The world has officially entered a new era of global upheaval as two sovereign nations are in a conventional war in Europe for the first time since World War II after Russian leader Vladimir Putin launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine at about 5 a.m. local time.
Multiple locations across Ukraine have come under a broad and ruthless Russian military assault, CNN reports.
Explosions were heard in multiple Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, the second-largest city Kharkiv, Odessa, and distant firing from Zaporizhzhia, according to the news network.
Ukrainian officials said more than 40 soldiers and as many as 10 civilians had been killed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began shortly before dawn.
“Putin began war against Ukraine, against the entire democratic world. He wants to destroy my country, our country, everything we’ve been building, everything we are living for,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky Zelensky said in a Facebook message.
The European Union, United States, United Kingdom and a slew of other countries have condemned the attacks, promising to impose more sanctions on Russia.
World leaders swiftly condemned Russia’s attacks on Ukraine as “hideous and barbaric” and vowed to hold Vladimir Putin accountable.
“Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable,” Biden said in a statement shortly after the attacks began, according to Axios.
