Air raid sirens in Kyiv as residents flee

Russian forces fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities and landed troops on its south coast on Thursday, officials and local media report, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized what he called a “special military operation” in the east.

Residents could be seen fleeing the city in buses and cars, and Kyiv’s metro system was busy with people carrying suitcases.

According to The Guardian, explosions have been reported across the country, including in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Dnipro, Odesa, Slavayansk, and Kramatorsk.

Two big blasts were reported being heard from the city of Mariupol one after another in an easterly direction, according to a Reuters witness.

Ukraine’s defense minister said Russia began intense shelling of Ukrainian military units in the east, as well as military control centers and airfields.

A photo provided by the Ukrainian President’s office appeared to show an explosion in the country’s capital, Kyiv, early Thursday morning.

ALL UKRAINE'S AVIATION BASES ARE DISABLED

The Russian military has claimed that all of Ukraine’s aviation bases had been disabled in the barrage of missiles that began the Russian invasion this morning around 5 am.

Smoke has been seen rising from near major airfields outside of Kharkiv and other cities in the east. But Russia also appears to have hit airfields in Kherson and as far west as Ivano-Frankivsk, which is nearer to the border with Poland.

It has also indicated that its forces have entered Ukraine, claiming that Ukraine’s border forces “are not putting up any resistance to Russian units.”