KYIV, Ukraine – Russia launched a broad attack on Ukraine from multiple directions early Thursday, bombarding cities, towns and villages and advancing toward the capital, Kyiv, as Ukrainian forces tried to stem the onslaught of Russian ground forces and air power.

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said Russian troops were fighting to break into the wider Kyiv region and crossed the regional border, where Ukrainian forces battled to repel them. As reports of mounting casualties emerged, crowds of Ukrainians and foreigners fled Kyiv, and other cities by trains and buses.

President Joe Biden said the attack signals “a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” and he promised a decisive response: “The world will hold Russia accountable,” Biden said. NATO announced it will bolster its eastern flank and host an emergency summit after Russia’s “brutal act of war,” as Western governments pledged more sanctions. “Peace on our continent has been shattered,” the alliance’s secretary general said in Brussels.

Loud blasts rang out in the Ukrainian capital – where sirens blared and people lined up at ATMs – and in Kharkiv, in the country’s northeast. Ukraine reported strikes on airfields, including at the largest airport in Kyiv, and Russian tanks and troops poured across the borders. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech breaking off diplomatic ties with Moscow that attacks came “from the north, east and south.”

The attacks began Thursday local time as Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the launch of a “special military operation” to carry out the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine and end eight years of war in the country’s east. With Russian fire support, separatists in eastern Ukraine fought to seize territory from Kyiv government forces.

Photos taken in the Ukrainian capital and other major cities Thursday showed blown-out buildings, rising clouds of smoke and the remains of empty shells strewn in the street.

In the eastern town of Chuguiv, a building was struck as rocket attacks and shelling came from overhead. Firefighters at the scene worked to contain the blaze as residents fled in search of safety.

Security officials and members of the public gathered outside to study darkened objects that lay in the street – empty shells, surrounded by debris.

Thick plumes of smoke rose from a military airport near the city of Kharkiv and from other key buildings that were targeted in the attack.

Main roads out of the Ukrainian capital were blocked with heavy traffic Thursday as people attempted to flee the capital, with ride-sharing app Uber telling its users that the service would “be available where possible” despite the threat of more explosions.

Footage shared to social media showed lines stretching for miles into the distance as the crisis unfolded and sirens rang out.

“Remember that you can cancel a trip anytime if you feel conditions are unsafe to ride,” Uber said Thursday in an email to users that advised them to follow official guidance in case of emergency.

At a subway station, some people packed together underground, holding their children and belongings close as sirens and explosions were heard in key cities.

Others tried to obtain bus and rail tickets at the city’s main train station – some to destinations they were not even familiar with – as they desperately sought safety.

Governments including those of the United States and Ireland urged their citizens in Ukraine to “shelter in place,” with the Irish Foreign Ministry instructing those there not to “move around the country in the coming hours.”

Lines formed at border crossings from Ukraine to Poland on Thursday as Ukrainians sought safety across the border.

Carrying backpacks and dragging suitcases, a steady stream of people came out on foot and by car at the Medyka-Shehyni border point. Vitalii Koval, 50, had left his home in Kyiv for the western city of Lviv about 10 days ago with his wife and two daughters, ages 3 and 5. But after the assault overnight, they decided it was time to leave the country.

“It’s just terrible, unbelievable,” he said, turning away to stop the tears. “It’s the 21st century. Why?”

He said that others who had left later were stuck on the roads. “I’m shocked,” said his wife, Oleksandra, adding that it had not sunk in yet. They planned to leave to stay with friends in Cyprus.

Officials in Warsaw have said that authorities are preparing for as many as 1 million Ukrainians fleeing into Poland. Ukrainians can cross the border without a visa, and there are already as many as 2 million living in Poland.

Ivan Yurochko, 24, was leaving on foot with nothing but a small backpack. He had left the city of Lviv at around 3 a.m. “I didn’t have time to pack,” he said. “It feels super unsafe and uncomfortable and right now just completely unknown.”

He planned to stay with colleagues in a town on the border; his mother and other family members chose to remain in Ukraine. Many people don’t have the financial means to leave, he said. “I do have an option,” he said. “Thank God.”

“Sometimes I just have this emotional breakdown, just crying,” he added. “I don’t know if I’ll come back to Ukraine.”

After the early-morning sounds of explosions on the city’s outskirts, Kharkiv residents, until now skeptical of Western claims that a Russian attack would come to their homes, turned to the tasks they had been putting off.

Lines at gas stations were more than 10 cars back. People walked through the city with suitcases and grocery bags, stocking up on essential goods. Though the local government urged people to stay home and closed schools and offices, many went straight for an ATM.

One young woman who was waiting in line for gas downtown said her apartment window was blown out by the blast.

“My boyfriend had called me right before that and said, ‘You need to get up, the war has started,’ ” said 18-year-old Kristina Nimenko. “Now we’ve come to get gas just to be ready for everything.”

“We just want peace,” she added.

