this is bbc news. i'm victoria fritz with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. reports of explosions in the ukrainian capital as vladimir putin announces a special military operation in ukraine. translation: whoever tries to interfere with us or threaten our country should know that russia's response will be immediate and delayed such consequences that have never been experienced in history. the united nations security council holds an emergency meeting on the crisis with the secretary general making a direct plea to the russian leader. in the name of humanity, do not allow to start in europe what

could be the worst war since the beginning of the century. ukraine's ambassador to the united nations implores the security council to do everything possible to stop a war. it is too late, my dear colleagues, to speak about the escalation. too late. the russian president declared the war. the escalation comes as ukraine's president, volodymyr zelenskyy, makes a desperate appeal to the people of russia to prevent a full—scale war. translation: it must be stepped- _ translation: it must be stepped- it _ translation: it must be stopped. it is _ translation: it must be stopped. it is not - translation: it must be stopped. it is not too - translation: it must be| stopped. it is not too late, and if the leadership of russia doesn't want to sit at a table with us for the sake of peace, maybe it will sit at the table with you. maybe it will sit at the table with ou. maybe it will sit at the table with vow— maybe it will sit at the table with ou. . ~ a ., with you. the market reaction is immediate. _ oil prices rise: brent crude hits $100 a barrel for the first time in more than seven years

while stock markets slide. after months of preparations, the russian president, vladimir putin, has launched a major military operation against ukraine. speaking on national television, mr putin urged ukrainian troops to lay down their arms and go home. he warned that anyone who interfered in russia's actions would face retaliation. loud explosions have been heard in kyiv and other ukrainian cities as the russian assault began. president biden has said the world will hold russia accountable for its aggression. nato has condemned what it called a reckless and unprovoked attack. our correspondent james waterhouse is in kyiv.

james, explosions already being heard? , ., �* , ~ heard? yes, that's right. we have heard _ heard? yes, that's right. we have heard five _ heard? yes, that's right. we have heard five or— heard? yes, that's right. we have heard five or six, - have heard five or six, probably up to eight novels very explosions out of view that resemble a faint thunderclap, if you like. we have had a statement from the russian minister of defence. they claim they are not attacking cities with rockets or artillery. they describe high precision weapons they are using to target military infrastructure in ukraine, aviation and air defences, specifically the ministry says the civil population is not at risk. many here i don't think we'll be believing that this morning, orfinding them very hard when you are waking up to the sound of explosions. it happened at around 5am. we are fairly central and those sounds of explosions happened right across the horizon, so if stretching from the commercial part of the city to my left

right across the river and over the past saint michael's cathedral to my right. so that sounded quite large—scale, and then we have reports this morning from some colleagues to the east, they heard a loud explosion there, and a government official has told the bbc that troops have been crossing into odessa, to the south, very close to the russian border, as well as in the city of kharkiv to the north—east, which is 25 miles from the russian border, as well as troop movement in the south—west of russia. so the reports and signs this morning are that this is a large—scale escalation of this crisis where we first saw russian troops building up last april. the focal point for the last couple of days certainly has been increased infighting in rebel—held territories in the donbass region to the east, 400

miles away. president putin gave an order to move troops in after officially recognising it. it is not... the big question is whether he will push further. he said he recognised the whole of the area... ,, ~ ~ ,, recognised the whole of the area. . ._ we i recognised the whole of the i area. . ._ we have area... siren wails. we have not heard _ area... siren wails. we have not heard a — area... siren wails. we have not heard a siren. _ area... siren wails. we have not heard a siren. the - area... siren wails. we have not heard a siren. the cobbledi not heard a siren. the cobbled streets that wave through in front of the michael square, they are quieter than normal. the air raid shelters they go to, they include underground bars and restaurants... siren wails. bars and restaurants... siren wails- is _ bars and restaurants... siren wails- is a — bars and restaurants... siren wails. is a very _ bars and restaurants... siren wails. is a very worrying - wails. is a very worrying morning _ wails. is a very worrying morning for— wails. is a very worrying morning for people - wails. is a very worrying morning for people in - wails. is a very worrying | morning for people in the capital city, and we are... this is what the fear had been all along, this is what the fear had been allalong, notjust this is what the fear had been all along, notjust when the troops, these russian troops started to build up from last

