Ukraine’s UN envoy has urged the security council to “stop the war” shortly after Putin announced a special military operation in eastern Ukraine.
“I would like to ask the ambassador of the Russian delegation to say on the record that this very moment your troops do not shell and bomb Ukrainian cities, that your troops do not move in the territory of Ukraine,” he said.
In response, Russia’s UN ambassador said: “This isn’t called a war this is called as a military operation in the Donbas.”
Russia has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is targeting cities with weapons strikes, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet.
Interfax Ukraine reported rocket attacks on military facilities throughout Ukraine and that Russian troops had landed in the southern port cities of Odessa and Mariupol. It also reported staff and passengers evacuating Kyiv’s Boryspil airport.
“Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes,” Kuleba said. “This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now.”
AL JAZEERA
