Thread by @Telegraph

🔴Russian forces fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities after President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a "special military operation"

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Boris Johnson said he is "appalled by the horrific events" in Ukraine and that he had spoken to its president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss "next steps".

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🚨Ukraine's Interior Ministry says troops from Belarus joined Russia in attacking Belarus from its northern border, @Nat_Vasilyeva reports

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Military vehicles are seen on a street on the outskirts of Donetsk on Thursday morning

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🚨Ukraine's emergency services say Russian troops have captured two villages in eastern Luhansk region.

Pro-Russian separatists who control about one-third of Ukraine's Luhansk region said their forces launched an operation to seize all of the region
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An explosion over Kharkiv on Thursday morning

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Here's our full report on the situation, from @Josiensor telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…

Here's @RolandOliphant on why the combined efforts of an entire cast of Western leaders, led by Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron, could not deter Vladimir Putin from going to war #Ukraine
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Explosions rang out in Kharkiv, a large city 35 kilometres (20 miles) south of the Russian border.

Four loud blasts rang out in Kramatorsk, a frontline city that serves as the Ukrainian government's effective capital for the eastern war zone
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🔴Boris Johnson said he is "appalled by the horrific events" in Ukraine and that he had spoken to its president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss "next steps."

"President Putin has chosen a path of bloodshed and destruction by launching this unprovoked attack on Ukraine"

A British-Ukrainian student living in Kyiv said she woke up to the sounds of explosions on Thursday morning.

Ms Butenko said "a lot" of people are leaving the Ukrainian capital and roads out of the city are blocked making it "impossible to get out"
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🔴Joe Biden has said the "prayers of the world" are with Ukraine.

"Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way"

What we know so far:

🔴Putin has launched a full-scale invasion in Ukraine

🔴There are reports of multiple attacks in major cities, such as Kyiv, the capital, and Kharkiv

🔴Russia says it has destroyed Ukrainian military bases and Kyiv says it shot down Russian aircraft

❓How could Russia's invasion of Ukraine unfold?

Read the latest from our Telegraph reporters 👇
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Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, said in a statement: "I strongly condemn the appalling, unprovoked attack President Putin has launched on the people of Ukraine"
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🚨A Ukrainian official says at least seven people have died in air strikes.

Anton Herashchenk said six people were killed and seven injured in an airstrike on a military base outside the Black Sea port of Odessa.

One person died in shelling in Mariupol
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Boris Johnson will chair an early morning Cobra meeting today at 7.30am
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❌Australia has hit Russia with a "second phase" of sanctions.

Scott Morrison announced sanctions against 25 individuals, four entities involved in developing and selling military gear, and restrictions on four financial institutions
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Russia will now be hit by an "unprecedented" package of sanctions from the UK and its allies, a Foreign Office minister has promised.

🗣️James Cleverly said that even if Vladimir Putin "doesn't care" about the imminent sanctions, "the people around him absolutely will care"

🔴Open-source data suggests that Putin may have recorded his address declaring an invasion of Ukraine earlier this week, reports @Nat_Vasilyeva

Metadata on the video of Mr Putin's address suggests that it was recorded no later than 7 p.m. on Monday
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🇨🇳China has reiterated a call for all parties involved in the situation in Ukraine to exercise restraint and rejected a foreign journalist's description of Russia's actions as an invasion
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❌Russia has closed the maritime shipping lane between itself and Ukraine in the Azov Sea.

It comes after Ukrainian air space was closed amid reports of Russia launching ballistic missiles
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The UK's sanctions packages will be announced "in waves" including some later on today, James Cleverly has confirmed.

"What he has done is a catastrophic error. It will be incredibly painful not just for the people of Ukraine, but it will cost Russian lives"

🇪🇺The European Union's chief executive has said she will present "massive" sanctions to the bloc's national leaders for approval later in the day against Russia.

She said new EU sanctions would block Russia's access to "key technologies and markets"
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🗣️Sir Keir Starmer has branded Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine "unprovoked and unjustifiable".

"There can be no space for equivocation when faced with the evil that Putin has unleashed. His actions pose a grave threat to the international order on which we all depend"

❓Why has Vladimir Putin chosen to invade Ukraine now?

The president has long believed Ukraine should be part of Russia - but now he sees an opportunity he might not get again

Read the analysis by @RolandOliphant 👇
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…

🚨Russia's ground forces have crossed into Ukraine from several directions.

Russian tanks and other heavy equipment crossed the frontier in several northern regions, as well as from the Kremlin-annexed peninsula of Crimea in the south
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🇵🇱Poland has asked Nato to activate Article 4, which calls for emergency consultations if a member is threatened, after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine.

