Fifty seven Ukrainians have been killed and 169 wounded so far, Kiev’s health minister has said, after Russia launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine by land, sea and air.
As night fell for the first time since Vladimir Putin initiated the all-out assault, heavy exchanges of fire were taking place the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv in the northeast, and Kherson and Odessa in the south, while Kiev said heavy Russian shelling was still underway in the eastern Donetsk region.
Read Also: ‘Putin Chose This War, And Now He And His Country Will Bear The Consequences’ – Biden Announces New Sanctions On Russia For Invading Ukraine
Moscow’s defence ministry claimed to have “neutralised” Ukraine’s air defences and destroyed 11 airfields, with Russian troops also seizing an airbase just 25 miles from the capital’s centre. Ukraine’s airforce is thought to have comprised of roughly 200 aircraft.
Russian forces have also reportedly attempted to take control of Ukraine’s Serpent Island, which lies in the Black Sea less than 30 miles from Nato member Romania, while seizing control of the infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant – a move the Ukrainian president claimed was “a declaration of war against the whole of Europe”.
Read Also: Biden Denounces ” Unprovoked And Unjustified” Attack As Putin Declares War With Full-scale Invasion Of Ukraine As Explosion Hit Major Cities
Addressing the nation in military uniform, Volydmyr Zelensky suggested the “missile blasts, fighting and the rumble of aircraft” in his country were “the sound of a new iron curtain, which has come down and is closing Russia off from the civilised world”.
“Our national task is to make sure this curtain does not fall across our land,” the president said.
Photo Credit: Getty