april, but for the eight years of russian aggression that has been sustained by moscow since the last russian leaning president was toppled in a revolution just to my left on independence square down there, which right now, i can barely see anyone there. there is no traffic i can see, and there is certainly no—one walking through it. this is a very, very worrying time, and an escalation that is taking real form here in the capital city. can i ask you this, are you happy to stay on with us now that the sirens are blaring in the city? siren wails. yes, i am. the city? siren wails. yes, | am- 0k- _ the city? siren wails. yes, i am. ok. this — the city? siren wails. yes, i am. ok. this is _ the city? siren wails. yes, i am. ok. this is the _ the city? siren wails. yes, i am. ok. this is the first - the city? siren wails. yes, i am. ok. this is the first time | am. ok. this is the first time thou:h am. ok. this is the first time though sirens _ am. ok. this is the first time though sirens have _ am. ok. this is the first time though sirens have gone - am. ok. this is the first time though sirens have gone off. though sirens have gone off in the city. how prepared is the city for a chat?— city for a chat? let's start with the _ city for a chat? let's start with the military - city for a chat? let's start with the military answer l city for a chat? let's start | with the military answer to that question. ukraine has said

that question. ukraine has said that it has had a force of 200,000, it is a much stronger armed forces than it was eight years ago, billions of dollars of funding and training, and the message has been we will fight in the event of an escalation. the sound of a siren echoing through this historic city will cause a lot of concern. even ukrainians who live here in the capital city have made very crude plans. you speak to people and they say, we will fight, but they concede they don't know what that means. now we have the russian military defence saying it is targeting specific military sites, and then president putin adding the people of ukraine will be free to choose who they want to run the country. that will be causing real worry, and, yes, ukrainians are used to living under this tension,

this unpredictability impose on them by their much better — much bigger. but when you hear the faint sounds of sales landing, government official saying that is happening in the capital and other locations in the country, that will cause a lot of worry, and those anxieties are now fixating, no longer the what is, because thatis longer the what is, because that is now happening. the president. _ that is now happening. the president, volodymyr zelenskyy, is now calling our national security and the defence counsel to declare martial law. that council is now expected to hold an urgent meeting. did the president expect a full on assault on his country? i think it was a worry. _ assault on his country? i think it was a worry. i _ assault on his country? i think it was a worry. i think - assault on his country? i think it was a worry. i think the - it was a worry. i think the past few months, the narratives have been very different. you have been very different. you have had a growing urgency from the west in terms of the

forecast they gave, have heard more world leaders even predict certain days of invasion. the president and his officials have said two things. don't worry, it is that plays into russia by the mccanns, and have also had no intelligence we have seen suggests that a large gal invasion is imminent. that has been a source of frustration for many. who are we supposed to believe? you tell us to stay calm, but then the rest of the world are saying something much more serious is happening. so yesterday we saw very much a change of tone. a state of emergency being declared. more than 30,000 reservists being conscripted, being called in, made tojoin the conscripted, being called in, made to join the armed forces. the defence minister addressed troops and said there will be losses and ordeals ahead. not language you use if you are hoping for a diplomatic outcome to this crisis. so i think we are now starting to see

emerging — like a merging of language, and the question is now... if they do what they say, they will defend themselves, there are questions in the east, there is troop movements, reported troop movements by russia in the south—west. this is something large—scale, and it will be only ukraine to defend itself because not one nato birdwell set foot on ukrainian soil as things stand —— nato boot will set four. this is russia making it, expressing yourself in its own unique way that he does not want, it was taken off the table, it was the alliance to push right back. you have this globalface—off push right back. you have this global face—off between the world bozovic superpowers and ukraine —— world's superpowers and cities at the heart of it. james waterhouse, for now, thank you. let's cross now to our moscow respondent caroline

davies who is in rostov—on—don. thank you very much forjoining me. the russian president, vladimir putin, announcing what he is describing as a military operation in the donbass region. are we witnessing the start of world war three? victoria, at this stage there are many fears this is the start of war in europe. this morning just before 6am, we had an address from president putin where he talked about the fact he was starting with military offensive. this came after last night, there were letters published from the separatist leaders saying that they wanted to have a assistance from president putin against what they referred to as ukrainian aggression. throughout all of this there, ukraine has consistently denied it has any aggression or intention of trying to take over these separatist held areas, and of course it has been russia that has had a troop build—up on ukraine's orders of an

