More than 130 people have already died in the attack on Ukraine as Russian forces launch a full-scale assault on multiple fronts and Western nations announce sanctions.
Overnight, Ukraine reportedly gunned down a Russian aircraft over Kyiv in the early hours of Friday (February 25). Footage shows a large explosion in the sky, with fragments falling over residential buildings just after 4am.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address that he was Russia's "number one target". Citizens of Ukraine have been fleeing by train and car while men stay behind to fight.
In relation to the plane apparently being shot down over Kyiv, over the Darytskyi district, city mayor Vitali Klitschko later said, via Twitter: "Three people were injured, one of them in critical condition."
Ambulances transported those injured to the hospital and emergency services are at the scene. In Kyiv, many residents took shelter deep underground in metro stations bringing bags and blankets and their pets. Fighting has been taking place at an airfield on the outskirts of Kyiv that its thought Russia wants to use as a means to bring in troops to take the city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the nation to confirm multiple Russian strikes hit Kyiv, the capital, as well as other parts of the country overnight. He promised that Ukraine will defend itself and ordered a full military mobilisation. Ukraine’s army stands at 250,000 service members with 140,000 reservists. The US said Russia had nearly 200,000 troops arrayed near Ukraine’s borders before the invasion began.
Zelensky said that 137 civilians and military personnel had been killed after the first day of fighting. A further 316 people have been wounded, he said. He confirmed reports of multiple Russian missile strikes on Kyiv at 4am this morning, saying the strikes targeted military and civilian areas.
It's thought that around 100,000 Ukrainians fled their homes to find safety elsewhere, with many using the underground metro stations to escape the attacks.
Refugee stations have also been set up in neighbouring countries, such as Poland. More than 1,000 Ukranians had arrived yesterday in the Polish city of Przemysl, city officials said, staying overnight in the train station on camp beds. Poland has set up nine reception points for Ukranians crossing the border.
Ukraine also said it had lost control of the Chernobyl nuclear site after a battle with Russian troops. The plant is 130km north of Kyiv. It was reported that staff had been taken hostage when Russian troops seized the facility.
Explosions were also reported right across Ukraine in cities including Kharkiv, Kramatorsk, Mariupol, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Lutsk, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Ivano Frankivsk and Zaporizhzhia.
Leaders of the 30 Nato allied nations will meet on Friday, US President Joe Biden confirmed, as they come under pressure to go even further than sanctions already announced to hit the Kremlin after what Boris Johnson described as a "dark day in the history of our continent".
The chief of the Nato alliance said the "brutal act of war" shattered peace in Europe, joining a chorus of world leaders who decried the attack, which could cause massive casualties, topple Ukraine's democratically elected government and upend the post-Cold War security order.
In an address to his Cabinet, the Prime Minister labelled Mr Putin a "blood-stained aggressor" and said the UK could be proud of its role in supporting Ukraine.
Among the new UK sanctions introduced were measures to hit five further oligarchs, including the Russian president's former son-in-law, and to target more than 100 businesses and individuals.
Boris Johnson said he was sanctioning "all the major manufacturers that support Putin's war machine", which will ban Aeroflot from touching down planes in the UK and will freeze the assets of all major Russian banks, including immediately against VTB.
In the US, President Biden also announced extra sanctions to target Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors, with more troops deployed to Germany to bolster Nato.
"Putin is the aggressor," Mr Biden said. "Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences."
He said: "Tomorrow, Nato will convene a summit - we'll be there - to bring together the leaders of 30 allied nations and close partners to affirm our solidarity and to map out the next steps we will take to further strengthen all aspects of our Nato alliance."
The EU ambassador to the UK has said the sanctions on Russia will have a "huge impact".
Joao Vale de Almeida told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme they will "touch the heart" of the country's economy.
He added: "The measures we are taking today will have a huge impact on Russia, it impacts 70% of the banking system.
"It touched the heart of the state-owned companies that financed the war effort."
Anti-war protests also broke out in Russia overnight. Over 1,700 people over 53 Russian cities were detained, at least 940 of them in Moscow.
Hundreds of posts came pouring in condemning Moscow's most aggressive actions since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan..
Tatyana Usmanova, an opposition activist in Moscow, wrote on Facebook that she thought she was dreaming when she awoke to the news, which she called "a disgrace that will be forever with us now".
"I want to ask Ukrainians for forgiveness. We didn't vote for those who unleashed the war," she said.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Russia’s assault on Ukraine is “barbaric, unjustified and shows a callous disregard for human life”.
She tweeted: “Solidarity with (Ukrainian foreign minister) @DmytroKuleba and the Ukrainian people.
“Putin’s assault on Ukraine is barbaric, unjustified and shows a callous disregard for human life. We will continue to hold Putin to account and remain steadfast in our support. #StandwithUkraine”.
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