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(NEW YORK) — Russia’s military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.

Thursday’s attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Feb 25, 10:59 am
Russians going ashore in ‘amphibious assault’

A senior defense official confirms that there is a Russian “amphibious assault” underway along the Ukrainian coast from the Sea of Azov. The attack is to the west of Mariupol, which is a coastal city in southeastern Ukraine.

“Indications are right now that they are putting potentially thousands of naval infantry ashore there,” the official said.

Feb 25, 10:31 am
EU moving toward sanctioning Putin, Lavrov: Top diplomat

The European Union is moving toward sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over Russia’s war against Ukraine, the EU’s top diplomat confirmed.

But the decision has not been made and requires unanimous approval by the 27 member states, diplomat Josep Borrell told reporters Friday.

“If there is no surprises and nobody objects — because we require unanimity — yes, Putin and Lavrov will be on the list,” Borrell said.

He said even these EU sanctions on Putin and Lavrov would “certainly” not be enough.

“We are facing a full-fledged invasion of a country by another. It’s not a special forces operations like Russia pretends us to believe — it’s a fully-fledged invasion with bombing, with killing of civilians, with confrontations among two armies,” he said. “This is the worst thing that has happened in Europe, if I may say, since the end of the Cold War, and nobody knows what’s happening afterwards. Nobody knows which are the real intention of Putin.”

Feb 25, 8:57 am
Russia may be reinforcing, resupplying before moving in on Kyiv

There was an eerie quietness across Kyiv on Friday afternoon, as Russian forces closed in on the Ukrainian capital.

A senior U.S. official told ABC News that he believes the pause around Kyiv was due to the Russian military reinforcing troops and resupplying ammunition and food, and that Russia still wants a stranglehold on the city over the next 24 to 48 hours.

The official also expressed great concern about civilian causalities if Russian forces do move in. While there appeared to be a renewed effort at diplomacy on Friday, the United States believes any noise Russia makes about negotiations is simply stalling, the official said.

-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz

Feb 25, 8:35 am
Kremlin claims Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality

Russia claimed Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality for his country.

“Zelenskyy stated his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “From the beginning, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about how the goal of the operation to the [separatist regions], including a path to the demilitarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine. But that is actually also an essential component of neutral status.”

Peskov added that Putin is prepared to send a delegation to neighboring Belarus to hold talks with Ukrainian officials in Minsk.

If the Kremlin’s claims are true, it would amount to Zelenskyy surrendering to Russia’s demand that Ukraine pledges to never join NATO.

Earlier Friday, Zelenskyy called on Putin to hold talks “to stop people dying.” But he did not mention neutral status.

The comments came as Russian troops reached the center of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and engaged in fighting with Ukrainian troops.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 8:35 am
Kremlin claims Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality

Russia claimed Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality for his country.

“Zelenskyy stated his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “From the beginning, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about how the goal of the operation to the [separatist regions], including a path to the demilitarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine. But that is actually also an essential component of neutral status.”

Peskov added that Putin is prepared to send a delegation to neighboring Belarus to hold talks with Ukrainian officials in Minsk.

If the Kremlin’s claims are true, it would amount to Zelenskyy surrendering to Russia’s demand that Ukraine pledges to never join NATO.

Earlier Friday, Zelenskyy called on Putin to hold talks “to stop people dying.” But he did not mention neutral status.

The comments came as Russian troops reached the center of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and engaged in fighting with Ukrainian troops.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 8:13 am
Russia claims to have blocked Kyiv from west

Russia claimed on Friday afternoon that its forces have blocked Kyiv from the west, which would begin a partial encirclement of the Ukrainian capital.

According to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian forces also have completely blocked the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, about 90 miles north of Kyiv, and now have full control of a key Ukrainian military airport in Hostomel, a town on the edge of the capital. Some 200 Russian helicopters were allegedly used in the attack on the airport.

While ABC News could not independently verify Russia’s claims, the Ukrainian military has acknowledged that it does not have full control of the airport in Hostomel.

