Russia Attacks Ukraine from Multiple Directions in Unprovoked Invasion: 'A Full-Scale War in Europe Has Begun'

DEVELOPING...

Russia launched a violent, unprovoked, full-scale military attack early this morning against the people of Ukraine.

War sirens wailed in Kyiv, the capital, before dawn. That was followed by early morning explosions in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. 

"A full-scale war in Europe has begun," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said. "Russia is not only attacking Ukraine but the rules of normal life in the modern world."

Military shelling in cities across Ukraine sent people scrambling for safety. Droves of people in Mariupol and other cities have inundated ATMs, gas stations, and grocery stores before attempting to flee for safety. Traffic in Kyiv hit a standstill at the height of evacuation. CBN News Senior International Reporter George Thomas is in Lviv in western Ukraine:

Overnight, President Putin announced the beginning of his Russian military operations in Ukraine. His full-scale war was weakly disguised as a mission to support Russian rebels in the Donbas region of Luhansk and Donetsk – Ukrainian land Putin claims belongs to Russia. The area is being used as a doorway for Russian troops to flood into Ukrainian territory from the east. 

"It won't be bloodless," said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby. "There will be suffering, there will be sacrifice." 

The attacks came first from the air and the Russian military claimed to have wiped out Ukraine's entire air defenses in a matter of hours. Later Russia's ground forces invaded from multiple regions.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry says Russian troops have even landed in the southern port of Odessa, crossing into Kharkiv. Crimea is another entry point for Putin's aggression since he seized the southern Ukrainian peninsula in 2014 and claimed it for Russia.

Ukrainian forces are fighting back in Donbas as well as regions in the north and south. Dozens of soldiers are reportedly dead. Civilian casualties has been reported as well. 

Ukrainian President Volodoymyrr Kelensky is encouraging citizens to rise up, take arms, and fight the invaders in their cities and town squares. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country would “defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now.”

"There is no purgatory for war criminals, they go straight to hell," said Sergiy Kyslytsya, the country's UN Ambassador. 

Meanwhile, the world community is responding with a promise of sanctions, but no military aid.

President Biden issued this statement last night: "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 called it an “unprovoked and unjustified attack.” He's expected to deliver an address at noon today and announce additional economic sanctions against Russia. 

The White House has been very clear it will not send troops into Ukraine even to rescue Americans. However, U.S. troops are on the border in Poland and ready to help those fleeing from Ukraine.

The impact of the war is already reverberating around the world as stock markets plunged and oil prices surged as fears mount of possible disruption of Russian supplies.

***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***

RECENT CBN NEWS COVERAGE: Must-See Report from the Frontlines as Ukrainian Pastors Pray at Cross, Not Far from Russian Forces