Ukraine announces nationwide state of emergency as Russia troops build near border
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia has approved an offensive against Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin had not replied to his invitation to hold talks.
Key points:
- Ukraine's state of emergency will last for 30 days and can be extended for another 30 days
- Its Foreign Ministry has warned citizens not to visit Russia and those already there to leave the country
- The parliament has voted to approve a draft law which will allow Ukrainians to carry firearms for self-defence
Mr Zelenskyy made the remarks in a 10-minute address posted on Telegram during which he spoke in both Ukrainian and Russian.
On Wednesday, Ukraine expanded a state of emergency — which has been in place in two eastern regions since 2014 — to the entire nation, as the country braces for a possible large-scale military offensive from Russia.
It comes as Ukraine's Foreign Ministry warned Ukrainians not to visit Russia and urged its citizens already there to leave the country, in a travel advisory issued on Wednesday.
The United States assessed that more than 150,000 Russian forces were assembled around Ukraine, with some already moving into Ukraine’s eastern regions Donetsk and Luhansk.
Ukraine's state of emergency will last for 30 days and can be extended for another 30 days, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council Oleksiy Danilov told a briefing.
The state of emergency allows authorities to impose restrictions on movement, block rallies and ban political parties and organisations "in the interests of national security and public order".
Regional authorities can make decisions on whether to introduce curfews and other measures.
"These are preventive measures to keep calm in the country, so that our economy and our country can work," Mr Danilov said.
"Depending on the threats that may arise in certain territories, there will be either a more strengthened or more weakened state of emergency.
"We are talking about border areas where we have a border with the Russian Federation, with Belarus."
The Ukrainian government will also close airports in eastern Ukraine from overnight because of the confrontation with Russia.
Ukrainian aviation authorities also have declared some airspace in the east to be "danger areas" because of attempts by Russian aviation authorities to seize control of the airspace.
Ukraine acted after Russia issued a ban on civilian air traffic in airspace over eastern Ukraine.
The announcement on Wednesday night, local time, establishes buffer zones for traffic controlled by Ukrainian authorities to avoid coming into potentially hazardous conflict with air traffic controlled by Russian authorities.
US says Russian forces in attack positions
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC News on Wednesday, local time, that he expected Russia to invade Ukraine before the night was over but still sees a chance to "avert a major aggression".
"Everything seems to be in place for Russia to engage in a major aggression against Ukraine," Mr Blinken told NBC in an interview, adding he could not be precise about time or place.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has put 80 per cent of the troops he has assembled in a position to launch a full-scale invasion on Ukraine, a senior US defence official said on Wednesday.
"He is as ready as he can be," the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"They have advanced their readiness to a point where they are literally ready to go — now — if they get the order," the official said, without providing evidence to support the assertion.
Russian troops were deployed along Ukraine's eastern border that it shares with Russia, and its southern border with the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
In another neighbouring country, Belarus — which has the political and financial backing of Russia — satellite images showed thousands of military vehicles, aircraft, missile launchers and troops situated along Ukraine's northern borders.
The senior US official said these troops had taken ready positions, with some as little as 5 kilometres from Ukraine's border.
"We do have indications that they plan to use reserves and their equivalent of the National Guard and that is concerning because that would connote to us ... long-term goals," the official said.
Russian troops have already moved into Ukraine’s eastern regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised those regions as independent.
Loading...Ukraine has introduced a series of measures including the conscription of reservists as it braces for a possible military offensive from Russia.
Mr Danilov reiterated that Ukraine was not introducing general mobilisation yet.
Further stoking fears of an impending Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities have begun evacuating diplomatic staff in Ukraine, TASS news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a representative of the Russian Embassy in Kyiv.
The embassy as well as the consulate-general in Odessa were seen on Wednesday with Russian flags taken down.
"Several cars left the territory of the consulate in the morning," a member of the Ukrainian National Guard who was on duty in Odessa told Reuters.
Martial law not yet necessary
Some Ukrainian lawmakers have urged the government to impose martial law — a move that could trigger a response from Russia but Mr Danilov said no such decision had been taken yet.
"If necessary, this provision will be adopted immediately," he said.
Martial law would impose harder restrictions, which could include bans on meetings, movements and political parties.
The state border guards service said new measures had been introduced regarding the stay of foreigners near the border zone, the use of radios, flights of drones and the filming and photographing of certain people and buildings.
Ukraine's state of emergency applies to all of the country except the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where it has been in place since 2014.
Russian-backed separatists have controlled parts of Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014.
In addition to the state of emergency, Ukraine's parliament on Wednesday voted to approve in the first reading a draft law which gives permission to Ukrainians to carry firearms and act in self-defence.
"The adoption of this law is fully in the interests of the state and society," the authors of the draft law said, before adding that the law was needed due to "existing threats and dangers for the citizens of Ukraine".
Biden broadens sanctions
On Wednesday, US time, President Joe Biden said his administration would impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, the company in charge of building Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
The sanctions, which target the Nord Stream 2 AG company and its corporate officers, add to pressure on the Baltic Sea project that was designed to double the gas flow capacity from Russia to Germany.
Europe's most divisive energy project, Nord Stream 2 has not yet begun operations as it has yet to be certified by Germany and the European Union.
On Tuesday, Germany halted certification work on the pipeline, which is worth $11 billion, citing Russia's actions toward Ukraine.
The United States and the EU worry the pipeline will increase Europe's dependence on Russian energy supplies and deny transit fees to Ukraine, host to another Russian gas pipeline.
Meanwhile, the European Union said on Wednesday, local time, that it had imposed sanctions on a number of senior Russian officials, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov.
Also targeted was Andrey Kostin, chief executive officer of Bank VTB PAO, Russia's second-largest bank. The EU made the announcement in its official journal.
The United Nations Security Council said it would meet on Wednesday night, US time, to discuss Ukraine.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the 193-member General Assembly that an expanded conflict in Ukraine "could see a scale and severity of need unseen for many years".
"Our world is facing the biggest global peace and security crisis in recent years ... We face a moment that I sincerely hoped would not come," he said, adding that Russia's recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent was "a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine".
"I am especially concerned for the safety and wellbeing of all those who have already suffered from so much death, destruction and displacement."
He called for a ceasefire and a return to dialogue.
Loading...Ukraine says cyber attack underway
The websites of Ukraine's government, its Foreign Ministry and state security service were down on Wednesday, in what the government said was the start of another massive denial of service (DDOS) attack that began at around 4pm, local time.
Ukrainian authorities said this week they had seen online warnings that hackers were preparing to launch major attacks on government agencies, banks and the defence sector.
Ukraine has suffered a string of cyber attacks that Kyiv has blamed on Russia. Moscow has denied any involvement.
"About 4pm, another mass DDOS attack on our state began. We have relevant data from a number of banks," said Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation, adding that the parliament's website was also hit.
He did not mention which banks were affected and the central bank could not immediately be reached for comment.
The online networks of Ukraine's Defence Ministry and two banks were overwhelmed last week in a separate cyber attack.
Later, the US company Netscout Systems Inc said the impact had been modest.
Internet blockage observatory NetBlocks posted a tweet on Thursday that showed a drop-off in connections to the Ukrainian government websites.
"We've observed that the current network disruption has [had a] partial impact on the network layer to multiple defence and ministerial websites in Ukraine," NetBlocks director Alp Toker said.
"The spread of outages is similar but distinct from the recent DDOS attack targeting defence and banking platforms, with the latter not impacted in this instance."
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