European aviation regulators warn civilian planes could get shot down over Ukraine
From CNN’s Pete Muntean
European aviation regulators say there is a “high risk” to civilian aircraft near the Ukrainian border, fearing they could be targeted on purpose at any altitude.
“Air operators are reminded that this is now an active conflict zone,” says the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, known as EASA.
The agency added that “operators should exercise extreme caution” and avoid using the airspace within 100 nautical miles of the Russia-Ukraine border.
“Critical infrastructure, including airports, are exposed to military activities which result in safety risks for civil aircraft,” said the EASA. “The presence and possible use of a wide range of ground and airborne warfare systems poses a HIGH risk for civil flights operating at all altitudes and flight levels.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister tweets Putin has launched “full scale invasion of Ukraine”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted early on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
“Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now,” he tweeted.
Ukrainian ambassador to the UN urges Security Council to “stop the war”
The Ukrainian ambassador to the United Nations urged other member nations to “stop the war,” at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
“It is the responsibility of this body to stop the war. So I call on every one of you to do everything possible to stop the war,” Sergiy Kyslytsya said to the council, before turning to face the Russian ambassador to the UN and asking: “Or should I play the video with your president declaring the war?”
The Russian ambassador responded, “This isn’t called a war, this is called a special military operation in Donbas.”
Early Thursday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in a televised address that troops were taking military action in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
CNN reporters and witnesses in cities across Ukraine have reported hearing explosions in the early hours of Thursday.
US ambassador to UN says Putin’s military operation is a “message of war”
From CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and David Shortell
The US Ambassador to the United Nations said Russian President Vladimir Putin had “delivered a message of war” by announcing his military operation in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
“In my remarks tonight, I said that we predicted Russia’s false flag attacks. The misinformation, the theatrical emergency meetings and cyber-attacks. But one piece had not come to pass. Unfortunately while we’ve been meeting in the Security Council tonight, it appears that President Putin has ordered that last step,” said UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
“At the exact time as we are gathered in the council seeking peace, Putin delivered a message of war in total disdain for the responsibility for this council. This is a grave emergency. The council will need to act and we will put a resolution on the table tomorrow. As President Biden said tonight, Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring and the United States and our allies and partners will decide in a united and decisive way.”
Here’s where explosions have been heard across Ukraine early Thursday
CNN reporters and witnesses in cities across Ukraine have reported hearing explosions in the early hours of Thursday.
Here’s where:
- Kyiv: CNN reporters in Ukraine’s capital heard explosions from the east in the direction of the city’s international airport. Social media users reported hearing several explosions in the Boryspil area to the east of the capital, where the international airport is located about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the city. CNN has not confirmed that the airport has been targeted.
- Kharkiv: A CNN team in Ukraine’s second biggest city, in the northeast of the country, heard a “steady stream of loud explosions.”
- Kramatorsk: Two people in the eastern city, located about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of separatist-held Donetsk, told CNN they heard at least two massive explosions.
- Dnipro: A resident of the central city told CNN they had heard “a few explosions.”
- Mariupol: Two residents told CNN they heard explosions east of the city, which is located in the southeast of the country.
- Odessa: A CNN team in the Black Sea port city heard two groups of explosions about 20 minutes apart.
- Zaporizhzhia: A CNN team in the southeastern city said they heard at at least one very distant explosion.
Additionally, a CNN team in the Russian city of Belgorod, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Kharkiv, said they heard a regular stream of thuds that sounded like outgoing artillery fire.
Biden to deliver remarks tomorrow on Russia’s military action in Donbas
From CNN’s DJ Judd
US President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on Thursday afternoon on Russia’s decision to take military action in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, according to a White House official.
Biden will announce “further consequences the United States and our Allies and partners will impose on Russia for its unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine,” said the official.
Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the military operation early Thursday morning, Biden released a statement decrying Putin’s choice as bringing “a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.”
Ukraine’s interior minister adviser: “Invasion has begun”
From Katya Krebbs in in Kyiv
An adviser for the Interior Minister of Ukraine, Anton Gerashchenko, said early on Thursday morning that Russia’s “invasion has begun,” with “missile strikes on Kyiv.”
Gerashchenko added on his Facebook page that control centers such as airfields and military headquarters are being hit by the shelling in Kyiv and Kharkiv, and that there is artillery fire along the border.
Russian ambassador to UN defends military operation in emergency Security Council meeting
The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya, defended Russia’s decision to take military action in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
“The root of today’s crisis around Ukraine is the actions of Ukraine itself, who for many years were sabotaging its obligations under the (Minsk agreement),” said Nebenzya. He claimed that the Russian operation aimed to protect residents in the separatist pro-Moscow regions of eastern Ukraine, “who for eight years have been cowering from Ukraine’s shelling.”
He claimed that “Ukrainian provocation against those in Donbas not only has not stopped but has intensified,” which prompted separatist leaders in the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk to request Russian assistance.
The US State Department has warned that Russia may use so-called false flags, including claims that Ukraine is attacking Donetsk, to justify an invasion.
European aviation authority sends Ukrainian airspace warning
From CNN’s Pete Muntean
Europe’s top air traffic authority is urgently telling airlines and other civilian flights to stay away from Ukrainian airspace.
The head of European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, better known as Eurocontrol, tweeted early Thursday, “All operators advised.”
Eurocontrol Director General Eamonn Brennan said that a Russian notice to pilots published earlier was “likely due to military activity.”
Earlier today, Ukrainian authorities issued a notice restricting the country’s airspace starting early Thursday morning and lasting until midnight GMT (7 p.m. ET).