estimated 190,000 troops, so of course again, this assessment by the kremlin is seen very muchjust a false by the kremlin is seen very much just a false flag attack on the situation, what is happening here. in terms of what happened next, we know president putin previously said that he hadn't sent troops yet into this region, that he was waiting on developments and seeing what was needed by separatist leaders. when this announcement was made last night, those very real concern that this was the start of something more, and in that confirmation by president putin just before six o'clock, and in terms of some of his words, i can read some of what he said. either that or responsibility for bloodshed will be on the conscience of ruling regime in ukraine, and he repeated again the position that nato expansion to be included in ukraine was unacceptable and said russia had been left with no choice but to defend itself against what it said were threats emanating from ukraine. of course the rest of the world would strongly disagree... that

was caroline — would strongly disagree... that was caroline davies _ would strongly disagree... that was caroline davies in - was caroline davies in rostov—on—don explaining some of the things that seem to be behind this russian aggression towards ukraine. first, this idea, the allegations from moscow that the government in kyiv is committing genocide against ethnic russians in separatist areas. that has been strongly denied by ukraine. although of course nato expansion as well, something that has come up time and time again in the weeks in the run up again in the weeks in the run up to today. vladimir putin announcing now a military operation in the donbass region, urging soldiers in eastern ukraine to lay down weapons and return to their homes. it has of course been response from around the world, including the united states, the us presidentjoe biden

vowing that the world will hold russia accountable, predicting major loss of life. president biden will be addressing americans on thursday today about the consequences he says that russia will face. russia, just a bit of breaking news, russia's defence ministry has denied attacking ukrainian cities, saying it is targeting military infrastructure, air defence and air forces with high precision weapons stoppages according to the country's state agency, citing the ministry. let's cross now to steve rosenberg. actually. we have david willis here. david, we had the statement from president biden and he said the world is praying for ukraine, while

president putin praise on ukraine. president putin praise on ukraine-— president putin praise on ukraine. , ., ukraine. yes, indeed and the liuhts ukraine. yes, indeed and the lights are _ ukraine. yes, indeed and the lights are still— ukraine. yes, indeed and the lights are still on _ ukraine. yes, indeed and the lights are still on my - ukraine. yes, indeed and the lights are still on my after . lights are still on my after midnight in the building behind me. president biden has been read by members of his security team including the defence secretary and the secretary of state. he issued that statement, as you mentioned, decrying the attack, calling it unprovoked and unjustified and accused vladimir putin of carrying out a premeditated wall that would lead to a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. mr biden has also been speaking in the last few minutes to the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelensky, and we have been handed a statement in regard to that phone call. open volodymyr zelensky quote reached out to me tonight and we have just finished speaking. i briefed him on the steps that we are

taking to rally international condemnation including tonight at the united nations security council and he asked me to call on the leaders of the world to speak out clearly against president putin's fragrant aggression and to stand with the people of ukraine. tomorrow president biden will be meeting with the leaders of the g7 and is due to announce a new package of economic sanctions against russia in a televised news briefing. condemnations have been widespread across the board, suddenly when it came to the security council meeting. we had a statement from many a country however there has been widespread criticism of the western response to the aggression in ukraine, that sanctions have been cautious, narrowly targeted thus far. are we likely to see a big ramping

up we likely to see a big ramping up of that in terms of response from the united states in particular?— particular? i think we are going to see _ particular? i think we are going to see a _ particular? i think we are going to see a big - particular? i think we are i going to see a big ramping particular? i think we are - going to see a big ramping up of that. white house officials have talked about creeping economic sanctions against russia, were it to launch this sort of invasion we are seeing tonight. one of the problems with this has been uniting the european allies, getting everybody on board and the white house and pentagon officials have hailed their success in doing that as one of their primary achievements throughout the buildup to this crisis. chief, of course, has been getting germany on board and it announced yesterday that it is halting approval of the nord stream to pipeline, a key pipeline linking russia with germany and potentially a cash cow for moscow. —— two. today

we heard of sanctions that were being levelled by the us against a company who are constructing that pipeline which has been completed but not switched on and against two russian banks. i think tomorrow we will hear another package of economic sanctions, unleashed by the us and its european allies, possibly targeting other banks, possibly targeting vladimir putin himself and banning some us and european exports to russia but this is something that the united states is heralding as a sign of cooperation among the western allies, as something that it believes vladimir putin was not expecting when he started with this aggression. david willis, thank you, from washington. we can now cross to

