At least eight people have been killed and nine others injured in a bombing by Russian forces in Ukraine, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said today.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began at dawn on Thursday following a speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion and demanded that Ukrainian troops lay down their arms and go home.
The Ukrainian border guards announced that Russian military convoys had crossed the Ukrainian border – mainly through the Crimean peninsula – and entered Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Luhansk.
“Russian military vehicles, including armored vehicles, violated the border in the Chernihiv region (north, on the border with Belarus), Sumy (northeast), Luhansk and Kharkiv (east)” from the crossing point between the peninsula (of Crimea) and mainland Ukraine, the border guard explained, posting a video showing vehicles bearing the letter “Z”.
Meanwhile, pro-Russian separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine posted a statement on social media stating that they had shot down two Ukrainian Air Force planes in the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Luhansk.
Explosions in Kiyv, Odessa, and several cities in the east
Strong explosions are heard this morning in Kiyv, Odessa (southern) and in many parts of eastern Ukraine, after the announcement of Russian President Vladimir Putin that he ordered a military operation against this country, journalists report.
In the capital, at least two loud explosions were heard in the center, followed by ambulance sirens.
In Mariupol, the largest frontal town with half a million inhabitants, where a strategic port is located, several residents reported hearing artillery fire from a neighborhood in the eastern part of the city.
Closer to the front, in Kramatorsk, at least four loud explosions were heard.
Explosions were also heard six hundred kilometers from there, in southern Ukraine, in Odessa, a port on the Black Sea.
Source: ANA-MPA