The Russian Ministry of Defense alleged that Russian forces are “doing everything possible to prevent civilian casualties” and “will not deliver any strikes on residential areas of Kyiv.” However, fighting is already taking place in residential areas and Ukrainian authorities said homes have been bombed in and around Kyiv.

-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 7:47 am
Zelenskyy warns Russian invasion is start of ‘war against all Europe’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold negotiations and cease the deadly attacks on his country.

“Fighting is ongoing all over Ukraine. Let’s sit at the table for negotiations to stop people dying,” Zelenskyy said in a televised address Friday afternoon.

But he did not order Ukrainian troops to stop defending their country, instead telling them: “Stand tough. You’re everything we have. You’re everything that is defending us.”

Zelenskyy criticized Europe’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it too slow and noting divisions. He also issued a dire warning to the rest of Europe.

“It’s not just Russian invasion in Ukraine, it’s the beginning of the war against all Europe, against its unity, all human rights, against all the rules of coexistence on the continent, against European countries’ refusal to change the borders by force,” he said.

-ABC News’ Julia Drozd and Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 7:15 am
UN refugee agency estimates 100,000 Ukrainians are displaced

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates some 100,000 Ukrainians have already been forced from their homes due to the ongoing Russian invasion, spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told ABC News on Friday.

Mantoo cautioned that the agency has not confirmed any exact numbers.

“But there clearly has been significant displacement inside the country and some movements towards and across the borders,” she said.

The news was first reported by AFP.

The United States is coordinating with its European allies and partners who will be on the front lines receiving refugees, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State told ABC News. That includes diplomatic engagements “to ensure neighboring countries keep their borders open to those seeking international protection,” the spokesperson said.

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

Feb 25, 6:42 am
Russia says negotiations will begin after ‘democratic order’ restored

Russia will begin negotiations again once “democratic order” is restored in Ukraine, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said Friday, amid an ongoing invasion of the neighboring country.

“We are ready for negotiations, at any moment, as soon as the Armed Forces of Ukraine respond to the call of our president to cease resistance and lay down their arms. No one intends to attack them,” Lavrov said during a televised meeting in Moscow with pro-Russian separatist leaders from eastern Ukraine.

Lavrov’s comments come as Russian forces attacked Ukrainian troops in Kyiv on Friday morning, as the fighting drew closer to the capital’s city center.

-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 6:03 am
Russia claims to have disabled 118 Ukrainian military facilities

Russia claimed Friday that its forces have so far disabled 118 elements of Ukraine’s military infrastructure.

“These include 11 military airfields and 13 command and communication posts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

Konashenkov also alleged that more than 150 Ukrainian soldiers have “laid down their arms and surrendered during the fighting.”

-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva

Feb 25, 5:43 am
Gunfire, explosions heard within Kyiv as fighting draws near

ABC News’ team in Kyiv saw a large explosion and heard intense gunfire in the distance early Friday afternoon.

The crackles of gunfire appeared to be several miles north of the center of the Ukrainian capital, but still well within the city limits.

Ukrainian authorities have told residents in the northern suburb of Obolon to take shelter and prepare for imminent military action. The area is a 10-minute drive from Kyiv’s center.

The capital remains on edge as Russian forces draw near. Earlier, Ukrainian troops were seen hurriedly moving with ammunition to set up positions in the city center as air-raid sirens rang out.

Thousands of people have tried to leave Kyiv and head west to the Polish border, with some spending hours stuck in long traffic jams.

The Ukrainian military said it has distributed 18,000 assault rifles to territorial defense volunteers in the capital. It has also begun handing out weapons to civilians who want to fight and has called on healthy men over the age 60 to join the defense force, if they wish.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 5:11 am
Ukrainian military claims to have killed Russian saboteurs in Kyiv

Ukraine’s military claimed Friday to have killed an advance group of Russian saboteurs disguised as Ukrainian soldiers during a gunfight in the capital, Kyiv.

The Ukrainian military released video purportedly showing the bodies of men in Ukrainian uniforms and a destroyed truck. The fighting allegedly happened in an area only 10 minutes north of the city center.