our moscow corresponded. steve rosenberg, we heard from russia defence ministry denying attacking creating cities, saying it is targeting military infrastructure, and defence and air forces with high infrastructure, and defence and airforces with high precision weapons. do you believe that? well, that is what the russian defence ministry is saying at the moment. going back to the vladimir putin's speech, extraordinary televised address earlier. forweeks extraordinary televised address earlier. for weeks the whole world has been asking the question, is all the muscle flexing, the sabre rattling that we have been seeing from moscow ukraine's border simply got designed to force concessions from ukraine and from america, from nato. well, today we basically got an

answer with russia lodging what it says is a special military opposition. in that speech, vladimir putin on television, we saw the russian president trying to justify his actions, justifying it by saying this is all about russian self defence and claim that russia was being threatened by the situation in ukraine. he said that the best had died ukraine into a hostile, anti— russia and was a pumping ukraine full of modern weapons and he issued this rather chilling warning to any country who may have an idea to intervene in what is happening right now, he said, "russia's response would be immediate and lead to consequences you have never seen in your history. let them subtle hint to other countries to not stop them doing what we're doing now. there is an ideological issue at play here, in terms of justification as well.

president putin is very keen on and forced unity, rewriting essentially history, saying ukraine is essentially an entirely created by russia. —— and entirely. he is notjust trying to bring the clock back to a soviet communism but actually to a sort of imperial russia here? if actually to a sort of imperial russia here?— russia here? if you look at vladimir — russia here? if you look at vladimir putin's _ russia here? if you look at | vladimir putin's statements russia here? if you look at - vladimir putin's statements and speeches and tv addresses over the last few days, months even, there is an opportunity to get inside his mind and you can see that he does not believe that modern ukraine is a sovereign nation. he sees it as a territory, historically linked to russia and that came out in his televised address today and he believes, i think, that this territory should be back in moscow's orbit. interestingly, i was talking to one medical

expert yesterday who described that an important is more ayatollah ali khamenei than former kgb. —— political expert. driven by this idea that ukraine should return to moscow's orbit and what we are seeing now is a major step towards that. seeing now is a ma'or step towards thath seeing now is a ma'or step towards that. ~ . . ~ ., , towards that. what backing does he have with _ towards that. what backing does he have with this _ towards that. what backing does he have with this action - towards that. what backing does he have with this action from - he have with this action from his own people? in it is an interesting question. personable opinion polls in russia suggest people are frightened of a major war. about 50% of russians believe there is a possibility of a major war breaking out here, not only with ukraine but with the west as well. a lot of people watch state television and the message on state television is that this is the fault of the west, not russia's vault and the authorities in kyiv and many people who watch

television believe that. people who do not watch state tv and do not get information from state—controlled media have a different opinion, people who read on the internet and find other sources of information. but the anti—western, anti— ukrainian rhetoric will be ratcheting up, going off the scale in russian media to convince the public that this special military operation, as the kremlin is calling it, is in the interests of the russian people. in the interests of the russian eo - le. ., . in the interests of the russian --eole. ., . ., . people. how much economic pain do ou people. how much economic pain do you think _ people. how much economic pain do you think russia _ people. how much economic pain do you think russia can _ people. how much economic pain do you think russia can absorb? l do you think russia can absorb? it seems here that in terms of the response from the west, in terms of sanctions, it is a if you take ukraine, there will be paid but if you're willing to take the pain, what exactly is going to stop vladimir putin and this offensive? that going to stop vladimir putin and this offensive?- going to stop vladimir putin and this offensive? that is an interesting — and this offensive? that is an interesting question. - and this offensive? that is an interesting question. of - interesting question. of course, the kremlin would have

done these calculation is, no doubt. vladimir putin would have sat down with his paper and pencil and it worked out what the economic financial consequences would be of his actions and it appears that he has come to the conclusion that it is worth going ahead with his military plans, in otherwise, as far as he is concerned, the geopolitical benefit of what he's doing outweigh the economic losses and there will be financial pain here. the russian ruble has been going down, the moscow stock exchange has collapsed, trading has been halted in the stock exchange today. inevitably there will be economic pain for russia and more western sanctions but, when you speak to russian officials, we talked about sanctions at the ministry and asked whether they were worried and the answer came back, no, the russian say the west has

