Geekybar
The first explosions in Ukrainian cities were heard before dawn Thursday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his long-awaited military operation in Ukraine.
In a televised message at the start of the attack, he warned other countries that any attempt to intervene would have “consequences they have never seen in history.”
US President Joe Biden declared that the world will “hold Russia to account.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned Russia’s actions as a violation of international law and a threat to European security.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Russia aimed to destroy the state of Ukraine, a Western-style democracy determined to move away from Moscow’s orbit.
Here are the keys to the conflict in Ukraine and the security crisis in Eastern Europe:
PUTIN MAKES HIS MOVE
Putin said the military operation was necessary to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine, an argument the United States had predicted it would use to justify an invasion.
The Russian president accused the United States and its allies of neglecting Russia’s demands to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and to offer Moscow security guarantees. He added that Russia’s goal is not to occupy Ukraine, but to “demilitarize” it.
Shortly after his speech, explosions were heard in the cities of Kiev, Kharkiv and Odessa. Russia said it had struck military targets.
Putin called on Ukrainian soldiers to “immediately lay down their arms and go home.”
Ukraine’s border agency said the Russian military had fired artillery from neighboring Belarus. Ukrainian border guards returned fire, said the agency, which had no casualty data at first. Russian troops had traveled to Belarus for exercises.
THE WEST REACTS QUICKLY
Biden and Stoltenberg were quick to condemn the Russian attack as unjustified and unprovoked.
Putin “has chosen a premeditated war that will result in catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” Biden said in a statement.
The president promised united and decisive responses from the United States and its allies. “The world will hold Russia accountable,” he said.
“Despite our repeated warnings and tireless diplomatic efforts, Russia has chosen the path of aggression against a sovereign and independent country,” the NATO leader said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Western allies will not stand by while Russia attacks Ukraine. In an early morning phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Johnson said he was shocked by developments in the country, according to a statement from his office.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that “this Russian invasion jeopardizes the basic principle of the international order that prohibits unilateral action of force in an attempt to change the status quo.”
THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE CALLS FOR CALM
After the initial explosions in Kiev, people could be heard screaming in the streets. But then a sense of normalcy returned, with cars passing by and people walking down the street as the morning commute seemed to begin relatively calmly.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a video statement declaring martial law and saying Washington was rallying international support for Ukraine. He urged Ukrainians to stay home.
FALLS IN WORLD MARKETS
Asian stock markets slumped and oil prices rose nearly $6 a barrel on Thursday after the start of the Russian military operation.
Benchmark indices fell in Europe and Asia and US futures were in the red. A barrel of Brent crude rose above $100 a barrel on concerns about possible disruptions to Russian deliveries.
The ruble fell 7.5% against the dollar to more than $87. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 fell 1.8% to an eight-month low on Wednesday after the Kremlin said rebels in eastern Ukraine had asked for military assistance.
PUTIN’S STATEMENT SHADOWS THE EMERGENCY SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting requested by Ukraine in the face of the imminent threat of a Russian invasion.
Opening the session just before Putin’s announcement, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told Putin: “Stop your troops attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died.”
Guterres later asked him: “In the name of humanity, take your troops back to Russia.”
WHEN WILL THE WEST IMPOSE MORE SANCTIONS?
Ukrainian forces can in no way compete with Moscow’s military might, so Kiev is counting on other countries to hit Russia hard through sanctions.
US President Joe Biden allowed sanctions to begin on Wednesday against the company responsible for building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany, and against the company’s CEO.
Biden had waived the sanctions last year when the project was nearing completion, in exchange for Germany’s agreement to take action against Russia if it used the gas as a weapon or attacked Ukraine. Berlin indicated on Tuesday that it would suspend the project indefinitely.
Biden said more sanctions would be announced on Thursday.
The European Union was planning the “strongest and toughest package of sanctions” in its history in an emergency meeting, according to the head of community diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
“A major nuclear power has attacked a neighboring country and is threatening to retaliate against any other state that might come to the rescue,” Borrell said. “This is not only the greatest violation of international law, it is a violation of the basic principles of human coexistence. It is costing many lives with unknown consequences for the future. The European Union will respond as firmly as possible.”
Western countries backing Ukraine said they had already sent an emphatic message to Putin on Tuesday with a first round of sanctions. They said if Russian soldiers moved beyond separatist-controlled regions it would bring more painful sanctions and possibly the biggest war in a generation on the European continent.
“This is the toughest sanctions package we have ever imposed on Russia,” said Liz Truss, the British foreign secretary, referring to sanctions against banks that finance the Russian military and oligarchs. “But they will go further, if we see a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
The European Union has finalized a similar package, which is also aimed at lawmakers in the Russian lower house of parliament and will make it harder for Moscow to access EU financial and capital markets.
The US measures announced Tuesday target high-ranking Russian officials and two Russian banks seen as particularly close to the Kremlin and the Russian military, which have a total of more than $80 billion in assets.
WHAT SANCTIONS WAS USING IF RUSSIA INVADED?
The Biden administration has made it clear that it reserved harsh financial sanctions for itself in the event of such a Russian invasion.
Washington has not specified what action it will take now, although government officials have made it clear that full sanctions against major Russian banks were among the likely options. Also export limits that would prevent Russia from accessing American high technology for its industries and its military.
Another firm measure being studied would effectively expel Russia from much of the global financial system.
HOW IS THE UKRAINIAN ECONOMY?
It is Ukraine, not Russia, where the economy is eroding most rapidly under the threat of war.
One by one, the embassies and international offices in Kiev have closed. Flight after flight was canceled as insurance companies refused to cover planes arriving in the country. Hundreds of millions of dollars in investments dried up in a few weeks.
Crushing the Ukrainian economy is a key destabilizing tactic in what the government describes as “hybrid warfare” intended to corrode the country from within.
The economic woes include restaurants not daring to keep more than a couple of days’ worth of food on hand, stalling plans for a hydrogen production plant that could help wean Europe off Russian gas, and uncertain conditions for shipping in the Black Sea, where container ships must carefully navigate Russian military vessels.
UKRAINE RECORD MORE CYBER ATTACKS
Access to the websites of Ukraine’s defense, foreign and interior ministries was either impossible or very slow on Thursday morning after a heavy wave of denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, coinciding with the attack. from Russia to the country.
In addition to Wednesday’s DDoS attacks, cybersecurity researchers said unidentified attackers infected hundreds of computers with destructive malware, some even in neighboring Latvia and Lithuania.
Officials have long expected cyberattacks to precede and accompany any Russian military incursion.
HOW IS THE CONFRONTATION IN RUSSIA SEEN?
Russian state media is portraying Moscow as coming to the rescue of war-torn parts of eastern Ukraine that are being racked by Ukrainian aggression.
TV hosts are professing an end to suffering for residents of breakaway regions.
“You paid with your blood for these eight years of torment and waiting,” host Olga Skabeyeva said during a popular talk show on Tuesday morning. “Now Russia will defend Donbas.”
Channel One network opted for a more festive tone. His correspondent in Donetsk declared that the residents of the region “say that it is the best news of the last years of war”.
“Now they are confident in the future and that the multi-year war will finally come to an end,” he said.
Whether the Russians are buying into that narrative is another question.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings