Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, with airstrikes and penetration of ground forces including in the direction of the capital, Kiev, killing dozens of people in a few hours, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
The attack triggered an outcry in the international community, especially on the Western side, with emergency meetings planned in several countries.
From dawn, just after Mr. Putin's speech, explosions rang out in Kiev, in Kramatorsk, a city in the east which serves as the headquarters of the Ukrainian army, in Kharkiv (east), the second city of the country, in Odessa (south), on the Black Sea, and in Mariupol, the main port in the east of the country.
The point in pictures.
Director:
Olivier JUSZCZAK
“I have taken the decision for a special military operation” aimed at “a demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine,” Vladimir Putin announced in a statement on television before 6 a.m.
From dawn, just after Mr. Putin's speech, explosions rang out in Kiev, in Kramatorsk, a city in the east which serves as the headquarters of the Ukrainian army, in Kharkiv (east), the second city of the country, in Odessa (south), on the Black Sea, and in Mariupol, the main port in the east of the country.
In Kiev, residents taken aback rushed into the metro to take shelter or try to leave the city.
In the morning, a source close to President Zelensky indicated that “more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, dozens injured” and “nearly 10 civilians killed”.
In the capital, Kiev, queues were growing outside ATMs to withdraw cash.
Motorists waited at gas stations to refuel.
Before fleeing the capital, as far as possible from the Russian border, located 400 km away.
Both sides have made unverifiable statements: the Russian army has claimed in particular to have destroyed 11 airfields and 18 radar stations of anti-missile defense systems.
She also claimed that her troops were gaining ground in eastern Ukraine.
“It looks like the 21st century version of the great wars in 20th century Europe.
The Russian forces arrive by Kharkiv (east) following the good classics of 1941 and 1943 to take back the Ukrainian troops in their trenches, who will have no other solution than to surrender after having sold their skin dearly "explains François Heisbourg , special adviser to the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) in Paris.
According to Westerners, Russia has massed 150,000 men on its borders with Ukraine and 30,000 others, in the north, at its Belarusian ally.
"Shitty country, put...", shouts a woman, in front of the body of a man killed in a bombardment on a residential district of Chugouïv, in the east of Ukraine.
Near the dead, his crying son, in his thirties, remains prostrate.
"I told him to go," he repeats endlessly, next to the twisted remains of an old Lada.
In this city located 30 km from Kharkiv, the second metropolis of Ukraine, the Russian bombardments resounded part of the night.
In the afternoon, the offensive appeared to be aimed directly at Kiev, where a curfew was imposed.
Ukrainian authorities said Russian ground forces were in the vicinity of the capital.
A Ukrainian military plane crashed in the area with 14 people on board.
Fighting was underway to control a military airport near the capital.
Kiev also announced that fighting was taking place in the area of the Chernobyl power plant.
Ukrainian soldiers are “sacrificing their lives” there to avoid a nuclear disaster like in 1986, Mr Zelensky said.
The Russian attack, after months of tensions and diplomatic efforts to avoid a war, drew a shower of international condemnation.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the attack "a turning point in the history of Europe" and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called it "challenging peace" on the continent.
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