Russia invaded Ukraine early Thursday morning, kicking off one of the most serious military conflicts in Europe since WWII.
In a televised address as the attack began, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that any attempt by other countries to interfere would “lead to consequences you have never seen in history.”
At the time of this writing, Russian troops are moving towards Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that 137 Ukrainian civilians and military personnel had been killed in the country on the first day of the Russian invasion, and 316 Ukrainian citizens were reported injured, including Ukrainian children, after Russian forces attacked both a kindergarten and an orphanagein Okhtyrka, a small city in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine.
President Joe Biden has criticized Putin as a “tyrant,” and called Russia’s actions a violation of international law. On Thursday afternoon, Biden announced new, tougher sanctions against Russia he said would “impose a severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time.”
As events unfold in Ukraine, social media is buzzing with new coverage of real-time casualties and the crippling effects of Russia’s military invasion on civilian life.
Here’s what has happened in Ukraine so far:
Scenes of invasion: Ukrainians feel the impact of Russian aggression
Ukrainians take shelter as Russian invades and casualties rise. View the gallery below to see the latest in Ukraine.
Natali Sevriukova reacts next to her house following a rocket attack the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
KHARKIV, UKRAINE — FEBRUARY 24, 2022: Hundreds of people seek shelter underground, on the platform, inside the dark train cars, and even in the emergency exits, in metro subway station as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. (MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES)
People rest in the Kyiv subway, using it as a bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russia has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending troops and tanks from multiple directions in a move that could rewrite the world’s geopolitical landscape. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB A view shows the body of a school employee, who according to locals was killed by recent shelling, in the separatist-controlled town of Horlivka (Gorlovka) in the Donetsk region, Ukraine February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
KYIV, UKRAINE – FEBRUARY 25: Members of the territorial defense are seen near the recruitment office in Kyiv on February 25, 2022, Ukraine. Yesterday, Russia began a large-scale attack on Ukraine, with Russian troops invading the country from the north, east and south, accompanied by air strikes and shelling. The Ukrainian president said that at least 137 Ukrainian soldiers were killed by the end of the first day. (Photo by Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images)
Servicemen of the Ukrainian National Guard take positions in central Kyiv, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
TOPSHOT – A view shows the wreckage of an unidentified aircraft which crashed into a private house in a residential area in Kyiv on February 25, 2022. – Russian forces reached the outskirts of Kyiv on Friday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the invading troops were targeting civilians and explosions could be heard in the besieged capital. Pre-dawn blasts in Kyiv set off a second day of violence after Russian President Vladimir Putin defied Western warnings to unleash a full-scale ground invasion and air assault on Thursday that quickly claimed dozens of lives and displaced at least 100,000 people. (Photo by GENYA SAVILOV / AFP) (Photo by GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images)
KYIV, UKRAINE – FEBRUARY 25: A resident checks on a damaged room of her apartment in a residential block hit by an early morning missile strike on February 25, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Yesterday, Russia began a large-scale attack on Ukraine, with Russian troops invading the country from the north, east and south, accompanied by air strikes and shelling. The Ukrainian president said that at least 137 Ukrainian soldiers were killed by the end of the first day. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
KYIV, UKRAINE – FEBRUARY 25: A child on a swing outside a residential building damaged by a missile on February 25, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Yesterday, Russia began a large-scale attack on Ukraine, with Russian troops invading the country from the north, east and south, accompanied by air strikes and shelling. The Ukrainian president said that at least 137 Ukrainian soldiers were killed by the end of the first day. (Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
A woman with two children and carrying bags walk on a street to leave Ukraine after crossing the Slovak-Ukrainian border in Ubla, eastern Slovakia, close to the Ukrainian city of Welykyj Beresnyj, on February 25, 2022, following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. – Ukrainian citizens have started to flee the conflict in their country one day after Russia launched a military attack on neighbouring Ukraine. (Photo by PETER LAZAR / AFP) (Photo by PETER LAZAR/AFP via Getty Images)
A woman and her son look out from an evacuation train from Kyiv to Lviv at Kyiv central train station, Ukraine, February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
25 February 2022, Poland, Medyka: Refugees from Ukraine sit on a bus after crossing the border from Shehyni in Ukraine to Medyka in Poland, which takes them to a temporary shelter. Numerous Ukrainians are leaving the country after military actions by Russia on Ukrainian territory. (to dpa: “Refugees from Ukraine: “Maybe good people will help us””) Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa (Photo by Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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Russians open fire on Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island
The Russian warship threatened the Ukrainian soldiers with open fire unless they surrendered, according to the audio of the exchange. The final known words from the battle heard on a recording were from a Ukrainian soldier telling the Russians, “go f— yourself,” CNN reported.
Although initial reports were that all the soldiers had died, and Ukraine’s president confirmed this at the time, the Ukrainian Navy said on Feb. 28 that the soldiers were “alive and well,” and were forced to surrender, CNN reported.
Newborns in the ICU were moved to bomb shelters to keep them safe
Newborn babies from the neonatal intensive care unit from a hospital in the city of Dnipro were moved to a bomb shelter on a lower level on the building for their own safety on Thursday, according to The New York Times.
After Malar’s announcement, Google searches for instructions on how to make molotov cocktails spiked on Friday. A popular search item in Ukraine was also “how to make a molotov cocktail in the forest,” The Washington Postreported.
Molotov cocktails, also called “poor man’s grenades,” are petrol bombs in which glass bottles are filled with flammable liquids—usually gasoline—with a cloth fuse that is then ignited.
Ukrainian citizens are fleeing to subway stations for safety
“These people are frightened. They’re confused. They are desperately uncertain about what they’re supposed to do, how long they take shelter here and where they go from here,” CNN senior correspondent Clarissa Ward reported from a crowded Ukrainian subway station.
Stunning reporting from @clarissaward sheltering in a subway station in Kharkiv where hundreds of people, children and dogs are hiding from airstrikes, in scenes reminiscent of the Blitz pic.twitter.com/I7hHEtOKue
