{"id":56138,"date":"2022-02-24T09:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T09:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=56138"},"modified":"2022-02-24T09:04:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T09:04:00","slug":"russian-invasion-of-ukraine-the-story-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=56138","title":{"rendered":"Russian invasion of Ukraine: The story so far…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine: What we know so far<\/strong><\/p>\n

Putin launches multi-pronged attack on Ukraine: How did the invasion start and what has happened so far?<\/p>\n

Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched a military operation in Ukraine, with explosions heard across the country and Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister warning a\u00a0\u201cfull-scale invasion\u201d\u00a0was under way.<\/p>\n

What do we know about the invasion so far?<\/p>\n

The build-up to war<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weeks of intense diplomacy and the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia failed to deter Putin, who had massed between 150,000 and 200,000 troops along the borders of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Russia has demanded an end to NATO\u2019s eastward expansion and said Ukrainian membership of the US-led Atlantic military alliance was unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Shelling had intensified since Monday when Putin recognised two separatist regions as independent and ordered the deployment of what he called peacekeepers, a move the West called the\u00a0start of an invasion.<\/p>\n

In response, Western countries and Japan have\u00a0imposed sanctions\u00a0on Russian banks and individuals.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the separatists issued a plea to Moscow for help to stop alleged Ukrainian aggression \u2013 claims the United States dismissed as Russian propaganda.<\/p>\n

As it appeared Russia was preparing to attack, Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an\u00a0emotional address to the nation, saying the war would be \u201ca big disaster\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they try to take our country away from us, our freedom, our lives, the lives of our children, we will defend ourselves,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

On Thursday morning, Putin said he had authorised military action to defend itself against what he said were threats emanating from Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Russia invades Ukraine<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said Russia had carried out missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and border guards, and that explosions had been heard in many cities. An official also reported non-stop cyberattacks.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said that martial law had been declared.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian media reported that military command centres in Kyiv and the city of Kharkiv in the northeast had been struck by missiles while Russian troops had landed in the southern port cities of Odesa and Mariupol.<\/p>\n

Russian troops attacked Ukraine from Belarus as well as Russia with Belarusian support, and an attack was also being launched from annexed Crimea, Ukraine\u2019s border guard service said.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s defence ministry said it had taken out military infrastructure at Ukrainian airbases and degraded its air defences.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u00a0closed its airspace\u00a0to civilian flights citing a high risk to safety, while Russia suspended domestic flights at airports near its border with Ukraine until March 2.<\/p>\n

Russian-backed separatists in the east said they had captured two towns, the RIA news agency reported.<\/p>\n

What has the reaction been?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The invasion triggered\u00a0swift condemnation.<\/p>\n

US President Joe Biden, who has ruled out putting US troops on the ground in Ukraine, said Putin had chosen a premeditated war that would bring a \u201ccatastrophic loss of life and human suffering\u201d. He said he would speak to G& leaders and promised Russia would be held \u201caccountable\u201d.<\/p>\n

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned Russia\u2019s \u201creckless and unprovoked attack\u201d and said NATO allies would meet to tackle the consequences.<\/p>\n

UN chief Antonio Guterres urged Russia \u201cin the name of humanity\u201d to step back from what could be \u201cthe worst war since the beginning of the century with consequences not only devastating for Ukraine, not only tragic for the Russian Federation but with an impact we cannot even foresee\u201d.<\/p>\n

The European Union\u2019s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Russia faces \u201cunprecedented isolation\u201d over its attack on Ukraine and will be hit with the \u201charshest sanctions\u201d the EU has ever imposed.<\/p>\n

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine: What we know so far Putin launches multi-pronged attack on Ukraine: How did the invasion start and what has happened so far? Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched a military operation in Ukraine, with explosions heard across the country and Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister warning a\u00a0\u201cfull-scale invasion\u201d\u00a0was under way. What do we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":56139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5787],"tags":[449,1766,704],"class_list":["post-56138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-invasion","tag-russia","tag-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}