Russian forces that crossed into Ukraine from the north on Thursday have been trying to advance south toward Kyiv. Fighting was taking place near a town 20 miles north of the entrance to the capital on Friday morning, ABC News has learned.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — For many Ukrainians living in the United States, the early hours of Thursday morning were spent reaching out to family members and watching news developments as Russia crossed the border into Ukraine and began the first attacks on the country.

Oksana Sukhina, a Ukranian immigrant who came to the U.S. two years ago, told ABC News she learned the news of the invasion through a neighborhood watch group chat from back home.

“I saw messages that someone was asking, ‘Oh, what’s that booming?’ and someone responding, ‘Well, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin started the military operation,'” Sukhina told ABC News.

She couldn’t fall asleep that night.

Sukhina, who is a member of the non-profit U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, said that most of her family is back in Ukraine, and though she fears for the safety of her loved ones, she trusts in the Ukrainian army and in NATO forces.

“We hope that this insanity stops. It’s a civilizational attack,” Sukhina told ABC News. “We’re reading some disturbing messages about Russian troops being over on the ground.”

She said her son, who is in the U.S., is even seeking out ways to get back to Ukraine to help.

Alex Ponomarenko, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union region that is now Ukraine, told ABC News that as soon as he heard reports of the invasion, he began reaching out to loved ones.

Because of past aggression from Russia, including the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, many Ukrainians say they had the eerie feeling that something would soon erupt.

“No one was expecting this to happen, but it was always on the table,” Ponomarenko told ABC News in an interview. “My fear is the loss of life.”

Tamara Olexy, executive director of the nonprofit Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, also told ABC News that the invasion isn’t necessarily a surprise, but she still feels shaken by the attacks.

“It was a complete shock that in the 21st century, you can watch a war unfolding right before your eyes,” Olexy said.

Her family in Western Ukraine is safe, she said.

“We’re urging our governments to put in the harshest sanctions possible against Putin, and the Russian regime, and doing whatever we can to get the real truth out about what’s going on in Ukraine,” Olexy added.

Many said they hope Ukraine’s past of resilience and victory will pull the country through.

“Ukrainians are fighting back,” Olexy said. “Ukrainians aren’t going to give up the land easily. This is going to be a very long-drawn-out war … Ukrainians have fought long and hard to gain their independence — or regain their independence, I should say — 30 years ago, and they’re not going to give it up easily.”

Sukhina added, “[Ukraine] has prevailed so far, we will prevail further on.”

Many Ukrainian descendants, immigrants and refugees said they are channeling their initial feelings of pain into action. They’re set on figuring out how best to help their loved ones back home.

The goal is to not only make sure they’re safe now but also to financially and resourcefully support their continued safety. They’re calling on people from around the world, non-Ukrainians and Ukrainians alike, to assist in making sure those in need have the resources necessary.

“We’re ready to assist anyone as much as possible,” Ponomarenko said. “It’s a humanitarian issue. We should be ready to help.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The streets of several major cities across the globe transformed into seas of blue and yellow Ukrainian flags on Thursday. Protesters are demanding action from their local leaders regarding the Russian invasion into Ukraine, which has already claimed dozens of lives.

In New York City, hundreds of protesters marched to and gathered at Times Square, the Russian Mission and United Nations buildings in support of Ukraine amid the Russian attacks.

The city is home to the largest Ukrainian community in the U.S., with more than 150,000 Ukrainians residing across the region.

In Washington, D.C., protesters marched to the White House, as well as to the Russian embassy, to demand action from President Joe Biden. According to Washington ABC affiliate WJLA, a demonstrator painted the word “murder” on the sidewalk in front of the embassy building.

Protests also took place in Chicago.

In London, hundreds of protesters gathered outside Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office and the Russian Embassy carrying Ukrainian flags. Russians, Ukrainians and other protesters joined together in calls against the military invasion.

Berlin’s most famous landmark, The Brandenburg Gate, was lit in the yellow and blue colors of Ukraine in support of the country under siege. Thousands also marched through the city’s streets in support of Ukrainians.

In Paris, the City Hall was also lit up in support of Ukraine. Marches also took place throughout the city.

In Moscow, anti-war protesters spoke out against their own country, as Russian military forces continued to lay siege to their neighboring country. More than a thousand protesters were arrested in a sign of the totalitarian nature of Russia’s government. Protests also broke out in Saint Petersburg.

