or increasing the presence of nato troops in the eastern part of the lines on natal territory. that will not be a factor in putins plans for now. and neighboring countries have other problems to consider. the polish government says 9 reception points will be opened along ukraine's border to receive unexpected wave of refugees. a country that in recent months is used for us to repel refugees from the middle east. must now brace will ukrainians fleeing war in their thousands. joan, a whole al jazeera, the 16 gmc, that's 6 pm. exactly. and on the day that russia invades ukraine, peter w without continuing coverage of the fast paced developments. barrage of russian strikes across ukraine since early in the morning. a number of civilians and soldiers have been killed. the bombings trigger and exodus 1000 slee

to try and find shelter to save their lives. ukrainians lining up to donate blood as the injured or rushed to hospitals. ah, okay, let's good going ukraine under attack from land and sea. major cities and military bases are under fire. what's unfolding is the biggest attack by one state on another in europe since the 2nd world war is the full range of rushes, military offensive. it is far beyond the nets and lance, the areas held by separatists, which russia recognizes as independent republics, russian forces have come from all sides from multiple directions from bella, roost in the north, down to the sea of as off. ah,

and that is the soundtrack of war that many ukrainians woke up to to day. these are apparently, russian helicopters near kia, firing flares, they're seen near, was believed to be the hosp to mel airports. it's on the outskirts of kiev. there are deaths being reported on both sides, potentially dozens of ukrainian and russian soldiers have been killed. and according to ukraine, many civilians, 2 people have been forced to flee or shelter from russian air strikes. he f says is a full scale invasion and assessment shared by nato and western allies. the gremlins describing it as the demilitarization of ukraine. the west is promising, told moscow accountable with quotes, painful sanctions will be alive with our correspondence, our eyes and ears on the ground in just a moment. first, this report with the latest is andrew simmons reporting out of key f. ah, the monthly buildup of russian troops on the border with ukraine has turned now

into an invasion ukraine, under attack, military bases, airports and aircraft, had been targeted and bombed the skies over multiple cities, including the capitol cave lit up waking up residence in the early hours of thursday, as russian artillery advanced, not very many could have predicted that he would be striking at so many multiple characters. the civilian casualties are unknown though russia says it will only attack military posts. as a response, ukraine has declared martial law more children when i had a conversation with you as president joe biden, the u. s. is starting to gather international support. today, we need you each of you to be calm. if possible, stay at home, please. we are working, the army is working. the tie security in defense sector of ukraine is working.

these attacks come after russian president vladimir putin declared to separatist areas in the don bass region in east, in ukraine as independent and said, russian civilians who live there need protection. whether we run into the battle fuller hand scan done yet in eastern ukraine has been going on since 2014, with more than 14000 people killed in fighting between russian back separatists and the ukrainian army. now putin has demanded ukrainian forces, retreat. the, when you put dell, said, when you shake however, we try to stop us and further create threats to our country, to our people's should know that russia's response will be immediate and lead you to such consequences that you have never faced in your history. we are ready for any outcome. the operation began despite last ditch appeals from members of the un security council to ease tension ukraine's ambassador to the un demanded. his

russian counterpart stepped down as chairman, hol, putting call of rove to stop aggression. there is no purgatory for war criminals. they go straight to hell, ambassador in a statement, us president joe biden warned of a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. there's a mood of desperation developing now. many people just jumping into that cars, getting their families together, and heading on the road, trying to get to poland. but the main auto roots are all jammed. there are so many people trying to do the same thing. others are going on the ground taking shelter. the missiles are getting close and now emergency meetings have been called to reach an agreement. while the shelling of build up of military troops on both sides continues. this is ukraine's darkest day. andrew simmons al jazeera kiff. while charles stratford was earlier today outside

ukraine's port city of mario pole where several explosions were heard, he did see a convoy tanks, some flying ukrainian flags. i'm close to a check point on the outskirts all mariano military vehicles behind me. heading down a road, heading west. nobody can see. quite yet on the other side of the road. there is a convoy of tanks appearing in the last 1050 minutes or so. we've heard the distinctive thought of what sound to bay grad miss isles being used . these are these missiles look, all the relaxing and see the tracking coming out heading hate to mary awful. as i say the last few minutes we've heard the sticky sounds of glad miss. i'll meet

