Vladimir Putin Orders Attack on Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine.

Earlier this morning, Putin made a televised announcement from Moscow, in which he authorised a “special military operation” which specifically targets cities with weapons strikes.

According to Interfax-Ukraine, their major news agency, Russian troops landed in the southern port cities of Odessa and Mariupol, carrying with them military equipment that includes rocket launchers, howitzers and fuel tanks “mounted on trains stretching for hundreds of metres.”

Other reports coming in from the country say that the capital city, Kyiv, as well as the break-away city Donetsk, have experienced at least seven explosions, most likely from airstrikes. Resultantly, eight people are said to have been killed and many others injured.

World powers and organisations have condemned Russia’s aggressive actions, which Putin claims are a means to prevent Ukraine from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

“We stand with the people of Ukraine at this terrible time,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. “NATO will do all it takes to protect and defend allies.”

Many NATO members have reportedly supplied Ukraine – who has declared martial law – with drones and anti-tank weapons, while others are planning to meet in order to discuss and de-escalate the situation.

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