Key developments in Russia's war on Ukraine
Russia launched a military assault on neighbouring Ukraine Thursday, hitting targets across the country. Here are the latest developments:
Putin's announcement
Early morning in Moscow, television channels switched to an unscheduled recorded address by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The 69-year-old former KGB operative declared he had ordered a "military operation" in Ukraine and called on the former Soviet republic's military to "lay down its arms."
Barrage begins
Within minutes, explosions were reported in cities around Ukraine, including Odessa, Kharkiv, Kramatorsk, Mariupol and Kyiv, where air raid sirens cut through the early morning air.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks were targeting his country's "military infrastructure".
Russia's defence ministry said "air defence facilities, military airfields and aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being disabled with high-precision weapons".
Targets were reportedly hit with an arsenal of Russian weaponry, including ballistic missiles, artillery shells and small arms.
Ground assault
Ukraine's border force later said their units and checkpoints were under attack along the Russia and Belarus borders as well as from the Russian-occupied Crimea.
A Ukrainian interior ministry official reported the fall of the previously government-held town of Shchastya, on the eastern frontline with a rebel-held enclave.
Defend Ukraine
Ukraine's Zelensky quickly imposed martial law and urged citizens to stay calm, as his government vowed to do "everything in its power" to defend Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military claimed to have downed five Russian planes and a helicopter in the east of the country near a rebel-held enclave.
Zelensky, an actor-turned-leader, also spoke by phone with US president Joe Biden, who led international condemnation of Putin's war.
Biden called the attack "flagrant aggression" and vowed the "world will hold Russia accountable".
The US and other members of the G7 are expected to announce further sanctions on Thursday.
Shockwaves
The world's financial markets quickly responded to the the news of Russia's assault.
Stock markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney plunged and oil prices broke above $100 a barrel.
The ruble slumped nine per cent against the US dollar and trading was suspended indefinitely on the Moscow and Saint Petersburg stock exchanges.
Gold and the Japanese yen -- safe havens in times of crisis and turmoil -- jumped.
Flights over Ukraine and from cities in southern Russia were cancelled.