you in the middle to fall in. how across the vale here there are you quite a bit of reflecting that we on the side ways earlier, billowing smoke coming problem other. come with me that like me being towed jesse my well being hit but sir. yeah, also increasingly we're seeing more more people leaving chromos checkpoint is checkpoint. the road going down towards the west to wolves. cities like very dense . only i don't see as well as denise broke in the north,

north west interested me. we have been speaking to a source in the navy around a paradox, who says that earlier today, naval force is off the coast of the coach. the prudence came on the fire from russia. neighbour russian naval vessels at forcing them back to base. and we're also getting reports to the game that we cannot verify that a russian forces may be planning an attack from the north of crimea in schwartz cities like care song and melia topple. which as i say, are west of charl stratford reporting there. well, there has been a rush for food on our basic supplies order. a bell coming reports now from a supermarket in the eastern ukrainian town of crime, a tossed it is quite surprising to sort of see that collects how collected they are quite orderly. no one is pushing and shoving,

but that's i think is because this conflict has been going on for 8 years. nothing has been resolved. both chem and the as separate as leaders have not been able to find any kind of solution to relations with give, and moscow have been deteriorating very over these past 8 years. and then certainly ever since this crisis has started a few months ago, it's gotten worse and worse. so people knew that something will happen. people knew that eventually they would be an escalation. i don't think they expected it now just a few weeks ago, there were brushing off the idea of an invasion and then things changed very, very quickly for them. maybe today they're following the news that at the moment mainly, or what we're hearing is that the military installations are being targeted. there's church in the know of any kind of visible army of fighting on the

streets. here is all quite calm, but they know war. they have seen war, this city had been going between the hands of the russian back, separate is and the ukrainian army. does the scene fierce battle the next door cities of yards, which is only a 10 minute drive? was the epi center really of the base, a do the for the russian back separate this has spread all the way there as set up a base there. and it still, it was a fierce fighting to get it back. so people know what it means. people know what could unravel on their streets and they're taking their precaution, but it's quite is, is quite would they say surprising, admirable to see how calm and collected they are. and there is no sense of, even when you look at their faces, they just there, they know it is a very serious situation. but you don't have a feeling. they're not expressing it at the moment is what is the best way i could

describe it? it's patrick is the separatist leader of the self declared republic? no hands can. easton ukraine. he's giving his full backing to the russian military operation. this is the moment we had been waiting for. for the past 8 years of suffering of patience, the residence of don bath have been ridiculed, to have been suffering. we recalled 2014, when the green military men killed dumbass residence because they wanted to speak the russian language. we wish to remain loyal to the soviet union, our brother and sister in the fatherland. we have a common shared great history. we have not raised the issue of succession. we have not perpetrated killing. we didn't impose ideology. we simply requested to remain loyal to our land, our home, and to remain with our fate in the russian atmosphere and to stand up to the cranium malicious by her to moscow and correspondent there in the bureau. bernard

smith, bennet so business as normal to day from his puts in, i guess he's trying to send out a very particular signal here. yes, he was trying to make it pizza. he had a meeting with the pakistani prime minister, him run con, with trembling. and the official statement from, from the meeting was that they discuss cooperation between countries, exchanged views on regional issues, including the situation and south asia, not the situation in ukraine. so fairly anodyne statement and indication vladimir putin just wants to get this wrapped indication that all is carrying on as normal. have been moved. further comments though, from the foreign ministry in the defense ministry, the defense ministry put out a statement earlier. all i'm saying they have at least 70 military targets amongst them, 11 fields. and they were keen to say the russian military spokesman,

the high precision weapons of the russian army horses, destroy only the military infrastructure. they are acute accusing. the ukrainian security services of staging scenes and ukrainian towns where the alleged victims amongst the civilians. they set the crating to trying to accuse russia indiscriminately firing with the foreign defense ministry said there is no danger of the civilian population. we are not targeting ukrainian towns, and also we quickly, we just had problem dmitri past scope, the criminal spokesman, and he was saying, russia is ready to sanctions. we know it has the cushion of some $631000000000.00 a quarter of russian economy to, to protect itself from all the sanctions that are going to be in coming pets. golf said, we're going to be impossible to shut off russia behind an eye and could burst on with reference to that in a few decades. bene,

thank you very much. ben has been there talking to us out of moscow. well, world leaders have why the condemned the russian invasion of another sovereign nation. moscow now faces another round of sanctions from western allies. and they promised to make them heard john hall had that story from london. as missiles fell on ukrainian cities. so international condemnation reign down on bloody me. putin and the russian attack. early this morning, russian troops invaded ukraine, a free and sovereign country. and once again in the center of europe, innocent women, men and children are dying of fear for their life. we condemn this barbaric attack. later on thursday, e u. lead, as we'll meet to discuss developments that they'd hoped against hope wouldn't happen. and the scale of which now none could entirely have foreseen from national capitals leader after leader promised,

a coordinated and unprecedented sanctions response aimed at president putin, the russian elite. and the sources and havens of russian wealth, hoping against hope again, that they will make a difference. us president joe biden joined a zoom meeting of g 7 leaders. in a statement earlier, the u. s. president said, russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring. and british prime minister boris johnson, said the matic niceties. aside describing vladimir putin as a dictator for all his bombs and tanks and missiles. i don't believe that the russian dictator will ever subdue the national feeling of ukrainians and that passionate belief that country should be free. but while determined efforts continue by a number of countries to supply ukraine with lethal and defensive weapons, no one is offering to stand shoulder to shoulder with give and fight. we have is it

fair that we don't have any plans? intentional, deploying nato troops to ukraine. we have made clear that we have increased and we are increasing the presence of natal troops in the eastern part of the lions on natal territory that will not be a factor in putins plans for now. and neighboring countries have other problems to consider. the polish government says 9 reception points will be opened along ukraine's board to receive unexpected wave of refugees. a country that in recent months is used for us to repel refugees from the middle east. must now brace ukrainians, fleeing war in their thousands. joan, a whole al jazeera ok, let's gauge the european reaction. dominic gains in berlin. the german chancellor sholtes were speaking a little earlier today. dom so what options does the you have now?

do we think moving forward? well the funny thing about this is that the e u leaders, who in one sense are decisive, are the french president, the german chancellor. and they've been taking part in a virtual summit of the g 7 leaders, which is broken up in the course of the last 45 minutes, 50 minutes pisa. and if you'll allow me to read the statement that they've come up where there is pretty strong in fairness, 80 points it goes to walk. jonah was just telling us in his report there about sanctions, the options that are available. and you won't be surprised to hear that they condemn the actions of russia, the invasion of, of ukraine. they express their unshakable solidarity with ukraine. then they go into detail about the sorts of things that, that they consider to be important going forward about energy stability in the world. and at the, of the availability of energy supplies being guaranteed, lack clearly as a reference to the gas markets and the oil markets. remember that gap,

that gas and oil, natural gas and oil are major cash crops as it were, revenue generators for russia. and could conceivably be targeted in sanctions and so there is reference to that in the statement that's coming from the g 7 leaders. remember that takes in the group of 7 takes in the united states, the united kingdom, france, germany, italy, japan, canada, all of them expressing solidarity. and of course it includes the e u institutions. ursula funder lion and president, shall michelle as well. interestingly, the g 7 leaders are also effectively expressing that they're very serious condemnation of the role of beulah ross. in this situation. remember, we've seen the pictures of russian armor tanks and armored personnel carriers. apparently crossing the b l a russian order into ukraine on their way to kia was the suggestion? well, the g 7 leaders talking about the situation in ukraine and belarus and condemning

the role of ukraine. now this has been dropping in the course of the last few minutes, but it's clear the g 7 leaders are trying to make very abundantly clear their position here. the japanese prime minister saying that he is looking at targeted economic sanctions against russia. that would be painful and would make the russian government realized what he considered to be the error of their actions. this doesn't necessarily mean that this exactly what's being put out here is what the e. u leaders will agree, but it is suggestive, strongly suggestive that what we'll hear from brussels in the hours to come is a variation on the theme that this statement is putting out. then remember, it's not the only meeting it's taking place in the course. the next 24 hours. we know that nature is going to have a virtual summit in brussels again to morrow, where further action may be being discussed. but pretty clear coming from the g 7

leaders, their, their real condemnation of what president putin strips are doing in ukraine and what they believe the way forward should be done. thank you very much. donna kane. there john is live here on the program as part of our continuum coverage out of berlin. other u. k is expected to announce more sanctions against russia. neve barker joins us from london. so as we were discussing a little early, a need strong words from boris johnson. talking about vladimir putin, it put in having unleashed a wave of violence in eastern ukraine. but the reality is, the posture of nato hasn't changed. there people are quotes, ready, but it's a back up support function at most. so be on sanctions or where next? yeah, that's a big question, isn't it? yeah, it is. when i was a tonight at headquarters last week ahead of, of course this invasion, it was nato's central. i identity as opposed to reiterate time and time again

that it is a defensive organization that it poses no threat to russia and i sought show russia should free becomes negotiating table with a nato lines and sit down. hope we come to a nice solutions, all of that. that clearly has no happened, but in many ways the u. k. as a nate i member, it's hands are tied when it comes to providing any more military support to ukraine . it's a very, very difficult, difficult time right to walk. because if the u. k and other nato aligns countries do 2 months, you could be drawn into a protracted conflict in a country that it has no existing treaty to defend. but if it does too little, then it could be a gift horse as opposed to, to vladimir putin. and clearly he sees the opportunity. now to launch this invasion, you're just building on water. we heard that from dawn. can berlin? i think the question now is ok, nato members rule singing from the same sheet you members will see from the haitian it same him she so is the u. k as well. what about the speed in this though?

because it can be very, very, very, very slow process. getting old to e, you 27 member states to agree to anything. we know that sanctions are on the way and many different shapes and forms. but the speed of this is going to be absolutely crucial in sending the right signal to the russians as quickly as possible. moscow can achieve an awful lot within 48 hours. we've seen over the course of the day already, a tremendous amount has happened. if the u. k, and e u and they to align stone at quickly. the situation will be incredibly complicated and sanctions will be less effective than they hope they will be if they don't act immediately need. thank you very much. the bulk of the, with the breaking done for us, what's going on in london amongst the political leaders there in the a capital. let's bring in. alexander bretzkey is a senior political analyst, 4 fine m news website. he's also a political scholar at memo, that's an international think tank. he joyce's from moscow, alexander protects get you been waiting there a long time, sir. we do appreciate you standing by to talk to was here on our continuing

coverage of what's going on in eastern ukraine question. one is stage one for vladimir putin creating some sort of rump ukraine. light buffer zone slash protectorate going from crimea across to law, hands up to door nets and encompassing the don bass region there. where all the fighting is going on in east and ukraine at the moment. that's, that's definitely may be his goal, historical and may be political as he in his address to the nation as to smell the best you can in. so the republic which was graded by the bolsheviks and bladder millennium by the actually, i don't think so. he is the politically acting will this because this will be there actually the angle, he's political regime mom. and he is now seen as sort of like a dictator sort like saddam hussein and, and even have the tech on ukraine can be seen as

a back up united states on yugoslavia in 1991, regardless of mr. malott rejections. that was an interview is into the defendant country, and buddha, who mentioned the, was lafayette was actually doing almost the same. so it looks like he is trying to use this kind of a scenario where he would pressure you've been in our forty's will fees off maybe in a to $2.00 days or 3 days because to our house that long standing war would ukraine would be actually very expensive, you would pull the russian budget. russian economy is not in good shape. you grenier, army, was going to be fighting back, and also the part is our movement. we should not take, we should take this into account. so they have, the things are very serious for lanham, couldn't right now. so, and it's very important where he would stop to pressure ukraine to negotiate or to go ferber, which i don't think so would be quite a you saying he's perceived as being a dictator in russia. i mean, i, i get it that he's perceived as being a russian dictator in ukraine. but his popularity figures are always very healthy

in russia. that's true, but for every leader you, for example, you may wait, we sometimes compare the situation to the caribbean prizes. and what you ask was also was also guilty for taking part in this crisis. nikita khrushchev who acted very bizarrely, was actually almost 2 years in power lead a one. and then he was actually taken away by the bullet bureau, who actually use schema of bowen or radical actions. and he was replaced by much more conservative and much more sober. figure like loony brash now. so it's very difficult. i don't think the people within the foods in a circle are agree. would you agree with all his actions? yes, we see people nodding in advance. we see people. yes, mister president. but it's a very difficult and very complicated situation because let's see in georgia into those and they went a different picture, georgia z. i bring them to put that on

a policy. yes, gregory a republican mr. mid it was who actually acted on his will also, but he did not teach melissa, he did not, you know, i jack, mr. the psychiatry little human jail. that was a different time. so that happened in 3 days. mr. brandt, of course, is a different figure, but the burden is very heavy. so even people within my circle who supported the independence on the republics because yes, republics were also born, but you premium site are not supporting the war. they say it should be done medically and they want to blame, you wouldn't. so there are like goodness. and there are people who are within the food and circle, but also kind of like they have different opinions. so things are very complicated in the right hand side. it's not like wire, it's not who's supporting the president? alexander, i mean, we've heard from vladimir zalinski in the last hour or so. he was as live as we call it in international television newsrooms. we played out, we went to a tape, feet of him talking to the people of ukraine,

about 445 minutes ago. now he was saying we have got russian peo, w's. we have done some of their aircraft, we will fight back, so he's clearly solid and sound in his belief in his own abilities. but when the russian army is firing, you know, we had at breakfast time this morning, your time, those reports of russian cruise missiles. and that made me sit up and listened. the idea of russia using cruise missiles, we've heard nothing else about that. in the intervening 12 hours or so, but when mister putin is firing his bullets or his soldiers of firing their bullets at ukrainians, is russia also however, firing bullets at the west at the outside world firing bullets at night. so firing bullets that all those european presidents and prime ministers who deciding what do we do off to sanctions? one which and then of course he's hiring bullets on the west. he. he hated 9 o 4 ah, 4 ah, 4 given given this expansion and i don't want to be

a devil advocate. i don't to justify the actions of my president, but he did have legitimate concerns. oh, our presence, michael gorbachev, morris equal, i would she also they all that legitimate concerns or need moving to rush and borders? and we said no that, sorry, we need to negotiate a may. i went to class seriously. that was also a waste within the russian community. but mr. boone has throw certain lines across the line. so you cross the line and become in this is a sort of a bigger like saddam hussein was for the americans. right. so it looks like he is fine, bullets through the united states and a poor things would be very high. and i don't think that the russians want to say, oh, thank you very much, mr. president or the milk goes, you know, up or i couldn't pay my salary, some of my friends, i even thinking about amy grecian right now. and they love russia. they're not somebody who's saying they would like to live in the west because for the sake of it, no, they want to leave because they don't. i agree with the policy maker and leadership, the young people. i'm an old man,

so i'm saying. but younger people have different views and they feel like for them, this is the, we're in the middle euro, right. which is, we all love russian army. it's been them. or we just celebrated the red army anniversary. and everybody are proud of the army actions, but not in this way because yes, our army is fighting, give another flag reach. so that's, that's a big reason. alexander rabinski, thank you so much for talking to was there. i suspect from what looks like a very nice and sounds like a very nice piano bar hair in moscow. a slightly unreal moments is gone on a slightly unreal day. of course, let's just play you some pictures were just receiving. now coming to us or from moscow that rather nondescript gently when you're looking at is one of the key players in the room. i don't know who he is, but he is a key player cuz he's a very wealthy guy because he is one way of russia's very many audi galks vladimir

putin, the russian president is in that chamber as well. yes, there we are. of course, since 2018. the reason he's talking to them, i guess, is that since 2018, several russian. oligarchs. and these people are not just wealthy. they are, i watering the wealthy, they would make them king solomon's miners blush. they are so wealthy, but their companies have been hit by us sanctions. it was under a thing, an umbrella piece of legislation, international education. it's called the country america's adversaries, through sanctions act because they support directly, financially, politically as well the russian government. and i quote, from the act of the russian government malign activities around the globe. all the men in that chamber that mister, put in the milling m is addressing and talking to and i guess bolstering and saying to them, look, it's going to be ok. look, the economy is going to be ok. this talk of shocking us out of the swift interview

.