#Ukraine 🇺🇦: pro-separatist Telegram sources are reporting a loud as explosion in government-controlled territory of #Donetsk.
This source describes the development as "disturbing"
#Kyiv today.
Ukrainian and Belarusian flags being waved side-by-side as thousands rally to reject the #Kremlin's imperial ambitions in #Belarus and #Ukraine.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: Russian Mil Mi-28 helicopters flying over #Belgorod (🇷🇺), several several dozen km from the Ukrainian border.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: as Russian Buk missile systems moved into position close to the Ukrainian border, several airline insurers decide to no longer cover flight over the country, airlines like KLM cancel all flights.
In 2014 #MH17 was shot down by a Russian Buk, similar to this one.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: a American V-22 Osprey has been deployed to Rzeszow in eastern #Poland 🇵🇱, as the #US is deploying additional forces to eastern European #NATO countries.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: Russian T-80U tanks rolling through the city of #Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: after the #US has informed @ZelenskyyUa the #Kremlin might invade this Wednesday (16/02), the president has announced that day to be a day of national unity.
He calls on Ukrainians to raise the Ukrainian flag that day and join together to sing the national anthem.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: the Ukrainian armed forces uploaded a new video wishing everyone a happy #ValentinesDay.
And while they were at it, they also fired some javelin missiles.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: this footage reportedly shows Russian tanks being moved back off the line again.
Oi the #Kremlin was indeed planning to invade tomorrow, then the element of surprise was gone & it would make sense to hold off for the moment. Doesn't mean the invasion is off entirely
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: today the #Duma voted to approve an appeal to president #Putin, requesting him to recognize the separatist entities in #Donetsk and #Luhansk known as the #DNR & #LNR.
Same steps were taken to recognize #Abkhazia & #SouthOssetia, in the run-up to the #Georgia war.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: this morning (pro-)Russian forces in #Luhansk shelled the town of Stanytsia Luhanska, hitting a local kindergarten.
Miraculously no children were harmed in the attack.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: (pro-)Russian shells also landed in the village of Vrubivka (#Luhansk), smashing into the local schoolyard
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: shells coming from (pro-) Russian held territory also hit the town of Mariinka (#Donetsk) this morning.
One woman got injured in the attack.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: more shells hit Stanytsia Luhanska (#Luhansk) tonight.
This footage reportedly shows residents trying to put out a fire which took hold after the building was hit by mortar fire.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦 BREAKING: separatist leader Dennis #Pushilin has announced the evacuation of civilians fron from the #Donbass into #Russia.
Pushilin claims a Ukrainian offensive is imminent, without providing any evidence. Journalists reporting from the front refute this statement.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: the leader of the separatist entity in #Luhansk has also announced an evacuation of civilians towards #Russia.
The separatists also call on all able-bodied men to report for duty and be ready to fight.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: people in #Donetsk are queuing at ATMs, hoping to withdraw their money before being forces to evacuate.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: meanwhile the buses have arrived to evacuate civilians from the separatist entities to #Russia.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: children are obviously panicking as the sound of the air sirens spread throughout the city.
The separatists authorities have closed down all schools.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: traffic at a border crossing between the #DNR and #Russia as civilians are not waiting for the buses to be evacuated. Thousands are leaving at their own initiative.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: children of this orphanage are among the first to be put on the bus out of #Donetsk into #Russia.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: orphans in #Donetsk are being put on the bus.
Please please please let them arrive safely in Russia without any incidents along the way.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: the Commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces calls on people living in the separatist entities of the #Donbass to no believe the lies of the separatist authorities, stating they are being used to escalate the situation
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: a car exploded on the parking lot of a government building in #Donetsk.
No words on casualties.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: footage of the remains of the car that exploded just outside of a government administration building in #Donetsk.
Note that the pro-russian reporters are conveniently fast to arrive at tge scene and call the incident a "terror attack"
I am no car expert but the exploded vehicle appears to be a (military?) jeep of some sorts.
Explosion was clearly small if the front of the vehicle is still largely intact.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: explosions and the sound artillery fire can be recorded in the distance in #Luhansk tonight.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: a Ukrainian truck was destroyed earlier today by (pro-) Russian shelling along the frontline in #Luhansk
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: Dennis Pushilin has officially requested #Putin to recognize the separatist entity in #Donetsk, a request he made live on Russian state-TV
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: while the #Kremlin talks heavy clahses are ongoing in Schastya, on the Ukrainian side of the frontline in #Luhansk.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦 BREAKING: #Putin has informed #Macron and #Scholz he will recognize the separatist entities in #Donetsk & #Luhansk, known as the #DNR/#LNR
Keep in mind the separatists only control 1/3 of the territory they claim.
There it is: with the stroke of a pen, #Putin recognizes the separatists entities in eastern #Ukraine 🇺🇦
I think we can expect to see a lot of Russian forces moving into separatists territories of #Donbass tonight.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: #Syria dictator Bashar al-#Assad has announced his willingness to recognize the separatist entities in #Donetsk & #Luhansk.
A good moment to re-post this picture.
#Georgia 🇬🇪: small celebrations in #Tskhinvali in the separatist entity of #SouthOssetia following #Putin's speech regarding #Ukraine 🇺🇦
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: celebrations in #Donetsk tonight. A dozen people with 🇷🇺 flags in a city of a million residents
Aaaand Putin apparently signed the recognition of DNR/LNR at 12:15, so probably even before is speech and his meeting with his security council
#Ukraine 🇺🇦 BREAKING: #Putin has ordered the deployment of Russian forces into the separatist territories in #Donbass.
