Russia has begun a large-scale military attack on Ukraine, its southern neighbour, on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
There are reports of attacks on Ukrainian military infrastructure across the country, and Russian convoys entering from all directions.
In a televised speech at 05:55 Moscow time (02:55 GMT), Mr. Putin announced a “military operation” in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. This area is home to many Russian-speaking Ukrainians. Parts of it has been occupied and run by Russian-backed rebels since 2014.
Mr. Putin said Russia was intervening as an act of self-defense. Russia did not want to occupy Ukraine, he said, but would demilitarise and “de-Nazify” the country.
He urged Ukrainian soldiers in the combat zone to lay down their weapons and go home and warned Ukraine that it would be blamed for any bloodshed.
But clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces were inevitable and “only a question of time”, Mr. Putin said.
And he added that any intervention from outside powers to resist the Russian attack would be met with an “instant” response and the aggressor would be destroyed.
An international Diplomatic Consultant with so much experience on national and international issues, Farouk Al–Wahab reacting to the impass between the two nations on the Happy Morning Show (HMS) with Samuel Eshun, said “Russia is just calling the bluff of America and Europe.”
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