Russia launched a military attack on Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday morning local time and details are still emerging.
At 5am local time (2:30pm AEDT), reporters in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and several other cities hundreds of kilometres apart recorded audible explosions in their broadcasts.
It has been confirmed that the explosions were Russian missile strikes.
This comes just after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced live on TV he had authorised a “special military operation” in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
But explosions and artillery noise has been reported in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa, Mariupol and Kramatorsk.
What’s happening in Ukraine right now?
Footage is emerging from people on the ground in Ukraine of the strikes.
Dnipro @ua_industrial pic.twitter.com/ZUhd32mvpu
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) February 24, 2022
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Early morning photos show people taking shelter in subway stations, and one journalist tweeted that he and his team had been ordered to shelter underground.
People in Kharkiv take shelter in the subway, hiding from from Russian missile strikes. pic.twitter.com/Y9ZA4AiEeM
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) February 24, 2022
Our basement in Kyiv now filling up with families with small children. The kids are holding colouring books. Heartbreaking
— Luke Harding (@lukeharding1968) February 24, 2022
Breakfast cancelled. Everyone ordered to underground shelter.
— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) February 24, 2022
Residents have also been posting accounts of hearing the feeling explosions from their homes.
Reporting from Sloviansk, Ukraine. Was jolted from bed by two large booms that appeared to come from the vicinity of nearby Kramatorsk. They sounded at almost the instant that Vladimir Putin announced that the invasion had begun. Quiet now, except for the roosters.
— Michael Schwirtz (@mschwirtz) February 24, 2022
“Do our sirens even work?” – a message from my mother in Kyiv at 2:40 a.m. Kyiv time.
— Anastasiia Lapatina (@lapatina_) February 24, 2022
As the sun rose, more footage of missiles has emerged.
#BREAKING: Another video of a cruise missile flying in Ukraine pic.twitter.com/XuT2ZyJnR8
— ELINT News (@ELINTNews) February 24, 2022
Details of the attacks and the Ukraine situation are still unclear and much of the reporting and footage is coming through live on Twitter and other social media. Some footage of thunder storms from years ago has already been called out as fake.
It’s clear things are happening in Ukraine, but watch those first reports guys. It’s confusing on the ground, and unclear exactly what’s going on.
— Paul McLeary (@paulmcleary) February 24, 2022
Footage from CNN was some of the first to emerge showing suspected bombing in Kyiv, before the reporter later confirmed the Russian attacks.
CNN reporter in Kyiv is told live on air by his producer that “the invasion has begun” and that explosions he’s been hearing are missile strikes. He says the information came from a Ukrainian government official. pic.twitter.com/elivswWU79
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 24, 2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an emotional TV appearance earlier today and said the invasion could cost tens of thousands of lives.
“If we come under attack, if we face an attempt to take away our country, our freedom, our lives and lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. When you attack us, you will see our faces, not our backs,” he said.
⚡️Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba: “Putin has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression.”
“The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now.”
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 24, 2022
My mother-in-law woke us up with a call because she heard the bangs in her Kyiv neighborhood. So this is it. Russia is attacking us because Putin won’t tolerate the thought that Ukrainians and Ukraine exist. I can’t help crying.
— Myroslava Petsa (@myroslavapetsa) February 24, 2022
