Day 1 of Russia’s invasion

Good evening. This is your Russia-Ukraine War Briefing, a weeknight guide to the latest news and analysis about the conflict. I’m your host, Carole Landry. Here’s the latest.

• Russian troops invaded Ukraine from the north, east and south, shelling more than a dozen cities and destroying military targets. At least 40 Ukrainian soldiers were killed.

• Russian forces moved swiftly toward Kyiv, the capital, and “have every intention of decapitating the government,” the Pentagon said.

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• President Vladimir Putin warned other countries against interfering and said Russia remains a powerful nuclear state.

• After waking up to explosions, tens of thousands of Ukrainians fled west.

• President Biden announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s banks, its elites and technology exports.

• Oil prices jumped. Stocks in Europe and Asia fell.

• These maps show where Russian troops attacked. Here’s how the crisis might reverberate worldwide.

• Follow our live updates.

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Ukraine under attack

Russia began a full-scale assault before sunrise, invading by land, sea and air across Ukraine. By sunset, Russian special forces and airborne troops had seized control of the Chernobyl nuclear site after fierce fighting and were pushing into the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv.

Explosions were reported in Kyiv; Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city; and elsewhere. Panicked residents fled west and more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, according to an adviser to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Two lines of Russian troops were headed toward Kyiv and “have every intention of decapitating the government and installing their own method of governance,” a senior Defense Department official said in Washington.

As of early evening, Zelensky remained in place as commander in chief, and Ukrainian forces were engaged in fierce battles along a broad front line to maintain control over their country.

Speaking at the White House, President Biden announced sanctions on Russian banks and the country’s elites. “Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war,” he said. “And now he and his country will bear the consequences.”

Russian stocks plummeted and the ruble fell to a record low against the dollar.

Even with the tons of weapons, ammunition and equipment that Western allies delivered to Ukraine in just the past few weeks, the larger, more technologically advanced Russian forces outgunned the Ukrainian military.

In Russia, thousands of people took to the streets to protest Putin’s decision, only to be met with a heavy police presence. A few hundred people gathered near Moscow’s Pushkin Square, which police blocked off. Some chanted “No to war!” and unfurled the Ukrainian flag.

Putin’s chilling warning

As President Vladimir Putin announced that he had ordered Russian troops into Ukraine early today, he also came close to threatening nuclear war.

Putin reminded the world that Russia “remains one of the most powerful nuclear states,” and had “a certain advantage in several cutting-edge weapons,” as he threatened “consequences you have never faced in your history” for “anyone who tries to interfere with us.”

He added: “There should be no doubt that any potential aggressor will face defeat and ominous consequences should it directly attack our country.”

Asked at a White House news conference whether Putin was threatening a nuclear strike, President Biden responded: “I have no idea what he is threatening. I know what he has done.”

For months, Biden has repeatedly said that he would not send American troops to Ukraine. Washington’s European allies have taken the same position. Still, a war in Europe involving a major global power has the potential to spiral out of control.

Today, Biden again emphasized that American troops were “not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine,” but said that NATO would defend its entire territory.

To bolster NATO, the U.S. has sent troops to Poland and Romania, both former Soviet bloc countries, and to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the three Baltic States that were part of the Soviet Union and are now alliance members. The Pentagon announced today that the U.S. would send an additional 7,000 troops to Europe.

What else we’re following

Analysis

• Putin presents an aura of calm determination at home. Russians awoke in shock as they learned that he had ordered a full-scale assault, our Moscow bureau chief writes.

• If Russia succeeds in taking over Ukraine, NATO will find it significantly more difficult to defend its eastern flank, our diplomatic correspondent in Europe writes.

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a former television actor and comic, has stepped into the role of wartime leader. For the moment, Ukrainians have rallied around him.

• This time, U.S. intelligence got it right, accurately predicting Russia’s attack plans. The disclosures may not be over now that the invasion has begun.

• Ukraine’s revolutions have long represented hope for some Russians as a predictor of their country’s own future, writes Masha Gessen in The New Yorker. Now Putin has taken aim at that sense of hope.

• From Opinion: If Russia attempts to control all of Ukraine, the U.S. and its NATO allies should expand their support to significantly raise the costs of any Russian occupation, writes Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Other developments

• Aleksei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, condemned the invasion. He said it was “unleashed to cover up the robbery of Russian citizens and divert their attention away from the country’s internal problems.”

• Protesters gathered in London, Berlin, Paris and New York City. “I’m shocked, probably like everyone, because my family is still in Ukraine,” said Mariya Tymchyshyn, 30, from a demonstration in London.

• The Russian invasion is threatening to cut off some international shipments of wheat. Russia and Ukraine together produce nearly a quarter of the world’s supply.

• Only hours before the invasion began, former President Donald Trump again praised Putin.

• A former Austrian chancellor and ex-prime ministers of Italy and Finland quit boards of Russian companies in protest over the invasion. But Germany’s former chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, was not among them.

• European soccer’s governing body decided to move the biggest club game of the year, the Champions League final, out of St. Petersburg.

• Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Philharmonic announced that the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, a prominent Putin supporter, would no longer lead concerts there this week.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow — Carole

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