The invasion has begun.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: according to #Donetsk-based Telegram channels this footage shows the first Russian forces moving into #Donbass.
Judging by the number of 💩 emojis under the posts, locals are not too excited about these intruders
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: the Belarusian government-in-exile has called on the #Kremlin to withdraw its forces from #Belarus, and condemns the involvement of Belarusian territory in an invasion of Ukraine.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: the president of #Moldova 🇲🇩 has also condemned the Russian incursion into Ukrainian territory
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: the Ukrainian government has announced the deaths of two servicemen along the line of contact in #Donbass over the night.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: heavy smoke rises over Schastya (#Luhansk) after the local power station got hit by (pro-) Russian shelling.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: sounds of shelling can be heard in Schastya (#Luhansk). Black smoke can be seen from far away.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦 BREAKING: #Putin just clearly stated on TV that the #Kremlin recognizes separatist sovereignty over the entirety of the #Donetsk and #Luhansk oblasts, making further aggression towards Ukrainian-held #Donbass basically inevitable.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: as #Putin declares he recognizes the separatists' claim over the entire #Donbass, people in #Mariupol rally to reject the notion of separatist rule over their city.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: CCTV footage of (pro-) Russian rockets hitting the village of Schastya, in Ukrainian-held #Luhansk territory.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: large protest in the #Donetsk city of #Kramatorsk tonight against the #Kremlin's invasion and separatist-rule over the region.
People sing the national anthem as they wave Ukrainian flag.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: the city of #Kramatorsk (#Donetsk) tonight
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: photos ans videos have surfaced reportedly showing separatists in #Donetsk picking men of the streets to take them to recruiting centers.
Separatist authorities have called on all men to report for duty.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦 BREAKING: the separatist entities in #Donetsk and #Luhansk have officially requested the #Kremlin for military support in pushing the Ukrainian armed forces out of #Donbass.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: in his latest address president @ZelenskyyUa appeals to Russian society, calling on the Russian people to do whatever they can to prevent war, one which seems to become more imminent by the hour.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: Russian authorities have closed the airspace over the 🇺🇦/🇷🇺 border tonight.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: another video of shelling this very moment in #Mariupol. It sounds less intense but still very constant
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: latest footage from the front in #Donbass. Sounds of intensified shelling can be heard in the village of Talakivka, east of #Mariupol.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: #Putin is giving an emergency speech this very moment.
Not a single international outlet is broadcasting it, not even RT English
BREAKING: #Putin announces that he calls a "special military operation" in #Ukraine 🇺🇦.
The invasion is a fact.
!!!!!
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: photo reportedly taken in #Kharkiv tonight.
@clarissaward confirms hearing blasts in the city.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: unbelievable footage claiming to show a barrage of GRAD rockets being fired in the direction of #Mariupol.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: this video reportedly shows a missile being launched from Russian territory.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: large fire recorded in Nova Kachovka (#Kherson region), close to the frontline at #Crimea
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: long traffic lines in #Kharkiv as well, as ambulances speed into the opposite direction
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: Russian missiles are flying over the heads of innocent Ukrainian civilians.
Welcome to 2022
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: the Chuguev airbase near #Kharkiv has clearly been targeted, large fires are visible on the compound.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦 BREAKING: CNN reports Belarusian regime forces have participated in Russian attacks on Ukrainian border posts.
Stock photo.
*Kharkiv
#UKRAINE 🇺🇦: CNN BROADCASTS LIVESTREAM OF RUSSIAN/BELARUSIAN INVASION FORCES MOVING ACROSS THE BORDER INTO UKRAINE
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: massive explosion in #Lutsk (#Volyn region), westernmost reported strike, only ~80 km from the border with #NATO-member #Poland 🇵🇱
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: troop movements in occupied #Crimea, towards the frontline with the Ukrainian military.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: from #Kyiv this morning. The #Kremlin fires massive missiles into residential areas of a city of 3 million people
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: Russian missile slamming into the airport of #IvanoFrankivsk
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: another angle of the missile strike in #IvanoFrankivsk. Massive explosion following the hit.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: smoke fills the air over the #Vinnytsia region as a Ukrainian military base has reportedly been struck.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: *unconfirmed* footage to Russian forces inside of Ukrainian territory in the #Kharkiv region.
Repeat: unconfirmed
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: smoke surrounds the Ukrianian naval base in #Odessa, another logical target of the Russian invasion
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: as of this morning #Mariupol is still under Ukrainian control. Long lines are being reported at the grocery stores and ATMs
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: Russian forces reportedly moving through the town of Henichesk (#Kherson region), meaning they've broken out of #Crimea
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: footage posted on separatist-aligned channels claiming to show (pro-) Russian forces trying to advance towards Schastya in #Luhansk
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: more footage of Russian/Belarusian invasion forces moving into Ukrainian territory.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: the president of #Moldova 🇲🇩 has asked the government to declare a state of emergency and prepare for the arrival of thousands of refugees.
Around 1000 Russian soldiers are illegally stationed in the country.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦: destruction and continues shelling at the Mizhnarodnyy airport, just outside of #Mariupol.
#Ukraine 🇺🇦 BREAKING: Russian missiles are also flying towards Ukrainian territory from the separatist entity of #Transnistria in #Moldova 🇲🇩
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