Ukraine-Russia crisis live news: Putin declares operation to ‘demilitarise’ Ukraine – latest updates
Putin says he 'wants to “demilitarise and de-Nazify” Ukraine'
More from Putin’s address:
- The Russian president says he wants to “demilitarise and de-Nazify”Ukraine Putin has also called on Ukrainian soldiers to put down their weapons and go home, according to Reuters, citing the Russian news agency Tass.
- The Russian president adds that “in case of foreign interference, Russia will act immediately”.
- Responsibility for bloodshed will be on the hands of the “Ukrainian regime”
- Russia’s response “will be instant if anyone tries to take it on”
- He tells Ukrainians that “your fathers and grandfathers did not fight so you could help ‘neo-Nazis’”
Russian forces will carry out 'special military operation' in Ukraine, says Putin
Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia will carry out a “special military operation” in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
In an address to the Russian people under way now and coinciding with the United nations security council meeting, the Russian president also said:
- Clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces are “inevitable” and “only a question of time”.
- Further nato expansion and its use of Ukraine’s territory are unacceptable
- The Russian military operation aims to “protect people”
- Circumstances “demand decisive action from Russia”
The UK’s representative Dame Barbara Woodward has wrapped up her speech now.
For months, Russia has been holding a gun to Ukraine’s head. Now, Putin’s finger is on the trigger.”
US representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield took to the floor with an emphatic plea to Russia.
We are here tonight because we believe along with Ukraine that a full-scale further invasion into Ukraine by Russia is imminent.
Tonight we’re seeing the Russians close airspace, move troops into Donbas and move forces into combat-ready positions.
This is a perilous moment and we’re here for one reason, and one reason only: to ask Russia to stop.
Return to your borders. Send your troops, your tanks, and your planes back to their barracks and hangars. And send your diplomats to the negotiating table. Back away from the brink, before it is too late.”
Thomas-Greenfield added that Russia called previous US predictions “hysterical”. She added:
Russia said we were lying. Russia said we were supplying the world with misinformation. But what we said would happen has come to pass, for all the world to see.”
Albania’s representative Ferit Hoxha has called the situation a “senseless madness”.
Ukrainians are facing another aggression just because they dare to exist.
Russian wars have nothing to do with its security.
This is a confrontation between Russia and international law.”
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has just addressed the UN security council meeting.
Guterres addressed Russian president Putin directly:
If indeed an operation is being prepared I have only one thing to say.
Putin stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died.”
Another emergency UN security council meeting on Ukraine is set to get underway.
Russia’s UN representative Vasily Nebenzya has just told reporters: “I’m starting to enjoy nightly meetings.”
Ukraine airspace is closed
Flights of civil aircraft across Ukraine airspace have been suspended after a notice to airmen (Notam) was released. Earlier, airports in the Ukraine cities of Dnipro, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia were closed to traffic.
Updated at 21.20 EST
21.17 EST
A fuller picture of the atmosphere in Kyiv is emerging as many in the city say they are unable to sleep.
“It feels like almost all people I know are not sleeping,” Kyvi Independent journalist Oleksiy Sorokin said in a Twitter post early on Thursday. “It feels as if the whole country is awake this night.”
Fellow Kyiv Independent journalist Anastasiia Lapatina said: “Seems like hundreds, and probably thousands, of Ukrainians are awake right now. It’s 4 in the morning. Scrolling, waiting, texting. What a horrific moment.”
“It feels like almost all people I know are not sleeping,” Oleksiy Sorokin, a Kyvi-based journalist said in a Twitter post early on Thursday. “It feels as if the whole country is awake this night.”
“Kyiv is quiet right now. Not a single car on the road when I walked outside,” foreign correspondent, Trey Yingst, added. “There are millions of innocent civilians here who do not want conflict. There are no winners in war.”
No comments: