LAST UPDATE | 24 Feb 2022
RUSSIA’S INVASION OF Ukraine has been underway since about 5am local time (3am Irish time).
The situation is evolving quickly, so here’s a brief rundown of what’s happened so far. You can also check back on this morning’s live blog here.
In a video address this afternoon, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to retake an airfield close to the capital Kyiv captured by Russian forces.
“Enemy paratroopers have been blocked in Gostomel – our troops have been given the order to destroy them,” Zelensky said.
He also said Russia’s invasion had severed Moscow from the rest of the international community.
“What do we hear today? It’s not just rocket explosions, combat and the roar of aircraft. This is the sound of a new iron curtain lowering and closing Russia off from the civilised world,” he said.
The UK’s ministry of defence has issued a statement claiming that Russian troops based in Belarus are advancing towards Kyiv.
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces have put up a staunch resistance and continue to hold key cities,” the statement said.
It also notes that “heavy casualties” have been suffered on both sides but “exact numbers are currently unclear”.
We can confirm the following developments in Ukraine: pic.twitter.com/5cDzA0qxID
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) February 24, 2022
Leaders of the G7 most developed nations say they are ready to tackle any possible disruptions to energy supplies.
In a statement following a video conference, they said: “We are also closely monitoring global oil and gas market conditions.”
“We support consistent and constructive engagement and coordination among major energy producers and consumers toward our collective interest in the stability of global energy supplies, and stand ready to act as needed to address potential disruptions.”
Here are the latest developments in Ukraine and around the world since Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Putin of launching a “full-scale invasion”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a televised address saying Moscow had no other choice but to invade Ukraine to ensure Russia’s security, speaking hours after his army crossed his ex-Soviet neighbour’s borders.
“What was happening left us with no choice,” he said, adding that “we had no other way of proceeding”.
Vladimir Putin claims Russia 'were not given a chance to act in any other way as the security risks were really serious for our country' following their invasion of Ukraine.https://t.co/Hc0QdlxLQe
— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 24, 2022
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/bFpHLpOZVH
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been addressing the House of Commons following today’s meeting of G7 leaders.
Johnson said Putin will stand condemned in the eyes of history, and that he believes the Russian leader always planned to invade Ukraine, referring to him as a “blood-stained aggressor”.
The UK is set to announce harsh sanctions against Russia.
AFP is reporting that British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss berated Moscow’s ambassador over his country’s invasion of Ukraine, calling Russia an international pariah before kicking him out of the meeting.
Truss had summoned Andrei Kelin over what she said was Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine”, according to an official statement for her department.
“The minister kicked (Kelin) out after he started spouting the Kremlin’s incredulous propaganda lines,” according to the report.
Dozens of people gathering in Moscow and Saint Petersburg to protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been detained, according to AFP journalists at the demonstrations.
You can follow this story here.
Back to the House of Commons, Boris Johnson the US and EU, the UK will introduce “new trade restrictions and stringent export controls”.
He said: “We will bring forward new legislation to ban the export of all dual-use items to Russia, including a range of high-end and critical technological equipment and components in sectors including electronics, telecommunications and aerospace.”
Johnson said legislation to implement this will be laid in Parliament “early next week”.
“These trade sanctions will constrain Russia’s military, industrial and technological capabilities for years to come.”
He said measures on unexplained wealth orders from the Economic Crime Bill will be brought forward and introduced before the Easter recess.
Boris Johnson said the powers will allow the UK to “totally to exclude Russian banks from the UK financial system” and stop them from accessing sterling and clearing payments through the UK. He said about half of Russia’s trade is in dollars and sterling, and said the US is taking similar measures to the UK.
He said: “These powers will also enable us to ban Russian state and private companies from raising funds in the UK, banning dealing with their securities and making loans to them.
“We will limit the amount of money that Russian nationals will be able to deposit in their UK bank accounts and sanctions will also be applied to Belarus for its role in the assault on Ukraine.”
US President Joe Biden will be making an address at 6.30pm Irish time, and you can watch it live here.
Moldova, which closed its airspace in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has welcomed over 4,000 Ukrainians fleeing the unfolding conflict.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu tweeted: “Our borders are open for Ukrainian citizens who need safe transit or stay.”
