What do we know so far about the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

• Direct All the news about the Russian attack

After several days of meetings and calls between international leaders, threats of attacks and sanctions, the Russian aggression against Ukraine began this Thursday.

One of those last appointments was the Munich Security Conference, last weekend, in which the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, was resounding:

When it already seems that the diplomatic route is extinguished, the real intentions of Vladimir Putin are still unknown and misinformation prevents knowing clearly what is happening on the ground.

This is what is known so far:

Putin's words

through a television speech .

The Donbas people's republics approached Russia with a request for help. In this connection, I made a decision to conduct a special military operation," the Russian president said.

An action that Putin already "predicted" when he recognized the territories this week

separatists and deployed their troops there.

"Its goal is to protect people who are subjected to abuse, genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years, and for this we will seek to

and bring to justice those who committed numerous bloody crimes against peaceful people, including Russian nationals." .

Putin called on the Ukrainian military to lay down their arms and spoke of the right of self-determination of peoples.

He also flexed 'military muscle' by warning that

, even after the disintegration of the USSR and the loss of a considerable part of the nuclear potential".

"Furthermore, it has certain advantages in the line of state-of-the-art weapons. In this regard, no one should have any doubts that direct attack on Russia will lead to defeat and devastating consequences for a potential aggressor," he warned.

Zelensky's words

The Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, tried to call the population to calm down, asking citizens to stay in their homes and assuring that the army is working to protect them.

He imposed martial law - meaning the army temporarily takes control - and decreed the general mobilization of all people of fighting age.

In addition, a curfew was declared in Kiev between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

On Thursday afternoon, he insisted on a message that he has been repeating ad nauseam in international forums and in meetings with presidents of various countries.

Dressed in a military uniform, the former comedian has once again warned of the global consequences of this conflict in the heart of Europe: "If you, esteemed European leaders, world leaders, leaders of the free world, do not help us, and do not help us well tomorrow the war will knock on their doors".

"A new iron curtain has fallen separating Russia from the civilized world,"

he declared.

world reactions

The voice almost in unison, with the exception of Russia's allies, has been the condemnation of the Russian attack and serious sanctions have been announced, although at no time is there any talk of an offensive by the West.

US President Joe Biden first denounced

on Ukraine.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an end to the attack.

Along the same lines, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg lamented the "uncountable" loss of life.

The EU underlined the strong sanctions against Russia.

It was announced by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, who spoke of

French leader Emmanuel Macron, who has tried to be a mediator in this conflict - remember the meeting with Putin at that huge table - spoke of a

For his part, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, noted for his lukewarmness, spoke of

of international law and, on Thursday afternoon, said in a televised appearance:

. "

The British

minister called Putin a "dictator."

sanctions

On Thursday, the G7 decided on "devastating" sanctions, as Biden defined them, focused on cornering Russia economically and technologically, in addition to a series of individual punishments against the Russian "elites".

For the time being, there will be neither an offensive by the West, nor individual sanctions on the Russian president, nor the commented departure from the Swift system.

The European Council is also meeting to discuss some punishments that

, as Josep Borrell says.

The attacks and the victims

Putin's strategy has caught the world on the wrong foot.

Although it is still difficult to verify the information and know exactly what is happening, experts expected that the movements would start in the Donbas region, however, Ukraine has reported that troops have entered at various points along its borders in the East, South and North.

Ukraine reported that the Russian army had taken control of the old Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The main targets of the attacks have been strategic points, such as airports.

The danger is in the taking of Kiev, that Russia takes over the whole country and imposes a "puppet government".

The differences in troops between Russia and Ukraine are abysmal.

Kiev's 196,000 troops versus Moscow's 900,000 troops are just one example of the gap in this attack.

As for the victims, they are also difficult to quantify.

Ukraine already speaks of

Exodus

Hearing the alarms and the sounds of bombing, part of the population has decided to flee.

Queues of civilians have been seen trying to withdraw money from banks, buying supplies or pumping gas.

The images of impressive traffic jams of vehicles trying to leave Kiev attested to the population's fear of taking over the city.

Ukrainians flee to Romania, Moldova and other neighboring countries.

A mass exodus is expected and, therefore, UNHCR has called for the borders to be kept open.

Those who have decided to stay sought refuge.

In fact, the subway stations remain open, despite the curfew, so that they can be used as a refuge.

In Ukraine, there would be

to whom Pedro Sánchez has guaranteed the possibilities and the ways to leave the country.

The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, stated on Thursday night on the Spanish Television newscast that there would be little more than 200 Spaniards left in Ukraine and that the departure convoys of the nationals were in operation.

Russian police detain protesters, in Saint Petersburg.ANATOLY MALTSEVEFE

protests

Protests are taking place around the world against Putin's invasion.

In Moscow, those marches have already resulted in thousands of arrests.

In Spain, Ukrainians have demonstrated in front of the Russian embassy in Madrid and also in Catalonia, where more Ukrainians live (24,000).

Economy

Much has been made of the consequences of an attack on the supply of Russian gas to Europe.

This Thursday we also had to look at the world stock markets.

, according to María Hernández.

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