Europe’s darkest hour

Ukrainian forces are fighting back against Russian troops advancing on the capital Kyiv after Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to invade, plunging Europe into war.

Air, land and sea assaults were launched on Ukraine’s north, south and east in the early hours of this morning. Fierce fighting is ongoing across the country as Russian troops and tanks pour over the borders.

Russian forces have fired missiles on cities and military targets, and shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane. They are closing in on Kyiv, having captured Hostomel airport, 15 miles to the West, along with Chernobyl in the north. At least 40 Ukrainians are known to have been killed in the first few hours of the invasion. The true total is already likely to be in the thousands. The Ukrainian military has also reported dozens of Russian casualties.

Ukraine closed its airspace to commercial aircraft as fighting started. No passenger flights are entering or leaving the country. The Foreign Office has urged British nationals to leave Ukraine if they judge it safe to do so, and to stay indoors and away from windows if not. Long traffic jams have formed on the route out West from Kyiv as locals flee their homes. Many have chosen to stay put. Weapons are being handed out to all civilians willing to fight.  

The offensive, which comes after months of Western warnings and Kremlin denials, is the largest state-on-state attack on European soil since the Second World War. Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelensky, called it “a declaration of war against the whole of Europe.”

There is a sense of disbelief amongst many Russians at what their leaders have done. Dozens of high-profile Russian celebrities with large social media followings have condemned the violence, though most have stopped short of blaming Putin. Anti-war demonstrations are taking place across Russia. At least 150 people are believed to have been arrested. Gabriel Gavin reports for Reaction on the uneasy calm in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border.

Western nations have condemned Russia’s actions in the strongest possible terms. The UK and US have promised a decisive and united response to “a blatant violation of international law.” Boris Johnson accused Putin of “unleashing a tidal wave of violence”, calling the invasion “hideous and barbaric”. Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary-general, warned of a “new reality and a new Europe”.

The EU has committed to freezing Russian assets in the bloc and block Russian banks from accessing Europe’s financial markets. Yet the cold fact is that the Western response is economic, not military. Putin has made his calculation and decided that the economic pain, which will also hurt the West if sanctions are sustained, is worth it. Joe Biden, who promised a “devastating package of sanctions”, has said many times he is not going to send troops to Ukraine. For all the talk of solidarity, foreign direct military involvement is not being offered.

In a video released as fighting began, Vladimir Putin announced a “special operation” in the Donbass whose purpose was the “de-militarisation” and “de-Nazification” of Ukraine. The West, he said was “an evil empire”. Countries coming to Ukraine’s aid would “face consequences greater than any you have faced in history”.

Meta data from the video suggests it was recorded on Monday, meaning the decision to mount a full invasion had already been taken. It’s confirmation, if any more were needed, that the diplomacy of the last few months has been a pantomime, doomed from day one. Walter Ellis looks at the failure of diplomacy and the repercussions for the West, below. 

Putin does not see Ukraine as a legitimate, independent nation. He believes it does not deserve to exist and that it only continues to do so because Russia has allowed it to. 

Whatever the demographic and historical nuances of the relationship between Ukraine and Russia, Moscow was under no threat from Kyiv. Putin’s decision to invade is the act of a tyrant. It has also shattered the illusion that all-out war between developed nations belongs to an earlier age.