First 🇺🇦 citizens arrive in 🇲🇩, with over 4000 crossings today. The govt has deployed temporary placement centers near Palanca and Ocnița. Our borders are open for 🇺🇦 citizens who need safe transit or stay. pic.twitter.com/F0NsQcKx02
— Maia Sandu (@sandumaiamd) February 24, 2022
Taoiseach Micheál Martin will announce a further package from Ireland to support the people of Ukraine later this evening, according to Foreign Minister Simon Coveney.
Coveney told the Dáil that the EU will move forward with a second “even more wide-ranging” sanctions package this evening. The package will be announced after a special meeting of the European Council.
Coveney told the Dáil that the Irish Embassy in Kyiv is no longer operating with staff being transferred to “a safe place”.
The Minister said the Department of Foreign Affairs remains in direct, ongoing contact with 70 Irish citizens who registered with the Embassy.
He advised all Irish citizens currently in Ukraine to shelter in a secure place, and to leave if they can.
In a message to the some 4,000 Ukrainians living in Ireland, Coveney said that he is working with the Department of Justice to put a structure and system in place that will allow Ukrainian citizens in Ireland to bring their families from Ukraine to Ireland “if they judge that that’s necessary for safety reasons”.
The Irish Anti-War Movement is protesting outside of Leinster House this evening, calling for ‘Russia and NATO to keep their hand off Ukraine’.
Our reporter Rónán Duffy is at the scene, you can follow him here.
'NATO & Russia, hands off Ukraine' protest from @IrishAntiWarMvt.
— Rónán Duffy (@ronanduffy_) February 24, 2022
Speaking against the use of Shannon by the US military is @Pmckennaa (who is currently running for the Seanad) pic.twitter.com/AHf1lpZ50e
Ukrainian officials have announced that Russian forces have captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after a “fierce” battle.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the chief of the Ukrainian presidential administration, said: “After the absolutely senseless attack of the Russians in this direction, it is impossible to say that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe. This is one of the most serious threats to Europe today.”
You can follow this story here.
Ukraine Ambassador to Ireland Larysa Gerasko has issued a statement calling on the international community to follow suit and cut diplomatic ties with Russia.
“We invite our partners to follow our example. We deem it unacceptable to maintain diplomatic relations with the aggressor state, which openly attacks its neighbour without any reason. The international organizations must consider banning Russia’s membership for flagrant violations of international law,” said Gerasko.
The Ambassador urged the other nations to provide Ukraine with humanitarian assistance and register all cases of violation of the norms of international and international humanitarian law.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced sanctions against 58 Russian individuals and entities in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which he called “a massive threat to security and peace around the world.”
“Today in light of Russia’s reckless and dangerous military strike, we’re imposing further severe sanctions,” Trudeau told a news conference.
The sanctions will target members of the Russian elite and their families, the Wagner group – a private military company – as well as Russian banks, he said, adding that Canada was also cancelling export permits for Russia.
You can watch his press conference here.
US president Joe Biden is currently announcing sanctions and export controls against Russia.
“Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences,” Biden said in a live stream from the White House.
Biden said Putin had been planning this “premeditated attack” for “months”, saying the Russian leader rejected every good faith effort from the US and its partners.
He said the sanctions are designed to maximise a long-term impact on Russia and “to minimise the impact on the United States and our allies”.
Outlining the sanctions, Biden said: “We have now sanctioned Russian banks that together hold around one trillion dollars in assets. We’ve cut off Russia’s largest bank, a bank that holds more than one-third of Russia’s banking assets by itself. We cut it off from the US financial system.
“And today we’re also blocking four more major banks. That means every asset they have in America will be frozen. This includes VTB, the second largest bank in Russia which has $250bn in assets.
“As promised, we’re also adding names to the list of Russian elites and their family members that we’re sanctioning as well.”
Joe Biden vowed to defend “every inch” of NATO territory but reaffirmed that no American troops would be deployed to Ukraine.
“As I made crystal clear, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with a full force of American power,” Biden said. He added, however: “Our forces will not be engaged in a conflict with Russia in Ukraine.”
