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This is a developing crisis, more information will be added by MTK News contributors when it becomes available.
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Update - Tuesday 4:20 PM UTC: A 40-mile military fleet is currently advancing on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. This is estimated to be the largest attack on Kyiv yet. Russian forces are targeting civilians, many believe. This caused the U.N. to launch a 'war crime' investigation against Russia. The city of Kharkiv is surrounded.
Update - Monday 6:00 AM UTC: Ukrainian intelligence reports that Belarus is preparing to invade Ukraine, and could take action as soon as Monday. Multiple sources have reported this in addition to Ukrainian Intel, including a U.S. official that told the Washington Post.
Update - Sunday 9:00 PM UTC (Edited¹): Multiple countries including the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, the U.K. have announced to expel some Russian banks from SWIFT, which is a network that connects banking institutions throughout the globe. This is expected to impact the Russian economy, but also may impact other European nations and exports. Western powers have also imposed more sanctions on Russia. President Vladimir Putin has put Russia's nuclear deterrent forces on high alert. This means that if anyone gets involved with the conflict, Russia will use nuclear weapons. However, this is very unlikely to happen realistically, and is likely just used as a threat. President Zelensky has agreed to meet on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border for diplomatic negotiations on Monday, after a phone call with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.¹ So far, the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv has been holding up against Russian forces. But right now, we have received news that Kyiv is now completely surrounded by Russian forces, and all entrance and exit points have been blocked. This will prevent any more citizens from further evacuating the city. Some are worrying that this indicates a larger attack on Kyiv might be launched soon. We know that at least a few hundred civilians have died so far and thousands more have been injured as a result of this invasion.
Update - Saturday 3:30 AM UTC: Russia has been advancing towards the capital of Ukraine and a battle is currently underway for control. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has noted that he is the primary target of Russian forces, followed by his family, and people close to him. However, he has chosen to stay in Kyiv with Ukraine. "This may be the last time you see me alive," Zelensky said on a conference call meeting with European leaders. The NATO Response Force has been activated and troops are being sent to countries near Ukraine, such as Poland, Hungary, and Romania as a measure to fight against the threat of Russian forces attacking neighboring countries after Ukraine. In spite of that, NATO cannot directly defend Ukraine, as the country isn't a member of NATO yet. If Ukraine was in NATO, any attacks in Ukraine from Russia would trigger NATO's Article 5, which states that any attack on a NATO nation would be an attack on all of NATO, and all of NATO must aide each other in warfare against the aggressor. So far, President Biden had stated that imposing severe sanctions is the best option to deal with Russia for now, as directly engaging in conflict could create a world war, and even a nuclear disaster. Vladimir Putin has stated that any attempts to get in Russia's way will be met with deadly and nuclear force. Major protests have broken out throughout Russia going against Putin and the war. In attempts to silence the protestors by the Russian government, thousands of arrests have took place.
Update - Thursday 3:20 PM UTC: This morning, Russian forces took control of an Ukrainian air base near Kyiv, Ukraine. Throughout the country, air raid sirens have went off, in many places for the first time since World War II. President Zelensky of Ukraine has put martial law into effect. The G7 meeting has started where leaders will discuss appropriate responses to President Putin's actions. President Biden has announced that he will deliver remarks on the situation at 12:30 PM ET (5:30 PM UTC) today. The EU is considering removing Russia from SWIFT, which is an executor for financial transactions worldwide. Germany has just announced that it is expanding it's support for NATO's air policing mission in Romainia. Multiple deaths and injuries have in reported in Ukraine.
Update - Thursday 6:45 AM UTC: Ukraine has begun to fight back, with fighter jets of their own. As of writing, they have successfully shot down 5 enemy planes and a helicopter of Russia's. Russian tanks and other land reinforcements are being sent in early Thursday morning.
Update - Thursday 6:08 AM UTC: The Ukrainian Border Force stated that it has just come under attack on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border by Belarusian and Russian troops. It now appears that the Republic of Belarus is aiding Russia with the invasion of Ukraine.
The First Report - Thursday 3:45 AM UTC: Early Thursday morning, Russian president Vladimir Putin authorized Russian troops to carry out "a special military operation" in Donbass, Ukraine. Moments later, a reuters witness reported attacks and explosions on Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. More attacks have been reported in cities all throughout the country. This is in relation to the ever-deepening crisis going on with Russia and Ukraine. As a result, the U.N. held an emergency meeting in relation to the Ukraine crisis. The U.S. also launched its own forces at Ukraine's border with Russia. Before Putin's announcement, critical Ukrainian government websites and banks were hit with cyber-attacks just the day before. President Biden had announced a series of sanctions against Russia earlier this week, as he stated that he will impose more consequences on Russia. He is set to speak to Americans on Thursday.
¹ MTK News had previously assumed that the Belarusian president had not agreed to diplomatic meet for negotiations. We have later learned that President Zelensky had held a phone call with President Lukashenko where they did agree.