NEW YORK — The Ukrainian airforce is trying to repel the Russian airforce which is attacking army installations throughout the country. Russia claims that it is using targeted weapons against Ukrainian military infrastructure.

05:15 GMT Gostomel Airport falls to Russians

04:30 GMT – Fighting continues at Gostomel airport, just 20 km north of Kyiv. Russians say they have conquered airport but Ukrainians say fighting is still going on.

02:00 GMT Fierce battles reported at Kyiv airport, which has reportedly fallen into Russian hands.

01:15 GMT Ukraine claims it destroyed four Russian tanks on road to Kharkov: ‘Enemy is suffering casualties’.

01:00 GMT Russia shelled Mariupol (Donbas): Apartment buildings and private sector houses were damaged, according to the Mariupol City Council.

01:00 GMT Uman warehouses on fire in area unrelated to local Jewish community

ההרס באוקראינה
Wreckage after bombardment (Ukrainian Ministry of Interior)

 

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Ukrainians take cover in metro stations

 

12:00 GMT Ukrainian sources announce that military plane downed, 5 killed

Civilian footage of downing of helicopter:

11:50 GMT – Ukraine claims to have downed 3 Russian helicopters near Kyiv, including the one below. Pilot taken prisoner.

שני השבויים

שני השבויים

11:27 GMT – Ukraine claims to have captured two Russian soldiers (pictured above)

11:15 GMT – NATO decides to increase forces on its eastern frontier.

11:00 GMT – Russian bombardment kills 18 people in Odessa Oblast. The local authorities reported that 18 people died as a result of Russia’s attacks on a military base in Lypetske village outside Oddesa, a Black Sea port city in the south.

10:45 GMT – President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine severed diplomatic ties with Moscow as his country faced a wide-scale military assault.

He spoke as one of his advisers announced that more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers had died and dozens had been wounded.

10:30 GMT – Ukrainian ports closed, no harm to port infrastructure, trains to and from Kyiv running on schedule

10:00 GMT – Ukrainian government spokesperson: In Chernihiv Region, (North Ukraine, border with Russia and Belarus) the Ukrainian military managed to stop the attack — the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

9:10 GMT – Mariupol mayor says three ‘peaceful people’ killed in village near airport
The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, has said three “peaceful people” were killed in Russian attacksnear the city’s airport.

He added others, including a child, were injured.

“I want to reassure you that our military spirit is at its highest level. Nobody will surrender Mariupol, we will defend our city and our land,” he said at a news conference.

9:05 GMT – Ukrainian government spokesperson: The Russian stock market is in free fall. Shares of Kremlin corporations fell by 30-50% and this is just the begging game of the auction. The ruble is falling sharply against the dollar and the euro.

9:00 GMT – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call Thursday that “the West would not stand by as President Putin waged his campaign against the Ukrainian people,” according to Downing Street.

Johnson and Zelensky spoke over the phone after Russia’s attack on Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday, according to a statement tweeted by Downing Street.

Johnson told Zelensky on the call that “he was appalled by the unfolding events in Ukraine,” said the statement. It added that Johnson hoped “Ukraine could resist,” and that the United Kingdom had Ukrainians in their thoughts “during this dark time.”

9:00 GMT – Ukrainian government spokesperson: Russian propaganda shares the news that Ukrainian army is leaving Mariupol (Donbas city). Its Fake. Ukrainian army is there and ready to defend the city.

08:48 GMT – Kyiv says anyone who can hold a weapon can join territorial defence forces
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has said that anyone who is ready and able to hold a weapon can join the ranks of the territorial defence forces, as the police said they would distribute weapons to veterans.

08:45 – Ukrainian police ask people to report suspicious persons walking the streets

08:35 – GMT Ukrainian central bank restricts cash withdrawals after tens of thousands rush to take money out of banks.

08:25 GMT – Security camera footage shows Russian military vehicles crossing into Ukraine from Russian-annexed Crimea

07:44 GMT – Russian-backed separatist say goal is to capture Ukrainian regions
A Russian-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine has said their main objective was to regain control of all the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk where their breakaway territories are located, the Interfax news agency reported.

07:15 GMT – Ukraine says Russian military hardware entering from Crimea
Ukraine has that Russia was moving military equipment into the country from annexed Crimea and that Russia was shelling it across the country all the way to western Ukraine’s Lviv region.

