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posted by janrinok on Thursday February 24 2022, @07:52AM   Printer-friendly

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.

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday February 24 2022, @05:41PM (5 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday February 24 2022, @05:41PM (#1224549)

    Call it appeasement, call it what you will - if it is a net win for everyone outside Russia, and Russia accepts it, then it's a logical course forward - as long as it doesn't amount to paying a hostage taker, encouraging them to take more hostages in the future - in other words, Russia has committed a certain amount of expense, if the "appeasement" is less than that committed expense, it makes future repeats of this scenario also a losing proposition - not to mention the appeaser's patience is likely to wear thinner.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 24 2022, @07:43PM (3 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 24 2022, @07:43PM (#1224592) Journal
    That's a huge "if" with all those conditionals you had to add afterwards. Well, it's already a net lose for the Ukraine, so I don't see this train of logic going anywhere productive.
    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday February 24 2022, @08:12PM (2 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday February 24 2022, @08:12PM (#1224606)

      Ukraine is at where it's at - if "appeasement" in the form of some beneficial energy sales contracts or whatever - convinces Russia to return to a non-genocidal behavior in Ukraine, then that's a win for Ukraine.

      Of course, Putin's whole M.O. is being a loose cannon nutjob, so taking any kind of deal would be severely out of character for him.

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      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 24 2022, @08:17PM (1 child)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 24 2022, @08:17PM (#1224609) Journal
        I'm sure he'd take whatever you threw at him. Deals have a short shelf life though.
        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday February 24 2022, @08:27PM

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday February 24 2022, @08:27PM (#1224614)

          Well, the AlJazeera coverage listed a recent history of Russia's steps toward this invasion, with each step promising to never take the next, and then taking it anyway. If there were incentives at each step of retreat, and by not staying retreated they lose those incentives, that might be more effective than a bunch of "condemnation in the strongest terms."

          I'm reminded of my first (only) divorce. Ex-wife-to-be had a lawyer through her employer, a little research told me the absolute cheapest lawyer I could get would cost me $2K, so... I put $1K on the table: "when you move out and the divorce processes through the court, I'll give you $1000. If you get unreasonable, make me feel I need to get a lawyer, the first thing that happens is that $1K disappears - never to be seen again - and then we see what my lawyer thinks is fair." Every now and again through the process she'd get weird about her idea of fair division of this or that, usually trivial stuff, and the question: "is it worth $1000 to you?" settled the matter every time, usually immediately - always after she had a chance to ask her lawyer about it.

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 25 2022, @01:02AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 25 2022, @01:02AM (#1224703)

    Appeasing an aggressor is always paying off a hostage taker, and it always encourages more. This is the third time Putin has pulled this stunt, and he's won every time.