US Holocaust Memorial Museum rejects Putin's 'denazification' claims

One of the world’s most notable institutions dedicated to Holocaust studies strongly condemned what it said was an “outrageous attack on Ukraine” on Friday.

“In justifying this attack, Vladimir Putin has misrepresented and misappropriated Holocaust history by claiming falsely that democratic Ukraine needs to be ‘denazified,’” the USHMM stated.

“Equally groundless and egregious are his claims that Ukrainian authorities are committing “genocide” as a justification for the invasion of Ukraine.”

Macron: Putin was 'duplicitous'

French President Emmanuel Macron said that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was "duplicitous" in their earlier conversations following an EU summit in Brussels.

"Yes, there was duplicity, yes there was a deliberate, conscious choice to launch war when we could still negotiate peace," he said at a press conference after the EU leaders gathered to discuss further sanctions against Moscow.

Macron added that France would add its own sanctions to the bloc's package.

Also, he said that France would speed up its deployment of troops to Romania in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"France will continue to play its full role in reassuring NATO allies by sending a new contingent to Estonia as part of the reinforced forward presence, ahead of its participation in the Baltic Air Policing from March, and by also accelerating its deployment in Romania," the French president said.

Earlier on Thursday, Macron said it would be helpful to "leave the path open" to dialogue with Moscow to halt its offensive in Ukraine after having a "frank, direct, rapid exchange" with Putin.

A number of government-affiliated websites in Russia still down

An account on Twitter purportedly run by the international hacktivist collective Anonymous claimed earlier on Thursday that it launched cyber operations against Russia, taking down the English language website of the state-controlled broadcaster RT.

Several government websites are also inaccessible, including those of the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defence, also purportedly taken down by the hacker group. 

The account claimed it also knocked down Russian internet service providers Com2Com, PTT-Teleport Moscow, RELCOM, and Sovam Teleport.

"We, as a collective want only peace in the world. We want a future for all of humanity. So, while people around the globe smash your internet providers to bits, understand that it's entirely directed at the actions of the Russian government and Putin," the account followed by 6.5 million users tweeted in a statement explaining the hackers' actions.

Ukrainian authorities: Russian forces took Chernobyl staff hostage

The employees at the shuttered Chernobyl nuclear plant have been taken hostage by Russian troops, Ukrainian officials said on Friday.

Alyona Shevtsova, an adviser to the commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces, wrote on Facebook that the staff at the Chernobyl plant had been “taken hostage” when Russian troops seized the facility.

The White House expressed outrage, with press secretary Jen Psaki saying on Friday that “we condemn it and we request their release”.

Psaki said the US has no assessment on the state of the plant where radioactivity is still leaking decades after the worst nuclear disaster in history.

She said that hostage-taking could hamper efforts to maintain the nuclear facility and is “incredibly alarming and greatly concerning”.

The radioactive levels near the reactor have risen sharply, data from a network of automatic measuring stations in Ukraine showed.

Western military sources: Russian military gains 'total air superiority,' closes in on Kyiv

The Russian army, which has "total air superiority" in Ukraine, was closing in on Kyiv on Thursday with the intention of "decapitating the Ukrainian government and installing a Moscow-friendly government in its place," according to Western military sources.

After firing more than 160 missiles at Ukrainian military targets, Russian forces from Belarus moved rapidly south and "closed in on Kyiv" during the day, a senior Pentagon official said.

"We believe that basically they intend to decapitate the government and install their own method of governance, which would explain this initial advance towards Kyiv," he added.

According to a senior Western intelligence official, "Ukraine's air defences are now eliminated and they have no air force to protect themselves".

Russia now has "total air superiority" in Ukraine, the source told AFP. 

"The Russians will seek in the next few hours to amass an overwhelming force around the capital, and the defence now falls to the ground forces and the popular resistance," the official said.

Ukraine hit by more cyberattacks

Cyberattacks against Ukrainian government websites and affiliated organisations added to the confusion of Russia’s military assault Thursday, including data-wiping malware activated a day earlier that cybersecurity researchers said infected hundreds of computers, including in neighbouring Latvia and Lithuania.

Researchers said the malware attack had apparently been in preparation for as much as three months.

A distributed-denial-of-service or DDoS attack began last week and temporarily knocked government websites offline Wednesday continued, and there were sporadic internet outages across the country, AP reported.

However, measures to blunt the DDoS attacks were having some success as major government websites, including those of the defence and interior ministries and the banking sites of Sberbank and Alfabank, were reachable Thursday despite the onslaught. 

Western governments quickly blamed the denial-of-service attacks on Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency after they began last week. Such attacks render websites unreachable by flooding them with junk data.

Additionally, Ukraine’s cybersecurity agency said cellular networks were saturated with voice calls, suggesting that people unable to complete them use SMS messaging.

"All those who can, flee abroad," said Krisztian Szavla, one of the first Ukrainians to cross the Hungarian border to escape the bombing and fighting after Russia's invasion of their country.

