NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a round-up of today’s news.

IRELAND 

Snow on the top of Lugnaquillia in Wicklow Eamonn Farrell / Rollingnews.ie Eamonn Farrell / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie

• The Taoiseach said Ireland will support the “stronggest possible” sanctions against Russia by the EU following the invasion of Ukraine.
• Public health officials reported a total of 7,724 Covid-19 cases today between PCR and antigen tests.
• The man who was shot as he walked across private farmland near Tallaght has died from his injuries. 
• The European Medicines Agency recommended that Pfizer’s booster vaccine against Covid-19 be approved for children age 12 and up.
• Health authorities seized over 28,000 units of ivermectin last year, a medicine used as a horse dewormer that has been incorrectly described as a ‘cure’ for Covid-19.
• A man and woman were charged today after being arrested by gardaí in Wicklow as part of investigations in an organised crime gang.
• More than half of child car seats are incorrectly fitted, new research from the RSA found.
• 84 artists signed an open letter to the board of the National Gallery in protest at the gallery contracting Aramark to run its cafe. 

UKRAINE

A protester outside the Russian Embassy in Dublin today Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

#THIS MORNING Russian troops entered Ukraine around 5am local time after President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in a televised speech.

#THIS AFTERNOON In Ireland, the Department of Foreign Affairs urged Irish citizens in Ukraine to shelter in place or leave the country if safe to do so, while Ukrainians protested in Dublin. 

#TONIGHT Russia’s forces captured an air base near Kyiv and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, while back in Moscow and Saint Petersberg, hundreds of anti-war protesters were arrested. The US and UK, among other countries, announced further sanctions against Russia.

PARTING SHOT

Why did Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine?

A new episode of The Journal’s podcast, The Explainer, examines the biggest question facing the world right now.

Donnacha Ó Beacháin from Dublin City University, an expert in post-Soviet politics, discusses Putin’s intentions and whether sanctions will be enough to curb his actions.

Here’s how to listen.