Destruction, dozens of dead and thousands displaced on the first day of the Russian offensive against Ukraine

Russian troops entered Ukraine early Thursday in a general offensive that brought them closer to the capital, Kiev, causing dozens of deaths and nearly 100,000 displaced, prompting a tightening of Western sanctions in response.

The explosions have been recorded from Kiev to Kharkov, the country’s second city on the border with Russia, as well as in Odesa or Mariúpol, on the shores of the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov.

At least 68 people died, both civilians and soldiers, as a result of air and ground attacks, according to balances from official Ukrainian reports..

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the decree on the general mobilization of all persons of serviceable age in the Army for the war that Russia began against the country on Thursday.

“Decree: to announce and carry out a general mobilization”, is stated in the text published on the page of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

On the first day of the offensive, Russian troops seized a strategic air base near Kiev, as well as the area of ​​the Chernobyl power plant, still contaminated by radioactivity from the 1986 nuclear accident, when Ukraine was part of the former Soviet Union.

“After a fierce battle, we lost control of the Chernobyl site,” said Mikhailo Podoliak, chief adviser to Zelensky’s office.

After the loss of control of this area, still highly contaminated by the worst nuclear accident in history, the state of the plant facilities is unknownof the cover that isolates the damaged reactor and of a deposit for nuclear fuel, indicated the senior official.

“This is one of the biggest threats to Europe today,” he said, estimating that the Russians could organize “provocative” activities on the spot to blame Ukraine.

In the case of the Gostomel air base, it fell after an attack carried out by soldiers arriving by helicopter from Belarus, a country allied with Russia, witnesses reported.

“The helicopters arrived and the fighting started. They were shooting with machine guns and grenade launchers,” said one of the witnesses, Serguiy Storojouk..

That airfield could serve as an outpost to launch an offensive on Kiev.

A member of a Western intelligence service estimated that Russia now has “complete air superiority”, since the Kiev government has no more resources against this type of offensive.

Russia celebrated successful operations

Russia celebrated this Thursday the success of its missions. The Russian Ministry of Defense affirmed that all the missions of this first day of operations “were successfully completed”.

President Vladimir Putin, who for weeks had kept more than 150,000 soldiers deployed on the borders with Ukraine, announced the start of the offensive during the early hours of Thursday.

“I have made the decision of a military operation,” declared the president, three days after recognizing the independence of the separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.

the russian army assured that it destroyed 74 military installations, including 11 airfields, and that separatists in eastern Ukraine are advancing and taking control of territories. While the Ukrainian Army claimed to have killed 50 Russians and shot down 5 planes and a helicopter in the east of the country.

He also assured that there were land incursions from the south into the Crimean peninsula. As the hours passed, the Russian forces seemed to be approaching Kiev, where a curfew was imposed.

Putin, who demands that NATO close its doors to Ukraine, assured that he was not seeking the “occupation” of this former Soviet republic, but “a demilitarization and denazification” of the country and defending the pro-Russian rebels.

Russian troops entered from the north, south and east of Ukraine, causing exodus of the population. Nearly 100,000 people have fled their homes and thousands have sought refuge abroad, the United Nations said..

“I will never, under any conditions, surrender to Putin. Better to die,” said Olena Kurilo, a 52-year-old teacher, who was injured by shattering glass in her home, caused by shelling in Chuguev, near Kharkov.

In the same city, a woman and her son mourned a man, killed in a missile strike, one of the first victims of the attack.

“I had told him to leave,” the son repeated tirelessly, next to the remains of an old Lada car and the crater caused by the projectile that fell between two five-story buildings.

UN Security Council will meet

For its part, the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) will meet this Friday, February 25, to vote on a draft resolution that the United States has prepared to condemn the Russian attack.

A senior US official explained that the resolution has been distributed by the US ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, among the members of the Council and among its allies inside and outside the Council, such as Japan, Australia and the European Union.

The source acknowledged that, since Russia has the right to veto as a permanent member of the Council, it is practically impossible for the resolution to go ahead, so the United States and its allies will take the case to the General Assembly, where there are no vetoes (but no voting either). binding).

While the Council was meeting on Wednesday night, President Putin gave the order to launch what he called “a special military operation” in Ukraine, with the justification that he intended to pacify the eastern regions of the country where since 2014 confront the pro-Russian separatists and the Kiev government.

West enlists sanctions

The offensive generated a barrage of condemnations: the European Union (EU) is preparing to announce new sanctions against Russia and NATO is planning a videoconference meeting on Friday.

Biden has already announced restrictions on exports to Russia and technological imports from that country, as well as sanctions against Russian banks and tycoons.

He had previously announced that the G7, of the most industrialized countries, agreed to impose “devastating” economic sanctions against Russia.

The European Union (EU) also decided to adopt sanctions with “massive and severe” consequences against Russia.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg denounced the “unprovoked and irresponsible attack (…) that puts countless civilian lives at risk.”

And the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, warned that “Russia will face unprecedented isolation” and promised “the most robust and severe package of sanctions that we have ever adopted.”

The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, assured that it was “the saddest day” of his mandate.

Cautiously, Moscow’s ally China said it “understands Russia’s reasonable security concerns.” (I)