The 28-year-old marketing specialist from the western region of Transcarpathia, arrived in the border town of Zahony. With some hastily packed luggage, he took to the road with his wife and little daughter as soon as he learned that Vladimir Putin's army had launched a massive attack on Ukraine. 

"We don't want to experience what our friends and compatriots are going through in the east of the country, waking up to the sounds of sirens, with each Russian bombardment", confided another man, Krisztian Szavla. "I refuse to let my child grow up without a father," he adds, explaining that he did not want to be enlisted in the army.

Hungarian police reported long queues of vehicles waiting to enter the country at five crossing points along the 140 km border with Ukraine.

Some of the first refugees from Ukraine have also arrived in Poland on Thursday after travelling by road and rail, and said they were fleeing war.

A scheduled train from Kharkiv, east Ukraine, with a few hundred passengers on board arrived in the afternoon in the Polish town of Przemysl, near the Ukrainian border. Poland's border guards were on the platform to help the new arrivals.

A border guard official said there was a visible increase in number of people wanting to cross into Poland through road crossings. The authorities say Poland has prepared at least eight centres with food, medical care and places to rest.

European Union agrees to hit Russia with sanctions

European Union leaders have agreed to impose sanctions against Russia that will have “massive and severe consequences.”

During an emergency summit Thursday to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, the 27 member countries' leaders approved punitive measures against Russia’s financial, energy and transport sectors and restrictions on exports and financing. They also added more Russian individuals to its earlier sanctions list.

The sanctions must still be legally approved and published before they become effective.

The EU leaders say they also want to draw up sanctions against Belarus because of its close links to Russia.

Scholz vows 'Putin will not win' in Ukraine

Canada announces further sanctions

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he spoke with President Zelenskyy and says Canada is imposing more severe sanctions.

The sanctions will target 58 people and entities connected to Russia, including members of that country’s elite and their families, the paramilitary organization known as the Wagner Group and major Russian banks.

The measures, announced Thursday after Trudeau attended a virtual G-7 meeting, will also affect members of the Russian Security Council, including key cabinet ministers.

Canada is also cancelling existing export permits for Russia and will not issue new ones.

Trudeau also says the federal government will be prioritizing immigration applications for Ukrainians who want to come to Canada and is launching a dedicated telephone line for anyone who has any urgent questions about immigrating from Ukraine.

Officials say Ukraine no longer in control of Chernobyl site

A presidential adviser says Ukraine lost control of the Chernobyl nuclear site, where Ukranian forces had waged a fierce battle with Russian troops.

Adviser Myhailo Podolyak told The Associated Press that Ukrainian authorities did not know the current condition of the facilities at Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster.

“After the absolutely senseless attack of the Russians in this direction, it is impossible to say that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had announced several hours earlier Thursday that Russian forces were trying to seize the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

A nuclear reactor at the plant 130 kilometres north of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, exploded in April 1986, sending a radioactive cloud across Europe.

The exploded reactor was covered by a protective shelter several years ago to prevent radiation leaks.

A Ukrainian official said Russian shelling hit a radioactive waste repository and an increase in radiation levels was reported.

The plan's remaining reactors had been shut down and were in the process of decommissioning.

UK to ban Aeroflot and freeze Russian bank assets

The Slovak government has authorised the deployment of up to 1,500 soldiers to help guard the border with Ukraine following Russia’s attack on Slovakia's eastern neighbour. The defence ministry says they'll be used if there is a massive wave of refugees.

The government said Slovakia is also ready to open more border crossings with Ukraine if needed.

Slovania last week lifted all coronavirus restrictions for potential refugees coming from Ukraine in the case of a Russian invasion.

The interior ministry in Moldova, which shares a long border with Ukraine, says the country has set up two temporary centres to manage an influx of refugees.

The ministry said the centres, in Palanca and Ocnita in northern Moldova, are meant to “provide basic humanitarian, legal and food assistance to immigrants” for a period of 72 hours.

It said that the border has “been crossed by 6,937 people, of which 3,000 are Ukrainian citizens,” but didn't specify over what period.

The ministry said that medical staff and social workers will be available to assist refugees, and that the country’s immigration office is ready to handle any asylum applications.

Ukraine’s cybersecurity service has reported continuing cyberattacks and said cellular networks were saturated with voice calls, suggesting people used text-messaging.

A distributed-denial-of-service attack that knocked some government websites offline Wednesday continued and there were sporadic internet outages across the country, said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis for the U.S. network management firm Kentik Inc.

Measures to blunt the attacks were having some success, however, as major government websites including the defense and interior ministries were reachable Thursday.

Madory said Ukraine’s internet was “under severe stress presently.” Some cybersecurity experts said prior to the invasion that it might be in the Kremlin’s intelligence -- and information war -- interests not to try to take down Ukraine’s internet during a military attack.

Ukraine’s cybersecurity service published a list on its Telegram channel of known “active disinformation” channels to avoid.

