Hundreds of thousands of people are trying to flee the capital of Ukraine in cars, on foot and on bicycles amid queues of traffic on the road leading out of Kyiv. 'It's a nation on the move, a nation trying to escape Russian aggression,' says Guardian correspondent Luke Harding. Many Ukrainians are fleeing or preparing to flee the country after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, began an invasion
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Can Germany function without Vladimir Putin’s gas?
Analysis: Nord Stream 2 was meant to deliver 70% of country’s gas and switch to renewable energy has been slow
The Ukraine crisis has plunged Germany into an intense debate about how it will heat its homes and power its industry in future, summed up in the short question: can Europe’s largest economy function without Vladimir Putin’s gas?
The Green federal economics minister, Robert Habeck, answered with a decisive “yes it can”, a day after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, announced the suspension of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was meant to deliver from Russia as much as 70% of Germany’s gas requirements. There are considerable doubts as to whether the $11bn project will ever now go ahead.
Continue reading...Effort under way to challenge Russia’s right to seat on UN security council
In wake of Ukraine invasion, diplomats consider if Russia can be removed as one of five permanent security council members
An effort is under way to isolate Vladimir Putin diplomatically by challenging Russia’s right to a permanent seat of the UN security council on the grounds that Russia took the seat from the defunct Soviet Union in 1991 without proper authorisation.
Diplomats are also looking to see if there is a basis for removing Russia from the presidency of the council.
Continue reading...People rally worldwide in support of Ukraine – in pictures
Anti-war protesters have demonstrated around the world to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Continue reading...Ukrainian government calls on hackers to help defend against Russia
Cybersecurity firm seeks volunteers to help nation’s military conduct espionage operations against Russian forces
The government of Ukraine is asking for volunteers from the country’s hacker underground to help protect critical infrastructure and conduct cyber spying missions against Russian troops, according two people involved in the project.
As Russian forces attacked cities across Ukraine, requests for volunteers began to appear on hacker forums on Thursday morning, as many residents fled the capital Kyiv.
Continue reading...‘Her blood … his hands’: what the papers say about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Photograph of teacher bloodied by Russian attack on Ukraine dominates front pages as Putin sends his troops to war
The front pages in Britain and around the world are devoted to the shocking events in Ukraine, with graphic images of the destruction unleashed by Vladimir Putin.
A photograph of a woman with a bloodied and bandaged head in the wake of a Russian attack dominates the front of the Guardian with the headline “Putin invades”.
Continue reading...Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: what we know so far
Ukraine is expecting Putin’s tanks to attack Kyiv and citizens have been urged to resist Russian forces
Gunfire has been heard in central Kyiv and there are reports of heavy fighting in the city’s northern suburbs after Ukraine said it expected a Russian armoured attack on the capital and its outskirts on Friday.
Russian forces have taken control of Hostomel airfield near Kyiv, according to reports, and the capital’s mayor has said it has entered a “defensive phase”.
The defence ministry urged citizens to resist when Russian forces entered Kyiv, telling residents to inform authorities of all troop movements, and “make molotov cocktails and neutralise the enemy”.
Explosions rocked Kyiv in the early hours in preparations for the Russian advance, with Ukraine claiming it had shot down a Russian military aircraft over the capital. Officials said a tower block had been set on fire.
Russian forces have taken the city of Sumy in north-eastern Ukraine, according to a resident who said there were Russian military vehicles in the streets.
Russia is ready to send a delegation to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, for talks with Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Ukraine has said it is willing to discuss declaring itself a neutral county.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, insisted “no one is planning to occupy Ukraine”, also saying that Moscow was ready for talks if Ukrainian forces laid down their arms.
Russia banned UK flights from its airspace after the British government said Russia’s national carrier, Aeroflot, would be banned from British airspace as part of the UK’s package of sanctions.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, confirmed reports of Russian missile strikes in a national address early on Friday, also calling for Nato defence support and tougher sanctions against Russia.
Russian troops seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the north of Ukraine.
Ukraine decreed a full military mobilisation against the Russian invasion. Ukrainian men aged 18-60 are now forbidden to leave Ukraine. Zelenskiy has declared martial law.
The president said on Thursday night he would remain in Kyiv, despite saying he was Russia’s primary target. “We are not afraid. We are not afraid of anything,” he said.
The EU is preparing to freeze the assets of Putin and Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as part of a third round of sanctions. Amid Ukrainian anger at the bloc’s reluctance to cut Russia out of the Swift international payments system, EU foreign ministers are set to approve more measures on Friday afternoon.
Thousands attempted to flee Kyiv, leading to large traffic queues. Pictures have emerged of Kyiv residents crowding into underground metro stations where they are taking shelter from further Russian attacks.
Anti-war protests attracted thousands of people in cities across Russia, with local authorities swiftly cracking down on the unsanctioned rallies. Police made at least 1,702 arrests in 53 Russian cities on Thursday night.
Anti-war protests across Russia – in pictures
Protests against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine broke out in 53 cities across Russia, with police making 1,700 arrests.
Continue reading...Russian anti-war protesters face police crackdown and arrests – video
Anti-war protesters have taken to the streets in Moscow and St Petersburg to voice their opposition to their country's military intervention in Ukraine. Protesters chanted slogans against the war and Russian president Vladimir Putin while police made arrests
- Thousands join anti-war protests in Russia after Ukraine invasion
- Stay or flee? Kyiv comes to terms with disaster of Russian invasion
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Why has Putin’s Russia waged war on Ukraine? – video explainer
Vladimir Putin has plunged Europe back into war and a conflict that ‘I think will reverberate far beyond Ukraine and have huge implications for Europe, for the rest of the world’, says Guardian foreign correspondent Luke Harding. Reporting from Kyiv, he examines why the Russian president launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour, if Putin can be stopped, and what might come next
Continue reading...Biden’s Russia warnings come to pass – what does the US president do now?
