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Vladimir Putin has fled a full military invasion of Ukraine, with Russian troops attacking from the northern border of Belarus, the eastern frontier with Russia, and in the south of Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow invaded and annexed in 2014.
In Kyivthe capital, explosions were heard before dawn on Thursday, and the main roads out of the city were jammed with cars as residents fled.
Russian forces had shelled units in the east of the country and struck airfields in Kyiv’s airport, Boryspil, Lakes, Kulbakino, Chuhuiv, Kramatorsk, Chornobaivka with missiles, Ukraine’s armed forces said in a statement. Video of explosions at an army depot in Kalynivkaa town south-west of Kyiv near the provincial city of Vinnytsiawas aired on Ukrainian television.
Putin on Tuesday recognized the separatist governments in Luhansk and Donetsktwo provinces in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, and ordered Russian troops to enter them.
On Thursday morning, Russian incursions suggested the invasion forces aim to advance south towards Kyiv, encircling Ukraine’s forces in the east, and cleaving the country from the Russian border to the Black Sea.
