The Ukrainian military on Thursday claimed to have downed five Russian planes and a helicopter in the east of the country.
"According to the Joint Forces Command, today, February 24, in the area of the Joint Forces operation, five planes and a helicopter of the aggressors were shot down," the army general staff said.
Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised a "special military operation" in Ukraine, a series of explosions hit Ukraine's largest airport Boryspil and several military objects in eastern and southern regions of the country.
Media reports said there were also attacks in Kharkiv city in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, in Kramatorsk town in the frontline in eastern Ukraine, in Vasylkiv city near Kiev, in Dnipro city in central Ukraine as well as in the southern port city of Odessa.
Putin said in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request from the heads of the Donbas Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, he had decided to conduct a special military operation to protect the people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Ukrainian regime for eight years". The Russian leader reiterated that Moscow had no plans "to occupy Ukrainian territories".
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign minister wants the world to stand together against Russia, arguing that Moscow’s aggression toward his country will have wider repercussions for the international order.
Dmytro Kuleba told the U.N. General Assembly that the deployment of Russian troops in rebel-held parts of eastern Ukraine and Moscow’s recognition of the rebel regions as independent amounts to an “attack on the United Nations.” He said: “If Russia does not get a severe swift and decisive response now, this will mean a total bankruptcy of the international security system and international institutions.”
Kuleba urged countries to use tough economic sanctions, strong messages and “active diplomacy” to get Russia to back off from Ukraine. “We are at a critical juncture of world history, and our actions today define it for years to come,” he said, drawing parallels with the leadups to the last century’s two world wars.
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