Russia launches broad attack on Ukraine in ‘dark day’ for Europe

Russian forces attacked targets across Ukraine after President Vladimir Putin ordered an operation to “demilitarise” the country, prompting international condemnation and a US threat of further “severe sanctions” on Moscow, sending markets tumbling worldwide.

Russia launched a barrage of missile, artillery and air attacks early on Thursday, triggering the worst security crisis Europe has witnessed in decades.

Ukraine’s interior ministry warned that the capital, Kyiv, was being targeted and urged citizens to go to shelters. Ukraine’s border guard said that it was being shelled from five regions, including from Crimea in the south and Belarus to the north, and that Russian forces had crossed into the country. 

In a nationally televised address ahead of the offensive, Putin said that Russia doesn’t plan to “occupy” its neighbour, but said the action was necessary after the US and its allies crossed Russia’s “red lines” by expanding the Nato alliance.

US President Joe Biden called Putin’s move “an unprovoked and unjustified attack” and said the “world will hold Russia accountable”.

Commodities markets surged, with Brent oil extending gains above $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014 — when Russia annexed Crimea — while gold jumped as investors scrambled for havens.

Putin said he was taking action in part to protect civilians in the separatist regions from Ukraine’s military, though there was no evidence they were under any threat of attack.

The Russian leader made other unsupported claims in his speech that may have been intended to justify a broader attack, saying he would “aim for demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine,” as well as bringing to justice those who carried out “multiple bloody crimes against civilians”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy imposed martial law across the country.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet that Putin has “launched a full-scale invasion” and vowed the country “will defend itself and will win”.

“Russia attacked our military infrastructure and our border guards,” Zelenskiy said in a video address on the telegram channel after speaking with Biden. He urged people to stay calm and stay at home if possible. “We are working. The army is working.”

Russia’s defence minister said the strikes were targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure and didn’t pose a threat to the population, state-run TASS reported.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who held several calls with Putin and visited Moscow in an attempt to ease the tensions over Ukraine, denounced the Russian attacks as “a blatant violation of international law” that was unjustifiable. 

“This is a terrible day for Ukraine and a dark day for Europe,” he said.

Biden, Scholz and their Group of Seven counterparts will hold a call on Thursday to discuss the situation. European Union leaders are due to hold an in-person emergency summit the same day, with Poland seeking “far-reaching” sanctions that would hurt Russia financially and economically. A government spokesperson urged Nato to deploy further troops to its eastern flank.

The attack follows weeks of warnings by the US and its allies that Putin was planning a full-scale invasion, a charge that Russia repeatedly rejected as “hysteria” and propaganda even as it massed forces along Ukraine’s borders. 

Biden said he will address the American people to announce further punishments that would be placed on Moscow. The US and its European allies imposed an initial round of sanctions this week after Putin recognised two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, providing him with the pretext for military action.

“President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” Biden said in a statement late on Wednesday. “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.”

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