Putin will become “a pariah on the international stage” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said Biden, adding that he had “no plans” to talk with his counterpart.
“Any nation that countenances Russia’s naked aggression against Ukraine will be stained by association.”
Biden added that Russia’s invasion “was never about genuine security concerns on their part… It was always about naked aggression, about Putin’s desire for empire, by any means necessary”.
Biden believes Putin is testing the resolve of the West “to see if we stay together.”
“We will and we will impose significant costs on him,” said Biden, who believes the Russian leader’s aim is to re-establish the Soviet Union.
“He has much larger ambitions than Ukraine. He wants to, in fact, reestablish the former Soviet Union. That’s what this is about. And I think that his ambitions are completely are contrary to the place where the rest of the world has arrived.”
“If we don’t move against him now with these significant sanctions then he will be emboldened”.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has arrived in Brussels for a special meeting of the European Council, telling reporters he will support “the strongest possible sanctions”.
The meeting could see the invoking of Article 8 of the Council of Europe’s statute, which allows the suspension of a member’s representation rights and – in a later step – even exclusion from the body.
Ireland stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people in their darkest hour.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) February 24, 2022
We will support the imposition of comprehensive and severe sanctions on Russia.#Ukraine #EUCO pic.twitter.com/mBudOgqG99
Council of Europe Secretary-General Marija Pejcinovic Buric earlier described the attack by Russia on Ukraine as a “flagrant violation” of the statute of the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights which the body oversees.
“This is a dark hour for Europe and everything it stands for,” she said.
The number of people detained by police for attending anti-war protests across Russia has reached 1,400, according to an independent monitoring group.
“More than 1,391 people have already been detained in 51 cities,” said OVD-Info, which tracks arrests at opposition rallies.
More than 700 people have been detained in Moscow and over 340 people in the second-largest city Saint Petersburg, the monitor said.
Rónán Duffy brings us this report following the Anti-War Movement outside Leinster Hosue this evening:
In what was certainly one of the more surreal protests I’ve ever been too, speakers from The Irish Anti-War Movement and People Before Profit stood up to criticise the “imperialism” on display by both Russia today in Ukraine and NATO more generally.
The stance is unsurprising as the IAWM is stridently pro-neutrality and rails against what it says are moves to impinge on that neutrality.
Speakers included veteran campaigner Patricia McKenna (who is currently running for the Seanad) and current PBP Dáil deputies Richard Boyd-Barrett, Mick Barry and Paul Murphy.
Boyd-Barrett, who is IAWM President, described Putin as “a thug, an autocrat and a despot” but that people must “oppose all warmongers”.
“NATO are not our friends,” he says. Barry added that NATO had “killed hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan”.
Ukrainian protesters who were there from earlier gave a mixed response to his comments with a smattering of boos and claps.
After some complaints from some present that there weren’t any Ukrainian speakers at the event, one man named Theodore was given a chance to speak and said his family was awoken by violence this morning.
He said he understands Ireland’s policy of neutrality but that NATO has provided protection for some nations in Eastern Europe.
I spoke to Ana Stinca of TCD’s Eastern European Society who said that “now was not the time” for the anti-war speakers as war has already been brought to Ukraine.
She said it made her feel like “we don’t have support”. Today, she said, was not about NATO and America “it is about Ukraine”.
She added: “Where was the solidarity in telling us that we have to start an anti-war movement. How is that going to help our people back home?”
I asked Paul Murphy whether today was the day to speak about NATO. He said that today was about the “imperialist adventure of Putin” in Ukraine but that it was “in the interest of the whole world” the avoid an escalation.
“I think what is absolutely important to highlight is that we’re 100% against the barbarism of Russian imperialism, we stand in solidarity with the anti-war activists, but also that NATO doesn’t provide an alternative here,” he said.
One speaker called Mariusz from Moldova sarcastically 'thanks People Before Profit for the history lesson'.
— Rónán Duffy (@ronanduffy_) February 24, 2022
Says war has 'already arrived' in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/2OAr7cX6ku
The US has also announced sanctions on 24 Belarusian individuals and organisations “due to Belarus’s support for, and facilitation of, the invasion” of Ukraine by Russia.
