The main cities targeted and the beginning of the advance from the borders connected with the territories where pro-Russian militias are already present and from the territory of the allied Belarus. This is the strategy of the attack on Ukraine ordered by Moscow in the night between 23 and 24 February.

Explosions occurred in several cities: the capital Kiev, Odessa (in the south-west of the country), Lutsik (north-west), Dnipro (center-west), Kharkiv (north-east), Mariupol (south-west). Air raids are also underway.

As mentioned, the advance started from Donbass (eastern Ukraine) where Russia enjoys the support of the separatists of the Lugansk and Donetsk Republics, which Vladimir Putin has recently recognized as independent. Troops also entered from the north, from the border between Ukraine and Belarus, a "friend" of Russia, where military maneuvers that Moscow has always called "exercises" have been underway for weeks.

In addition, advancing troops have also been identified in Crimea, a peninsula south of the Ukrainian territory, between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, annexed by Russia in 2014, during the previous crisis between Moscow and Kiev.

Ukraine has an area of 600,000 square kilometers and a population of over 44 million.

(Unioneonline / lf)

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