Explosions and air raid sirens heard in Ukraine as Russia launches attacks | DW News

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says Russia has launched a "full-scale invasion of Ukraine." President Vladimir Putin earlier said Russia was to conduct a "military operation.

One person is reported to have been killed and another wounded in the city of Brovary in the Kyiv region, according to a Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser. Reports of shelling are coming in from cities across the country. "Intense" shelling was first reported in eastern Ukraine, however, Ukraine's emergency service has said that the Lviv region in western Ukraine is also witnessing shelling. Ukraine is being shelled along its northern border with Russia and Belarus, the border guard service said. It said in a statement that the artillery fire was being returned by Ukrainian forces. Border guards said Russian forces were supported by Belarus and that an attack had been launched from Crimea, the Russian-occupied peninsula region on Ukraine's southern flank. "Attacks on border units, border detachments and checkpoints are carried out with the use of artillery, heavy equipment and small arms," the border guards' statement said.

Russian news agencies have quoted officials saying that Ukraine's air defenses have been "neutralized." "Military infrastructure at Ukrainian army air bases has been rendered out of action," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement quoted by the country's news agencies. The statement added that Kyiv's air defense systems were "destroyed." Ukraine's military claimed to have downed five Russian jets and a helicopter in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denied its aircraft were shot down.