Without anyone’s expectation, the Russian state television broadcasted an address by President Putin, which was followed by explosions in cities across Ukraine. This address by Putin in the ordering of military operation on Ukraine, stemmed out of a plea from Donetsk and Luhansk, in their breakaway of Donbas, a region in Ukraine, which had officially been recognized as independent less than two days before their plea to Russia for help.
Putin answered this plea of help by launching a “special military operation”. The purpose of this operation is to “demilitarize” and “de-nazify” Ukraine.
Putin talks of this “special military operation” as a means of defending Russia against threats and that, Moscow has no plans of taking over Ukraine or planning to impose itself on anyone.
He went on to say that, this operation is to protect the people of Donbas, who claimed to be subjected to “genocide”. Ukraine however denies the claim of the Donbas to be subjects of genocide.
In no time after the address of Putin, Russian missiles were launched to hit Ukrainian targets and military troops intruding Ukrainian borders.
On the dawn of Thursday, February 24, 2022, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin ordered a military operation in Ukraine. It was announced by the Interior Ministry of Ukraine that, there have been reports of troops crossing their border from different directions, and explosions in multiple cities including the country’s capital, Kyiv; invasion has started.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, introduced martial law across the country, entreating Ukrainian citizens to remain calm.
Meanwhile, by himself, President Volodymyr, said that on Wednesday, he called President Putin but couldn’t get in touch with him.
By: Agyemang Francis Hilbrands.