Inflation is rising, Republicans are resurgent – and the increasingly embattled president now has a foreign policy crisis to deal with
For weeks, Joe Biden has issued urgent warnings that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen at any moment. The moment came overnight, when Russian troops began attacking Ukraine by land, air and sea.
For the US president – increasingly embattled at home by a resurgent Republican party – it was evidence that the White House had largely assessed the Ukraine crisis correctly, even though their preference would have been to be wrong about their predictions of a disastrous war in Europe.
Continue reading...Biden imposes new sanctions on Russia: ‘America stands up to bullies’
President takes aim at Russia’s largest banks and companies but is emphatic US troops will not engage in conflict in Ukraine
Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a fresh round of what he said would be crippling sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, declaring that Vladimir Putin “chose this war” and that he and his country would bear the consequences.
The harsh new sanctions target Russia’s largest banks and companies, effectively cutting them off from western financial markets, while imposing restrictions on the exports of advanced technology used to power the country’s military and tech sector.
Continue reading...‘Putin will bear the consequences’: Biden addresses Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – video
'Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences,' said US president Joe Biden during an address at the White House. Biden described Russian president Vladimir Putin as an assailant who launched 'a war without a cause' and a misguided dream of recreating the Soviet Union. His comments come after Ukrainian forces battled Russian invaders on three sides after Moscow mounted an assault by land, sea and air, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. 'Putin's aggression against Ukraine will end up costing Russia dearly,' Biden said
- Russia-Ukraine crisis live news
- Russia invades Ukraine as Putin declares war to ‘demilitarise’ neighbour
Ukraine fights for its survival as Putin presses forward
Ukraine leaders warn world to wake up to Russian threat as west promises to make Putin international pariah
Ukraine was fighting for its survival after Vladimir Putin unleashed a punishing offensive on the country that left hundreds dead or injured, and world leaders warned that Moscow had embarked on a dangerous new era of imperial expansion.
The continent awoke to the shock of scenes it once believed it had left in the 20th century: helicopters strafing homes outside the capital, long lines of tanks ploughing ever deeper towards Ukraine’s heartland, roads choked with refugees, and civilians huddled in underground stations to escape bombardment.
Continue reading...CNN reporter encounters Russian troops during live Kyiv dispatch – video
Minutes after Vladimir Putin ended weeks of speculation by announcing a 'special military operation' at dawn on Thursday, explosions were heard near major Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv. According to Ukrainian officials, the initial wave of strikes appeared to involve cruise missiles, artillery and airstrikes, which struck military infrastructure and border positions, including airbases.
CNN's Matthew Chance was filmed reporting live from an airbase on the outskirts of Kyiv, where Russian airborne troops engaged in a firefight with the Ukrainian military
- Ukraine fighting to stop ‘a new iron curtain’ after Russian invasion
- Visual guide: Russia’s war on Ukraine explained
Footage shows Russian helicopters engaging with forces in Ukraine – video
Military helicopters, apparently Russian, were filmed flying over the Dnieper river on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where they were met by Ukrainian counter fire. An ambitious attack by helicopters on the Hostomel military airbase on the outskirts of Kyiv was also recorded.
Russian forces have attacked Ukraine by land, sea, and air on a massive scale, bringing to a calamitous end weeks of fruitless diplomatic efforts by western leaders to avert war
Continue reading...‘I don’t want to leave’: Ukrainians record messages from their cars as they flee war – video
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing or preparing to flee the country after Russian leader Vladimir Putin began an invasion.
Videos and photos on social media show lines of cars moving out of cities and heading west, as well as numbers of people on foot near the southern and western borders while reports of casualties mount.
We spoke to Maria Romanenko and Alena Dalskaya-Latosiewicz from their cars as they tried to escape the conflict, as well as Romeo Kokriatski a Ukrainian-American, who says he hopes to stay in the capital, Kyiv, for as long as possible.
'I love my country. I don't want to leave,' said Romanenko
How can Britons help the people of Ukraine?
Options include giving to charities on the ground, supporting local journalists and writing to your MP
Russia’s invasion and bombing campaign has sparked outrage, with many in the UK asking how they can help the people of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Kyiv furious as EU wavers on banning Russia from Swift payment system
Ukraine foreign minister voices anger as EU leaders likely to decide against blocking Russia from international payments system
The EU faced furious remonstrations from Kyiv as Europe’s leaders looked set to hold back from imposing the potentially most damaging sanction on Russia, even as the Kremlin lay siege to Ukraine via land, air and sea.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, voiced his anger as EU heads of state and government appeared likely to decide against blocking Russia from an international payments system through which it receives foreign currency.
Continue reading...What can the west do about Russia invading Ukraine?
Analysis: Immediate options seem limited and fraught with risk, but if Putin wants less Nato, he may ultimately end up with more
In the wake of what the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, described as Russia’s “fully fledged invasion of Ukraine”, the west has to decide how to respond to what France’s Emmanuel Macron has called a turning point in European history.
Yet can the west now offer Ukraine more than a mixture of prayers, sanctions and diplomatic demarches? Throughout this conflict western intelligence has shown it has been able to predict Putin’s next step, but less capable of stopping it. Boris Johnson told the Ukrainian people “we are with you”, but what this western solidarity means in practice is now up for debate.
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