“Today’s action focuses on Belarus’s defence sector and financial institutions, two areas in which Belarus has especially close ties to Russia,” the US Treasury said in a statement.
The statement also lays out, in more detail, the actions being taken against Russia mentioned by Biden earlier.
The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers has agreed that it will hold another meeting tomorrow with a view to considering measures to be taken in relation to the invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement, the council said these measures could fall under Article 8 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, whereby any member state which has seriously violated Article 3 may be suspended from its rights of representation and requested by the Committee of Ministers to withdraw.
The council said it had condemned “in the strongest terms the armed attack on Ukraine by the Russian Federation in violation of international law”.
It said it had decided to examine without delay, and in close co-ordination with the Parliamentary Assembly and the Secretary General, the measures to be taken in response to the serious violation by the Russian Federation of its statutory obligations as a Council of Europe member State.
It also urged the Russian Federation to immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations in Ukraine and condemned the recognition by the Russian Federation of the Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent entities.
The council reiterated their unwavering commitment to the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders, and expressed their support to Ukraine and their solidarity with its people.
The UN refugee agency has said that around 100,000 people have fled their homes in Ukraine and several thousand more have left the country since Russia invaded.
UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told AFP: “We believe that some 100,000 people must have already left their homes and may be displaced inside the country, and several thousand have crossed international borders.”
In response to developments at Chernobyl today, founder and voluntary CEO of Chernobyl Children’s charity, Adi Roche said:
“I appeal on behalf of all humanity, but mostly on behalf of the citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, and indeed on behalf of the citizens of Europe, to the warring armies, under the Hague Conventions, that the highly contaminated area around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, with its thousands of tons and gallons of highly radioactive material, not be targeted, or used as areas of shelling, bombardment, and ground fighting.”
She said her “worst nightmare in this conflict is that the tragedy of the Chernobyl disaster could be re-released on the world. I fear that this area, a sacred area, an area of utter vulnerability and danger, a special area of human tragedy, could once again, have deadly radioactive contamination released, which would spread everywhere, like a great and uncontrollable monster.”
President of the European Council Charles Michel shared the council’s conclusions on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling it “unprovoked and unjustified”.
European Council conclusions on Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/fTt5HBQbLR
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) February 24, 2022
The Kremlin has said Russian leader Vladimir Putin held a “frank” phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron this evening.
The leaders had a “serious and frank exchange of views” about Ukraine and Putin gave an “exhaustive explanation of the reasons and circumstances behind the decision to conduct a special military operation” there, it said in a statement.
The Elysee Palace said Macron called Putin to demand an end to Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
“After having spoken with the Ukrainian president, and in coordination with him, the president (Macron) called Vladimir Putin to demand the immediate halt of Russian military operations, noting that Russia risked massive sanctions,” the Elysee said as Macron attended an EU summit in Brussels.
This was the first known contact between Putin and a Western leader since the Kremlin ordered a massive invasion of Ukraine.
The World Health Organisation says it is deeply concerned for the health of the people of Ukraine.
“The health system must continue to function to deliver essential care to people for all health issues, from Covid-19 to cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis, to mental health issues, especially for vulnerable groups such as older persons and migrants,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“Maximum care must be taken by all parties to ensure that health facilities, workers, patients, transport, and supplies are not targeted. As part of WHO’s role to document attacks on health, we will continue to monitor and report such incidents.”
He added that the WHO has released emergency funds of $3.5 million to purchase and deliver urgent medical supplies.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, former Ukrainian vice prime minister, has said she is saddened that the world is not ready to push back with “the strength that Putin would understand”.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Prime Time this evening, Klympush-Tsintsadze said it would have been “really painful” for Putin if the myriad of sanctions announced today had included Russia being withdrawn from the Swiff bank system -that the world’s banks use to securely send messages in order to carry out transactions.
“I think it’s important to stop this now too. It’s not too late for the whole world because we have to understand Putin’s end goal is not exclusively my country, Putin’s end goal is to ensure that his demands are being heard listened to and implemented”.
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