For Agniia and Emile Nkoyok and their 5-month-old daughter, the booming outside their window prompted them to head into town and look to take cover in the subway system. But they saw no one else hiding there, so they walked their bulldog and tried to gauge how others were reacting.

“I’m upset that the government is saying nothing,” Emile said. Agniia and her daughter, Emily Grace, planned to fly on Friday morning but are unsure of what they’ll do now that airspace is closed.

Nimenko said she plans to meet family Thursday to discuss plans, but, “in any case, we will stay in Ukraine.”

“We will stay at home because we are from Ukraine,” she said.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Russian attacks on Ukraine were “a special operation,” not a war, carried out in the interests of Russia.

“Ukraine should ideally be freed, cleansed of Nazis,” Peskov said. He acknowledged that Putin’s move against Ukraine was “quite worrisome” for Russians.

“But as the president explained in the address to Russians, this is all truly dictated by our national interests and dictated by care for the future of our country,” he said, during a daily press call with journalists.

Peskov said Russia would stop only after achieving its goals – the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine – adding that such a decision would be made by Putin.

He said Russia was not happy about Western calls for punitive sanctions but added, “Let us analyze events and consider our next moves as these problems arise.”

Several protests against the war broke out in Moscow and eight other cities. At least 26 people were arrested, including 13 in Moscow, according to rights monitor OVD-Info, which was last year declared a foreign agent by Russian authorities.

After police cordons went up around Red Square, Peskov said that there was a need for “higher vigilance and caution.”

The Bank of Russia on Thursday announced it would take steps to “stabilize” financial markets after ordered the attack on Ukraine.

Russia’s central bank said in a statement it would intervene in the foreign exchange market and provide banks with additional liquidity. It also said it would expand the Lombard List of securities it recognizes as collateral when banks seek to refinance.

“The Bank of Russia will ensure the maintenance of financial stability and business continuity of financial institutions by using all the necessary tools,” a translation of the statement reads, adding that the country’s financial institutions have “clear action plans for any scenario.”

The news came as global markets plunged and the ruble hit record lows, losing more than 5 percent of its value against the dollar as of noon Russian time on Thursday.

Meanwhile, after Zelensky declared martial law in response to what he called an “unjustified, deceitful and cynical invasion” by Russia, Ukraine’s central bank also revealed a set of measures to tackle the economic impact of the escalation in tensions.

National Bank of Ukraine Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko said cash withdrawals would be limited to 100,000 hryvnia ($3,391) a day, and prohibited the issuance of cash in foreign currency, in a bid to prevent panic and minimize volatility in the economy. The central bank also introduced a moratorium on overseas foreign exchange payments and fixed the official exchange rate of the hryvnia for Thursday.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is making plans to bolster its eastern flank and will host an emergency summit in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the alliance said Thursday.

Calling Russia’s moves “a brutal act of war,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said there will be more alliance forces in the east “in the coming days and weeks.”

“Peace on our continent has been shattered,” he told reporters in Brussels. “This is a deliberate, cold-blooded and long-planned invasion. Russia is using force to try to rewrite history.”

Stoltenberg said the alliance had activated its “defense plans” to make sure there is no “spillover” into a NATO country. The plans give commanders more leeway to deploy forces where needed, he said, declining to offer details. The remarks came after an emergency meeting of the North Atlantic Council held just hours after Putin’s attack on Ukraine.

“We have decided, in line with our defensive planning to protect all Allies, to take additional steps to further strengthen deterrence and defence across the Alliance,” the North Atlantic Council said in a statement published Thursday.

“Russia’s actions pose a serious threat to Euro-Atlantic security, and they will have geostrategic consequences,” the statement said. “NATO will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure the security and defence of all Allies.”

Earlier Thursday, countries close to the conflict, including Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, triggered consultations under Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty, a provision that can be launched when “the territorial integrity, political independence” of any NATO country is threatened.

On Twitter, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas called for measures to ensure the defense of allies. “Russia’s widespread aggression is a threat to the entire world and all NATO countries,” she wrote.

The European Union will hit Russia with tough new sanctions for its “barbaric attack” on Ukraine, officials said Thursday.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that Putin is responsible for “bringing war back to Europe” and that the bloc will convene Thursday to work on fresh measures to hold him accountable. “With this package, we will target strategic sectors of the Russian economy by blocking their access to key technologies and markets,” she said. “We will weaken Russia’s economic base and its capacity to modernise.”

“In addition, we will freeze Russian assets in the EU and stop the access of Russian banks to the European financial market.”

The potential new sanctions, which she termed “massive,” follow an initial round of penalties announced Tuesday that targeted Kremlin officials, lawmakers, banks and also restricted Russian access to E.U. financial and capital markets.

“We will not allow President Putin to replace the rule of law with the rule of force and ruthlessness,” said von der Leyen. “He should not underestimate the resolve and strength of our democracies.”

(c) 2022, The Washington Post · Sudarsan Raghavan, Isabelle Khurshudyan, Robyn Dixon, Rachel Pannett 

{Matzav.com}