Photo: SERGEI SUPINSKY / AFP / Getty Images
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Thursday that “all evidence suggests that Russia intends to surround and threaten Kiev, and we believe that Moscow has developed plans to inflict widespread abuses against human rights, and potentially worse, in the Ukrainian people”.
Russia has launched more than 160 missiles since it started attacking Ukraine, according to a senior US defense official.
At least 24 Ukrainians were killed and others 169 were injured today during the first day of the Russian attack on Ukraine, reported the country’s Ministry of Health. “According to operational data, 24 Ukrainians died as a result of the Russian attack. Others 169 were injured,” Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said in a statement.
In the meantime, Russian troops have approached Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, the defense official told US media on Thursday, adding that Ukraine has also sent additional airborne troops to Kharkiv, where fighting continues.
Ukrainian officials believe that Russia’s plan is to overthrow the Ukrainian leadership and install a pro-Russian government.
At sunset, special forces and airborne troops were approaching the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, according to reports from the Ukrainian authorities.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians fled from the cities in danger and thousands of Russians protested the decision to go to war. President Vladimir V. Putin stood defiant as Ukrainians, Russians and observers from around the world took stock of the day’s toll.
As part of its response to Russian aggression and in support of its NATO allies, the US will deploy 7,000 more soldiers in Germany from Fort Carson, a base of the located in Colorado, the Pentagon said.
The top US diplomat did not give details about what “potentially worse” action Moscow could inflict on the people of Ukraine in his remarks at a special meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
I spoke today with @OSCE Chairman-in-Office @RauZbigniew to condemn Russia’s pre-meditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine. We pledged continued coordination to urge Russia to cease its military operations in Ukraine and withdraw its forces immediately.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) February 24, 2022
Russia has launched an unprecedented military attack against Ukraine by land, air and sea that has already left dozens dead, prompting Western leaders to condemn Moscow and promise unity with Ukraine.
Ukrainian ministers said the Kremlin had begun a “full-scale invasion” of their country, and the fighting appears to be one of the worst conventional wars Europe has ever seen has seen since the Second World War and the conflicts in the Balkans in the decade of 1990. Markets around the world plummeted on Thursday.
“Russia’s actions are an affront to democracy, human rights, human decency,” according to a transcript of Anthony Blinken’s remarks delivered virtually Thursday. “For months, Russia has engaged in the guise of diplomacy while insisting that it had no intention of invading Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has been preparing this cold-blooded attack, the scale of which has not been seen in Europe since World War II.”
“Members of this organization and the entire international community now clearly see Russia’s complete abandonment and abdication of the commitments it made to the world, and we will never forget it,” Blinken said.
Russia and Ukraine are both participating states in the OSCE.
The democratically elected government of Ukraine remains intact, but has declared the state of emergency that will begin on Friday. The mayor of Kiev decreed a curfew on Thursday from 22: 00 to 07: 00 local time. Public transport suspended operations, although the subway will remain open 24 hours to serve as a refuge, added the mayor of the capital in a statement.
In an emotional speech on Thursday afternoon, President Volodymyr Zelensky asked world leaders for support and warned that if Ukraine does not receive help now, “the war will knock on its door tomorrow”.
With information from NBC News, CNN and The New York Times
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