Ukraine’s military chief says Ukrainian troops are fighting the Russian army in in the north and the south.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi said a battle was raging Thursday near the Hostomel air base 7 kilometres northwest of the capital, Kyiv. The fighting there is closest to the capital on the first day of the Russian invasion.

Olexandre Kovtonenko, a 30-year-old civilian living nearby, said two fighter jets fired missiles at Ukrainian ground units at the start of the assault. "Then there was shooting, it lasted three hours," he told AFP. "Then three more planes came in and they started shooting again."

The army chief said that in the south, fighting was also going on near Henichesk, Skadovsk and Chaplynka near Crimea.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian forces are trying to seize the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

The plant was the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident when a nuclear reactor exploded in April 1986, spewing radioactive waste across Europe. The plant lies 130 kilometres north of the capital of Kyiv.

The exploded reactor has been covered by a protective shelter to prevent radiation leak and the entire plant has been decommissioned.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says that “Russia’s key goal is clear: to oust the Ukrainian leadership and stir up as much panic as possible.” He added that the Russians “want to cut off part of the country and they moving in in big convoys.... We are seeing attempts to estabilize the situation in big cities, including Kyiv and Kharkiv.”

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has expanded its recommendations following the Russian attack on Ukraine to warn operators against flying over Moldova and Belarus and “exercise caution” over large parts of Russia.

EASA already had warned of high risks to civilian aircraft over Ukraine early Thursday morning. In an update, it cited a notice issued by Moldova closing its airspace for all flights due to the Ukrainian crisis.

It pointed to “a risk of both intentional targeting and misidentification of civil aircraft.”

It said that operators also should “exercise caution” when operated in airspace controlled by Moscow and Rostov-on-Don in Russia “due to heightened military activity which may include launches of mid-range missiles penetrating into controlled airspace.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry says the Russian military has destroyed 74 Ukrainian military facilities, including 11 air bases.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered that Ukrainian servicemen be treated “with respect” and those who lay down their weapons offered safe corridors.

The ministry confirmed the loss of a Su-25 attack jet due to “pilor error”.

The head of the UN refugee agency has warned of “devastating consequences” of Russia’s military action in Ukraine and calling on neighbouring countries to keep their borders open for people fleeing the fighting.

Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, pointed to “reports of casualties and people starting to flee their homes to seek safety” without elaborating.

He said in a statement that UNHCR had stepped up its operations and capacity in Ukraine and its neighbouring countries, without providing details.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine and for the first time laid responsibility directly on Moscow for the tensions and violence in Hungary's eastern neighbour.

“Together with our European Union and NATO allies, we condemn Russia’s military action,” Orban said in a video on Facebook.

A member of the European Union and NATO that borders Ukraine, Hungary under Orban has pursued close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a point of concern for many of Hungary’s western partners.

While Hungary’s government has urged a peaceful resolution to the conflict through diplomacy, high-ranking officials until now avoided condemning Russia’s actions directly.

Orban said Thursday that the number of Ukrainian refugees approaching Hungary’s borders was likely to grow. He said Hungary is “prepared to care for them and will be able to meet this challenge quickly and effectively.”

Ukrainians 'paying price' of Europe inaction: Analyst

Czech president says Russia invasion is 'a crime against peace'

Czech President Milos Zeman, who has been a leading pro-Russian voice among European Union leaders, has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “an unprovoked act of aggression.”

Zeman said in an address to the nation that “Russia has committed a crime against peace.”

A week ago, Zeman said that warnings of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine were a failure by CIA. He said repeatedly he didn’t believe Russian wanted to attack Ukraine.

“I admit I was wrong,” Zeman said Thursday. “An irrational decision by the leadership of the Russian Federation will cause significant damages to the Russian state.”

He called for harder sanctions against Russia, declaring that “it’s necessary to isolate a lunatic and not just to defend ourselves by words but also by deeds.”

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said that Russia “chose the reprehensible and completely illegal path of massive armed violence against an independent and sovereign state.”

Iohannis said that Romania, a country of about 19.5 million people, is ready to deal with economic and humanitarian consequences that the conflict could generate.

He stressed that Romania will not be drawn into the military conflict in Ukraine and said Romanian authorities will take “absolutely all the necessary measures” to ensure the safety of the country’s citizens.

European stock markets collapsed at the opening: -4.19% in Paris, -4.39% in Frankfurt, -2.55% in London.

Meanwhile, oil prices surged by nearly $6 per barrel Thursday.

Market benchmarks tumbled in Europe and Asia and US futures were sharply lower. Brent crude oil jumped to over $100 per barrel on unease about possible disruption of Russian supplies. The price of US benchmark crude briefly surpassed $98 per barrel.

The ruble sank 7.5% to more than $87 to the US dollar.

Russian tanks moving across Crimea: Ukraine Interior Ministry

UK PM 'appalled' by Russian attack in eastern Ukraine

G7 leaders to meet: Biden