Ukrainian officials said more than 40 soldiers and as many as 10 civilians had been killed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began shortly before dawn. Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser in the President’s Office, said a few dozen soldiers had also been injured and “as far as I know, at the moment there are a few civilian deaths — up to 10.”
Russia’s invasion follows weeks of warnings from the United States and other Western powers that an attack against Ukraine was imminent — and weeks of denials by Moscow that it planned any such action.
As air raid sirens rang out across the capital, Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky moved to enact martial law and government ministers accused Moscow of launching a “full scale invasion” that would be resisted.
Heavy traffic could be seen clogging roads heading west out of the city as dawn broke, while further east, near the Russian border, the mayor of Kharkiv urged citizens not to leave their homes.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on his official page that “peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strike” and called the situation “a war of aggression.” And an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, Anton Gerashchenko, told journalists Russia’s “invasion has begun” with “missile strikes on Kyiv.”
CNN witnessed, through a livestream video, troops atop a column of military vehicles entering Ukraine from a border crossing with Belarus. The livestream video was taken at the Senkivka, Ukraine crossing with Veselovka, Belarus. The column was seen entering Ukraine at about 6:48 am local time.
In recent weeks, Russia has amassed a significant number of troops, vehicles and tanks in Belarus near the border with Ukraine. The two countries have held joint military exercises across the countries, and near the Belarus-Ukrainian border.
CNN teams on the ground heard explosions in and near multiple Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, the second largest city Kharkiv, Odessa, and distant firing from Zaporizhzhiya. Images released by Zelensky’s office showed large explosions to the east of the capital Kyiv with huge columns of smoke rising into the air.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said five Russian aircraft and a helicopter were shot down early Thursday, claims Russia denied via state news agency TASS.
Hours before, Putin announced a military operation in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which contains Donetsk and Luhansk, the separatist-held regions that Moscow recognized as independent on Monday — in violation of international law.
In the address, broadcast live on Russian national television, Putin urged Ukrainian forces to lay down their arms and go home, saying all responsibility for possible bloodshed would be entirely on the conscience of the Ukrainian government.
“Our plans are not to occupy Ukraine, we do not plan to impose ourselves on anyone,” he said, but threatened “those who may be tempted to intervene” on Ukraine’s behalf.
“Whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so to create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences as you have never experienced in your history,” he said .
Before the announcement of military action, Zelensky appealed for peace but vowed “we will defend ourselves.”
In a second video message posted to his official Facebook page Thursday, Zelensky said Russia “began an attack on Ukraine today” and that Ukrainian forces had “already taken on the first blow of the enemy and are resisting.”
“Putin began war against Ukraine, against the entire democratic world. He wants to destroy my country, our country, everything we’ve been building, everything we are living for,” he said.
The launch of the Russian military operation came even as members of the UN Security Council met in New York to call for a peaceful resolution to the impending crisis.
What’s happening on the ground
Ukraine’s borders were reportedly under attack from Russian forces to the north in Belarus and the south from Crimea, according to the Ukrainian State Border Service.
Russian troops had attacked border units, patrol border and checkpoints with “artillery, heavy equipment and small arms,” the border service said.
The Russian military claimed Ukraine’s border service “did not provide any resistance” and claimed to have “suppressed” Ukraine’s air defenses. CNN was not able to immediately verify either of those claims.
Ukraine Interior Ministry adviser Gerashchenko tweeted that troops had landed in the southern city of Odessa and were crossing the border in Kharkiv, located in the country’s northeast. In a post on his Facebook page, he also said control centers such as airfields and military headquarters were being hit by shelling in Kyiv and Kharkiv, and that there was artillery fire along the border.
The Russian military released a statement Thursday claiming it was not targeting Ukrainian cities, saying “the civilian population is not at risk.”
“The Russian Armed Forces are not launching any missile or artillery strikes on the cities of Ukraine. High-precision weapons destroy military infrastructure: military airfields, aviation, air defense facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the statement read.
But despite the Russian military’s claims that civilians wouldn’t be targeted, many chose to leave the capital. Kyiv residents had previously been told to stay at home and pack a bag with necessities, in case they needed to leave abruptly.
Witnesses told CNN that subway stations had become improvised bunkers and were full of people, with supplies organized in groups.
Across the city, red arrows painted on walls indicate the locations of the nearest bomb shelters. The city first put them up after the war broke out in the east of the country in 2014, but they were recently repainted.
Before Putin’s address, Russia issued a notice banning civil aircraft from flight routes bordering northeastern Ukraine. Separately, Ukrainian aviation authorities issued a notice restricting Ukrainian airspace in the regions around Kyiv, Dnipro, Lviv, Odessa and Simferopol.
European aviation regulators warned civilian aircraft were at “high risk” near the Ukrainian border. “Air operators are reminded that this is now an active conflict zone,” said the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, known as EASA.
Leaders condemning Russian action
US President Joe Biden issued a statement saying Russia had launched “an unprovoked and unjustified attack” on the Ukrainian people, adding that “the world will hold Russia accountable.”
“These are among the darkest hours for Europe since the end of World War II. A major nuclear power has attacked a neighboring country and is threatening reprisals of any other states that may come to rescue,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Brussels .
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised to “weaken Russia’s economic base and its capacity to modernize” following its “barbaric attack” against Ukraine. “We will freeze Russian assets in the European Union and stop the access of Russian banks to European financial markets,” she said.
Italy condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine, calling it “unjustified and unjustifiable.” In a statement, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Italy was “close to the Ukrainian people and institutions in this dramatic moment.” He added that Italy was working with “European and NATO allies to respond immediately, with unity and determination.”
Germany has pledged support to its neighboring countries, including Poland, in the event that Ukrainians flee as a result of the Russian action.
“We are following very closely whether there will be an influx of refugees to our neighboring countries,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement Thursday.
Germany “will provide massive help to the affected states — especially our neighbor Poland — should there be a large-scale influx,” and remains in close contact with Poland and the EU Commission, she said.
Germany’s interior minister also said the country’s security authorities had ramped up protective measures to counter any cyberattacks.
CNN’s Helen Regan, Hada Messia and Nadine Schmidt contributed to this report.