24 February 2022
“Whoever may try to create obstructions to us, let alone pose threats to our country and our people, they should know that Russia’s response will follow without delay and entail consequences that you have never encountered in your history. We are prepared for any march of events. All necessary decisions in this connection will be made. I hope that I will be heard” said Russian President Vladimir Putin in urgent address today.
His words sounding very similar to the statements made in the US by Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, on Sunday in and exclusive interview with Fox News.
Announcing the beginning of military operations in Ukraine, Putin went on to set out this campaigns objectives stating that
Moscow would seek the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine, called upon the Ukrainian army to lay down weapons and warned there would follow a prompt response to attempts at foreign intervention from outside.
After that there followed reports of sounds of explosions in a number of Ukrainian cities, including Kiev and Kharkov.
TASS has summarized the latest news regarding the situation:
Military operation
After a message from the Donbass republics Putin made a decision to conduct a “special military operation.”
“Its purpose is to protect the people who have for eight years been exposed to humiliation and genocide by the regime in Kiev. For this we will seek demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, and also press for bringing to justice those who have committed numerous bloody crimes against peaceful civilians, including Russian citizens.”
Moscow’s plans to not include an occupation of Ukraine. It is for the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination. Also, Putin said that Russia could not let Kiev obtain nuclear weapons and recalled NATO’s illegitimate expansion to the east.
Address to Ukrainians
Putin urged the Ukrainian military to “lay down arms at once and leave for home.”
“Those servicemen of the Ukrainian army who will meet this demand will be free to leave the zone of combat operations and return to their families.” All responsibility for possible bloodshed “will rest upon entirely on Ukraine’s ruling regime.”
In his address to the Ukrainian people, he explained that Russia’s actions were taken in self-defense from threats and from a “still greater misfortune than the one happening today.”
“However difficult it may be to do this, I am asking you to understand this and calling for cooperation in order to turn this tragic page as soon as possible and to move forward together.”
AP News reports that Biden pledged new sanctions meant to punish Russia for an act of aggression that the international community had for weeks anticipated but could not prevent through diplomacy.
While the BBC reports:
The BBC’s eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford, reporting from the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s Donbas region, says residents are “shocked and horrified to imagine what might be coming”.
She says the situation in the area is “completely unclear”.
In the Latest from Moscow
Ukraine’s air defenses are suppressed, military airfield infrastructure is degraded and Ukrainian border guards are not putting up any resistance to Russian troops, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.
“The Ukrainian border guards are not putting up any resistance to Russian units. The Ukrainian air defenses are suppressed. The military infrastructure of Ukrainian Air Force bases has been degraded,” the ministry said.