Russian Ground Forces Crossed Ukrainian Borders

Mr. Putin announced the launch of a major offensive

Moscow: Amidst the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian tension, Russia's ground forces on Thursday crossed into Ukraine from several directions, Ukraine's border guard service said, and hours after President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of a major offensive.

Russian tanks and other heavy equipment crossed the frontier in several northern regions, as well as from the Kremlin-annexed peninsula of Crimea in the south, the agency said.

Moreover, the agency added, one of its servicemen died in a shelling attack along the Crimean border, the first officially confirmed military death of the Russian invasion.

Ukraine has suffered heavy casualties in its eight-year conflict with Russian-backed rebels in the separatist east but has reported no fatalities along its southern border with Crimea for some years.

Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military operation in Ukraine with explosions heard across the country and its foreign minister warning a "full-scale invasion" was underway.

It been weeks of intense diplomacy and the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia failed to deter Putin, who had massed between 150,000 and 200,000 troops along the borders of Ukraine.

"I have decided on a military operation," Putin said in a surprise television announcement that triggered immediate condemnation from US President Joe Biden and other Western leaders and sent global financial markets into turmoil.

According to AFP correspondents, shortly after the announcement, explosions were heard in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and several other cities.

Ukrainian border guards reported being under attack along the Russian and Belarusian frontiers.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky declared martial law and said Russia was attacking his country's "military infrastructure", but urged citizens not to panic and vowed victory.

His foreign minister said the worst-case scenario was playing out.

"Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes," Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.

"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."

Within a few hours of Putin's speech, Russia's defence ministry said it had neutralised Ukrainian military airbases and its air defence systems.

In his televised address, Putin justified the operation by claiming the government was overseeing a "genocide" in the east of the country.

The Kremlin had earlier said rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine had asked Moscow for military help against Kyiv.