NATO has announced the deployment of 'additional defensive land and air forces' to the eastern part of the bloc and an increase in the readiness of all its forces 'to respond to all contingencies,' in light of the Russian military 'operation' in Ukraine, RT reported. ....

Russia has taken out Ukraine's air defences and airforce with a series of precision attacks, the country's Defence Ministry has said in a statement, after airports and runways across the country were rocked by explosions. ....

The Central Bank of Russia suspended trading in the foreign-exchange markets on Thursday. The ruble plunged to a record low after President Vladimir Putin ordered his country's military to conduct a special operation in the Donbass region, RT reported. ....

With Russian President Valadimir Putin on Thursday announcing military operation against Ukraine, the Indian students in Ukraine have been advised not to go out of their homes and carry cash. ....

Ukraine was under siege on Thursday after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was invading in what he termed a "special military operation", sending in tanks from the northern border with Belarus in a combined Russian-Belarussian offensive, and launching attacks from the east and south, including on the capital Kiev, a Daily Mail report said. ....

Five Russian planes and one helicopter have been shot down in Ukraine's Luhansk region, the country's military claimed on Thursday. Luhansk is one of the separatist regions in Ukraine that was recognised as independent by Russia earlier this week. ....

As Russian President Vladimir Putin announced "special military operations" in Ukraine even as the UN Security Council was meeting in a late-night emergency session, India warned of a looming major crisis. ....

Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised a "special military operation" in the conflict-hit Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, a series of explosions hit Ukraine's largest airport Boryspil and several military objects in eastern and southern regions of the country on Thursday, according to Interfax-Ukraine news agency. ....

US President Joe Biden on Thursday called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin's announcement of a military operation in Ukraine as "an unprovoked and unjustified attack" and that the "world will hold Russia accountable" for the subsequent developments. ....

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a military operation in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, which the authorities in Kiev have described as a "full-scale invasion". ....