ivano-Frankivsk, a city in the west hundreds of miles away from the front line.
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Alec Luhn @ASLuhn Wow. Video of a missile hitting an airport, reportedly in Ivano-Frankivsk in Western Ukraine. The geographic scale of this thing is crazy
06:29 AM - 24 Feb 2022 Reply Retweet Favorite Twitter: @ASLuhn { "id": 128809433 }Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, called Thursday's attacks "a full-scale invasion of Ukraine."
"Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes," he said. "This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now."
As news of the military action unfolded, President Joe Biden issued a statement calling it an “unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces.”
“President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” Biden added. “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. The world will hold Russia accountable.”
Biden also promised “further consequences'' against Russia after he meets with world leaders Thursday morning, which would be in addition to targeted sanctions the US and European nations have already imposed. The United Nations Security Council has also agreed to Ukraine’s request for an emergency meeting.
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Alexei Nikolsky / AP Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Feb. 23, 2022.
{ "id": 128809433 }In his address, Putin urged Ukrainian forces to lay down their arms and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with Russian military action would lead to “consequences they have never seen.”
In his own overnight address, Zelensky said his country preferred a peaceful resolution but that, ultimately, "we will defend ourselves."
"When you attack us, you will see our faces, not our backs,” he said.
Thursday morning, Zelensky said on Twitter that his government would back all citizens who are willing to fight.
"We will give weapons to anyone who wants to defend the country," he said. "Be ready to support Ukraine in the squares of our cities."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates and follow BuzzFeed News on Twitter.
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Originally posted on: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christopherm51/russia-military-operation-ukraine-explosions