07:15 GMT -Ukraine says at least 8 people killed by Russian shelling, as border guards says Russian columns have crossed into Ukraine.

At least eight people have been killed and nine were wounded by the Russian shelling, an advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs has said, according to Reuters news agency.

The border guard said separately Russian military columns have crossed Ukrainian border into Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions

07:00 GMT – Ukraine claims to have shot down Russian planes
The Ukrainian military says it has shot down five Russian planes and one helicopter in the Luhansk area. The claim could not be independently verified.

06:48 GMT – Separatists claim capture of Ukrainian towns
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine have said they have captured the towns of Shchastia and Stanytsia Luhanska in Ukraine’s region of Luhansk, the RIA news agency reported. There was no immediate comment by authorities in Ukraine.

06:20 GMT – Russia says it has degraded Ukraine’s air defence
Russia’s defence ministry says it has attacked military infrastructure at Ukrainian airbases and degraded Ukraine’s air defences, according to reports by Russian news agencies. The claims could not be independently verified.

The ministry also denies reports that one of its aircraft had been shot down over Ukraine.

6:15 GMT – Poland says it expects NATO’s eastern flank to be reinforced
Poland expects a decision on reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, a Polish government spokesman said on Thursday.

“Now is the time to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank. We expect such decisions to be taken,” Piotr Muller said.

06:05 GMT – Ukrainian leader Volodya Zelensky declares martial law
Zelensky, in a brief national address, says “Russia conducted strikes on our military infrastructure and our border guards” and introduces martial law across Ukraine.

06:00 GMT – Ukraine says troops attacked from Belarus
Ukraine border guard service says the Russian military attacking Ukraine from Belarus as well as Russia itself.

05:45 GMT – Ukraine says eastern units under intensive shelling
Ukraine’s defence minister says Ukrainian units, military control centres and airfields in the country’s east are under intensive Russian shelling.

5:30 GMT – Russia suspends flights at domestic airports near Ukraine border until March 2.

05:25 GMT – Russia says targeting Ukraine military facilities with ‘precision’ weapons
“Military infrastructure, air defence facilities, military airfields, and aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being disabled with high-precision weapons,” the defence ministry says in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

05:00 GMT – Russia says targeting ‘junta’ in Kyiv

Russia’s ambassador to the UN tells an emergency Security Council meeting that Moscow’s military operation against Ukraine was targeting “the junta” in power in Kyiv.

“I wanted to say in conclusion that we aren’t being aggressive against the Ukrainian people but against the junta that is in power in Kiyv,” says Vassily Nebenzia.

05:00 GMT – Russian-backed separatists say they have attacked Ukraine-controlled town
Russian-backed separatists say they had launched offensives on the Ukrainian-controlled town of Shchastia in the Luhansk province and against Ukrainian forces along line of contact in Donetsk, Russia’s Interfax news agency said.

04:45 GMT – Ukraine shuts down its entire airspace in response to the Russian military operation in Donbass.

04:41 GMT – Kyiv mayor urges citizens to stay home following explosion heard in capital.

04:30 GMT – Ukraine says Russia has launched ‘full-scale invasion’
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says Russia has launched a “full-scale invasion” of Ukraine and is targeting cities with weapons strikes.

04:15 GMT – Explosions heard near Kyiv, elswhere.

In the east, artillery fire is reportedly heard in pro-Russian rebel controlled Donetsk and explosions heard near Kharkiv.

04:00 GMT – Ukraine Ministry of Infrastructure announces passengers and staff evacuated from Kyiv airport

3:46 GMT – Explosions reportedly heard in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine

03:35 GMT – International condemnation
US President Joe Biden denounces Moscow’s “unprovoked and unjustified” attack on Ukraine, pledging the world will “hold Russia accountable”. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg echoes Biden’s statement, while United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, in an impassionate plea, says, “President Putin, in the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia.” Biden, in a phone call to Zelenskyy, also pledges support to Ukraine and its people.

03:00 GMT – Putin announces invasion
Putin announces an attack in Donbas and calls on Ukraine’s military to lay down its arms.The Russian leader warns other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to “consequences they have never seen”.

As reported by Vos Iz Neias