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NEWS ALERT
'Extremely Dangerous Moment in World History': Russia Invades Ukraine

"It will cause, if it doesn't stop, a level of suffering Europe has not
known since, at least, the Balkan crisis," warned the head of the United
Nations.

JAKE JOHNSON, STAFF WRITER

**Russia launched a far-reaching** military attack on Ukraine on
Thursday, invading the country through multiple border sites and bombing
more than a dozen cities as civilians attempted to flee their homes in
panic.

One Ukrainian official reported

that "hundreds" have likely been killed thus far as explosions and
artillery fire were heard throughout the country, including in the
capital Kyiv. Ukraine's military said it shot down six Russian warplanes
and one helicopter, but Russia denied that any of its aircraft were
struck.

"We will defend ourselves," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said
in a speech ahead of the invasion. Zelensky has since imposed

martial law, noting that Russia "conducted strikes on our military
infrastructure and our border guards."

Russia's assault-which came after months of troop build-ups along the
Ukrainian border-drew widespread international condemnation, with
world leaders and humanitarian groups denouncing the invasion as an
illegal act of aggression and demanding an immediate withdrawal of
Russian forces.

"In the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia," United
Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said
Thursday in a direct appeal to
Russian President Vladimir Putin. "In the name of humanity, do not allow
to start in Europe what could be the worst war since the beginning of
the [20th] Century."

"It violates the principles of the [U.N.] Charter," Guterres added. "And
it will cause, if it doesn't stop, a level of suffering Europe has not
known since, at least, the Balkan crisis."

"At this extremely dangerous moment in world history, diplomacy-not
warfare -remains the only hope."

The West is expected to respond to Russia's attack on Ukraine with major
sanctions on top of the punitive measures imposed in the wake of Putin's
deployment of forces into breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine earlier
this week.

"President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a
catastrophic loss of life and human suffering," U.S. President Joe Biden
said

in a statement. "Russia alone is responsible for the death and
destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies
and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will
hold Russia accountable."

The Spanish government also released a statement calling for "an
immediate cease to hostilities before the number of victims rises, and
for the return of troops to the internationally recognized Russian
Federation territory."

In a televised speech before publicly authorizing the invasion-which
he described as a "special military operation"-Putin delivered a sharp
warning to the West and NATO.
"Whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country
and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate
and lead to the consequences you have never seen in history," said
Putin, who has cited Ukraine's ambition to join NATO as well as the
positioning of U.S. weaponry in Eastern Europe as major security threats
to Russia.

"No one should have any doubts that a direct attack on our country will
lead to the destruction and horrible consequences for any potential
aggressor," Putin added.
While Biden has said he has no intention of sending U.S. troops to
directly fight Russian forces in Ukraine, the U.S. has deployed
thousands of soldiers to Europe in recent weeks in preparation for a
possible attack.

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Anti-war campaigners have said repeatedly in recent weeks that the
dangers of a war in Ukraine-particularly one directly involving the
U.S. and Russia, which together possess more than 90% of the world's
nuclear arsenal-cannot be overstated.

Ukraine does not possess nuclear weapons, but it does maintain more than
a dozen nuclear power reactors that could come under threat during the
ongoing attack.

"No matter the genesis, the cause, or who started what, the reality
remains that there are 15 operating nuclear reactors in Ukraine that, if
conflict breaks out there, could be in peril," Linda Pentz Gunter,
founder of the advocacy group Beyond Nuclear, said

Tuesday. "If the reactors find themselves amidst a conflict or war, they
cannot simply be abandoned by the workforce. This makes the prospects of
a war in Ukraine all the more alarming, and the imperative to avoid this
all the more urgent."

In a statement early Thursday, the U.S.-based progressive advocacy group
RootsAction said that "the latest actions by the Russian government will
cause death and suffering, and those actions will further destabilize
global security while rendering institutions like the United Nations
even more powerless."

"As always, in this instance the aggressor has couched its aggression by
claiming to act in defense, as the U.S. government often has," the group
added. "At this extremely dangerous moment in world history,
diplomacy-not warfare -remains the only hope. In the process, the
perilous history of NATO's eastward expansion and the threat of further
expansion must be faced. Fueling a conflict between the two nuclear
superpowers is insanity."

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