Ukraine is not a Nato member, but the alliance has repeatedly condemned Russia's aggressions against its neighbour

🇫🇷President Emmanuel Macron has summoned the French defence council early today in response to Russian attacks on Ukraine, his office said

Russia's opposition leader in a court appearance has condemned Russia's war in Ukraine, reports @Nat_Vasilyeva

Alexei Navalny said: "I'm against this war unleashed by thieves and gangsters"

After the explosions in Kyiv died down at around 5am, Ukrainians ventured out in the streets, some walking their dogs or heading to work, reports @JamesERothwell from Kyiv
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🗣️Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the country’s military infrastructure has not been seriously damaged.

“The first strikes failed. There are losses but they did not harm the combat readiness of our forces”

🔴Russia might have had the capability to invade Ukraine, but it lacks the troops and popular support to be able to occupy it for any significant period, the US general best known for his counter-insurgency expertise has predicted
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❌Emmanuel Macron has strongly condemned Russia's military action against Ukraine and vowed that Paris would work with allies to try to end the conflict.

"France stands in solidarity with Ukraine. It stands by Ukrainians and is working with its partners and allies"

🇺🇦Ukraine’s president is calling for a broad coalition against Putin.

“We’re starting to build an anti-Putin coalition. I have already asked all foreign leaders to use all possible sanctions against Putin, start a massive defence aid relief"
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🗣️What we are seeing constitutes the "darkest hour in European history for the last 70 years", says Mark Voyger, a senior fellow at the Centre for European Analysis.

"What Putin really wants is a Ukraine that doesn't turn to the West, that follows Moscow's orders"

🇩🇪German chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the Russian attack as a blatant breach of international law.

"There's no justification for it," he said.

"This is a terrible day for Ukraine and a dark day for Europe"
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🇲🇩President Maia Sandu has said Moldova will introduce a state of emergency and was ready to accept tens of thousands of people coming in from neighbouring Ukraine.

"We will help people who need our help and support," she said.

🚨The head of the Ukrainian military has said he had received orders from President Volodymyr Zelensky to repel a Russian invasion of his country.

"The supreme commander the Armed Forces of Ukraine gave orders to inflict maximum losses against the aggressor"

🔴Ukraine's Border Guard Service says Russian troops and weaponry attacked Ukraine from the occupied Crimean peninsula earlier this morning.

They released a video showing tanks, armoured vehicles and trucks driving through the border crossing between Crimea and mainland Ukraine

🔴A Russian opposition activist called for anti-war protests in Russian cities.

"We will be cleaning up this mess for years to come. Not even us. But our children and grandchildren"

"All we see is the agony of a dying man. Alas, Russia is in agony"

The Telegraph's @JamesERothwell reports from a shelter in Kyiv as President Putin ordered a full scale invasion fo Ukraine
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🇧🇾Belarus's leader Alexander Lukashenko has said that his military is not taking part in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow has stationed tens of thousands of troops in Belarus
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🚨Volodymyr Zelensky has urged world leaders to provide defence assistance and help protect Ukraine's airspace from Russia
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❌Ukraine has asked Nato member Turkey to close the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to Russian ships.

Turkey controls the waters linking the Mediterranean with the Black Sea
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🔴The Foreign Office has advised British nationals to leave Ukraine immediately if possible, and to "stay indoors, away from windows" if they cannot leave.

The American embassy in Kyiv has also issued a similar warning
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🗣️A former Nato commander has warned that Britain could "be at war with Russia."

General Sir Richard Sherriff said: "If Russia puts one bootstep across Nato territory we are all at war with Russia - every single member of Nato alliance"
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❌Boris Johnson has come under fire from MPs over the "weak" sanctions issued against Russia before its invasion of Ukraine
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From our Moscow correspondent 👇

🚨Vladimir Putin's early morning assault on Ukraine has already sparked a mass exodus from the capital, Kyiv amid fears Europe is set for its worst refugee crisis in decades
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Here is the current state of Russia's invasion of Ukraine👇
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🚨The Ukrainian government has confirmed that the death toll of its soldiers today has risen to five
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🔴Prime Minister Boris Johnson will give an address to the House of Commons at 12.15 today
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A Russian military convoy in annexed Crimea with the letter "Z" painted on the sides of vehicles has been seen driving north towards mainland Ukraine
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From our senior foreign correspondent 👇

🚨The Ukrainian president has vowed to issue weapons to "anyone who wants one."

Mr Zelensky said he will remove all sanctions against any individual who is prepared to defend the country "with a weapon in their hand"
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Our senior foreign correspondent explains why Putin has chosen this moment to invade Ukraine 👇

Large explosions have been filmed across eastern Ukraine shortly after President Putin ordered a military operation in the country
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🚨An adviser to the Ukrainian President's office says more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers are dead and several dozen are wounded.

Ukrainian military claim to have killed "50 Russian occupiers" this morning, shooting down six Russian planes in the process
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🔴Russia's defence ministry has said its armed forces are providing supporting fire to Moscow-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine as they undertook an offensive
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🔴Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the Russian military action in Ukraine was a “catastrophe for our continent”
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