War In Ukraine Updates: Explosions were heard in several parts of Ukraine including near the capital Kyiv, eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and Black Sea port of Odessa. News agencies reporting from Ukraine said that explosions were heard in Kharkiv and Kiev began soon after the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s speech ended where he declared a military operation in Ukraine.
It is unclear if the explosions were due to missile strikes or airstrikes.
A Ukraine interior minister told NBC News on Thursday that the strikes could also be caused by ballistic missiles. Anton Gerashchenko, the interior minister, also told Ukraine Pravda news agency, said missile strikes were fired at military control centres in Kyiv and Kharkiv.
Russian troops have also put boots on the ground in Odessa where explosions were heard earlier, news agencies reported.
The NBC news agency said that there were no sirens as explosions were heard in areas of Kiev. There is no indication that strikes hit civilian areas.
Russia, according to news agency AFP, confirmed that it is striking Ukrainian military facilities with ‘precision’ weapons.
After several explosions, visuals shared by news agency MSNBC shared showed that sirens were sounded in Kyiv. However, despite reports from Russian news agencies of Russian boots on the ground in Odessa, MSNBC correspondent Richard Engel said that in Mariupol ships were seen at the distance but no forces were seen in the beaches.
Speaking to MSNBC, retired US Army General Barry Richard McCaffrey said that Ukraine does not have the wherewithal to withstand a full-blown Russian aggression. He said that he does not expect ordinary Ukrainians to go into an armed conflict with the Russian army on the streets of Kyiv and the attack could also be an attempt to destabilise the Ukrainian army in line of contact in the eastern part of the Ukraine.
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