SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Live: Updating.
Reuters: Russian forces launch invasion of Ukraine with strikes on defence
MOSCOW/KYIV, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Russian forces fired missiles at several cities in Ukraine and landed troops on its coast on Thursday, officials and media said, after President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a special military operation in the east.
Shortly after Putin spoke in a televised address on Russian state TV, explosions could be heard in the pre-dawn quiet of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
Gunfire rattled near the capital's main airport, the Interfax news agency said, and sirens were heard over the city.
WSJ: The Latest News on the Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Live Updates
Russian troops and tanks pushed into Ukraine and airstrikes hit the country's capital and more than a dozen other cities early Thursday after President Vladimir Putin said he ordered a military operation to "demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine" and bring its leaders to trial.
Ukrainian officials said an initial wave of strikes targeted military installations, airfields and government facilities across the country. Ukraine's border service said its troops came under attack all along the country's frontiers with Russia and Belarus as well as Crimea. Heavy shelling targeted the city of Mariupol on the Azov sea. Air-raid sirens sounded in Kyiv after 7 a.m. and the city's airport came under attack. Ukraine's military said it shot down five Russian warplanes and one helicopter. Russia denied any of its aircraft were hit.
CBS: NATO officials say Russian attack on Ukraine has begun
Russia has begun attacking Ukraine, NATO officials confirmed. The late-night attack began moments after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had "decided to conduct a special military operation" to protect eastern Ukraine's Donbas region. CBS News correspondents reported hearing loud blasts in the capital city, Kyiv, and in the eastern city of Kharkiv.
A Ukrainian government spokesperson said early Thursday that "cruise and ballistic missile strikes are underway at the control centers" in Kyiv.
BBC: Ukraine conflict: Russian forces invade after Putin TV declaration
Russian forces have launched a military assault on neighbouring Ukraine, crossing its borders and bombing military targets near big cities.
In a pre-dawn TV statement Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia did not plan to occupy Ukraine and demanded that its military lay down their arms.
Moments later, attacks were reported on Ukrainian military targets.
Ukraine said that "Putin has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine".
Russian military vehicles were said to have breached the border in a number of places, in the north, south and east, including from Belarus.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 24 2022, @10:24AM (5 children)
*rolleyes*
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 24 2022, @10:31AM
Runaway, just run away, you are full of shit
(Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 24 2022, @10:35AM (2 children)
What, aren't you from the US of A where every immigrant is instructed to "speak American" by monolinguals?
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 24 2022, @10:42AM (1 child)
Actually, no. These days every business has a translator or six - mostly the anchor babies born 20 to 30 years ago.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 24 2022, @10:58AM
Right, a translator. So every official business document needs to be written in English then. Or do you do your taxes in Louisiana Creole or Texas German?
Prescriptive monolingualism in officialdom is common throughout many countries. Take France, for example - many regional languages such as Breton and Occitan are dying out because it was discouraged for centuries to communicate in languages other than "French".
Expecting Ukrainians to communicate in Ukrainian isn't unusual.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Thursday February 24 2022, @12:57PM