been pulling sanctions for several years and you will continue to do so ukraine or no ukraine crisis. russia continue to brush aside the threat of sanctions but of course this country is preparing for economic consequences of what is happening now. i economic consequences of what is happening now.— is happening now. i 'ust want to brin: is happening now. i 'ust want to bring us h is happening now. i 'ust want to bring us back _ is happening now. i 'ust want to bring us back to h is happening now. ijust want to bring us back to what - is happening now. ijust want to bring us back to what you | to bring us back to what you said, you described it as chilling, these comments from vladimir putin saying that anyone who essentially got in the way of this action would face retaliation. what do you believe that to be?— believe that to be? well, vladimir _ believe that to be? well, vladimir putin _ believe that to be? well, vladimir putin does - believe that to be? well, vladimir putin does not l believe that to be? well, i vladimir putin does not hide the fact that russia has modern weapons. he is constantly talking about russia's dilatory arsenal, the new hypersonic missiles that the russians have developed. —— military.

claiming that the russian army is one of the strongest armies in the world, constantly sending out the message that if anyone should get in his way, if anyone should attack his country, then russia would respond in a necessary way so he added in that speech today, i hope my message, my words have been heard. we know that president biden has said he does not want to go to war with russia. america, nato have no intentions of putting boots on the ground in ukraine because they do not want this situation to spend even more out of control and become a world war. russia has now lodged effectively a full—scale invasion of ukraine. vladimir putin demanding that care have laid down their arms and warning that foreign powers should not intervene. —— kyiv

should not intervene. —— kyiv should lay down their arms. how likely is it that people care will not retaliate? likely is it that people care will not retaliate ?- likely is it that people care will not retaliate? over the last few weeks _ will not retaliate? over the last few weeks we - will not retaliate? over the last few weeks we have - will not retaliate? over the | last few weeks we have had messages of defined from people in ukraine, from people, from officials, from the government, saying that if there was a full—scale invasion of their country, that they would not simply giving, they would not lay down their arms but fight. ukraine army is considerably stronger now than it was back in 2014 when moscow annexed the acromion peninsula and first intervene militarily. —— crimea. again, iwould imagine the russian military, the kremlin would have taken this into their calculations. we still do not know right now how far vladimir putin will go. he's talking about this special military operation, about protecting the russian speakers

in the donbass but things are happening across ukraine and we do not know still but his final objective is stop we do not know what his final objective is but if he were to assume at this early stage that he would be successful at least in some parts of ukraine.— parts of ukraine. perhaps all of ukraine. _ parts of ukraine. perhaps all of ukraine. in _ parts of ukraine. perhaps all of ukraine. in essentially - of ukraine. in essentially taking control of the country. where does that leave things diplomatically and geopolitically in terms of europe? geopolitically in terms of euro e? ~ geopolitically in terms of euroe? ~ , ., ., europe? well, diplomacy, what diplomacy? _ europe? well, diplomacy, what diplomacy? for— europe? well, diplomacy, what diplomacy? for weeks - europe? well, diplomacy, what diplomacy? for weeks now- europe? well, diplomacy, what diplomacy? for weeks now we | diplomacy? for weeks now we have seen world leaders, foreign ministers, defence ministers, coming to moscow, talking to vladimir putin, to the russian foreign minister and defence minister, encouraging moscow, imploring moscow to ease tensions, to

move russian troops away from the border with ukraine and that has come to nothing, to absolute nothing so at the moment diplomacy is off the table. but opponent would say, well, the west has not agreed to our proposals, it is the fault of the west that diplomacy has failed but of course ukraine and western leaders would say, looking at the situation now, they would conclude vladimir putin had no intention, really, ofa diplomatic solution and had been planning a military operation for months now they have been reports of a russian military buildup near the border with ukraine. we know about the russian troops who are currently in belarus, between 10000 and 30,000 troops there for military exercises and have not gone home at the end of those exercises so the suspicion has been an western

leaders have openly been saying for some time now that the kremlin has been planning an invasion of ukraine, something that russian officials and the russian state media have been dismissing, mocking even, the west for making such assertions but we see the military operation that russia has launched. policy is off the table at the moment. steve rosenberg _ table at the moment. steve rosenberg in _ table at the moment. steve rosenberg in moscow. - table at the moment. steve l rosenberg in moscow. thank table at the moment. steve - rosenberg in moscow. thank you. let's cross back to james waterhouse for what is happening in the capital. last time we spoke to you, the air sirens were going for the very first time in the city. we now understand that police cars are driving around using loudspeakers to tell people to get off the sidewalks and into shelter. our people heating their words and going home? from our vantage point, we are quite central in the city. it seems to be very quiet. you

have signature cobbled streets