Protests also took place in Spain, Lebanon, Austria, The Netherlands, Poland and more.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Ukraine is not a member of NATO, though the international security alliance has been a key player in its ongoing conflict with Russia, which escalated to a full-scale invasion by Russian forces Thursday.

Since the United States helped form NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in 1949 to counter Soviet aggression in Europe, the alliance has grown to 30 member countries, including three former Soviet republics — the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

In 2008, NATO appeared to open the door to membership to two more former Soviet republics when its heads of government declared that Georgia and Ukraine “will become members of NATO.”

Neither have formally received a pathway to eventual membership, with corruption concerns and a lack of consensus among members seen in part as holding back Ukraine’s invitation. Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine never join the alliance as he seeks to limit NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe.

Putin’s military operation has prompted NATO allies, worried about further escalation, to issue sanctions meant to impact the Russian economy, bolster troops along the alliance’s Eastern flank and repeatedly warn that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all.

In the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, President Joe Biden announced that NATO will convene a summit Friday to “affirm our solidarity and to map out the next steps we will take to further strengthen all aspects of our NATO alliance.”

Biden said repeatedly said the U.S. won’t be sending troops to engage with Russia in Ukraine, though he has recently authorized the deployment of ground and air forces in Europe to support NATO’s eastern flank allies — Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania — in response to Russian aggression. Following Thursday’s attack on Ukraine, Biden said he has authorized additional forces to deploy to Germany as part of NATO’s response. According to a senior Defense Department official, 7,000 service members will be deployed to Germany in the coming days.

“Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine but to defend our NATO allies and reassure those allies in the East,” Biden said during an address Thursday. “As I made crystal clear, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power.”

Article 5 commitments

During a video address days before he announced a military operation in Ukraine, Putin linked the current crisis directly to Russia’s NATO demands, which include a guarantee that NATO stop expanding to the East and pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. He accused the U.S. and NATO of ignoring Russia’s demands and blamed the West for the current crisis in Ukraine.

The potential impact of the Ukraine conflict on U.S. interests is considered “significant,” by the Council on Foreign Relations, which said in part that the conflict “risks further deterioration of U.S.-Russia relations and greater escalation if Russia expands its presence in Ukraine or into NATO countries.”

“I think we shouldn’t get fixated only on Ukraine,” Doug Lute, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and ABC News contributor, told ABC News Live following Putin’s speech. “[Putin’s] ambitions beyond that are to essentially rewind the clock 30 years and reverse the progress made in Western Europe, certainly Central and Eastern Europe, and if possible, break the ties between the United States and its European allies.”

Were the conflict to go beyond Ukraine and impact NATO members, that could lead the organization to invoke its mutual self-defense clause — what’s known as Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which states that “an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.” If one ally is attacked, the others will respond with necessary action, including armed force, “to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

The first and only time NATO invoked Article 5 was in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, in support of the U.S. On Thursday, Biden said the U.S. and its NATO allies “will meet our Article 5 commitments” if necessary in response to Russian aggression, though they are seeking to deescalate the conflict through increased sanctions.

“If [Putin] did move into NATO countries, we will be involved,” Biden told reporters. “The only thing that I am convinced of is — if we don’t stop now, he’ll be emboldened. If we don’t move against him now with these significant sanctions, he will be emboldened.”

U.S. officials see Article 5 as another deterrent for any further Russian aggression.

“Is it a possibility that Putin goes beyond Ukraine? Sure, it’s a possibility, but there’s something very powerful standing in the way of that — that’s something we call Article 5 of NATO,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with ABC’s David Muir on Thursday. “The president’s been very clear that we will defend every inch of NATO territory. I think that’s the most powerful deterrent against President Putin going beyond Ukraine.”

Cyberattack question

One “gray area” around NATO’s Article 5 response is Russian cyberattacks and their impacts beyond Ukraine, according to U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who oversees the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

“The real deal is if they suddenly decide to shut down all the power in Ukraine, chances are that may shut down the power in eastern Poland, where American and NATO troops are located,” Warner told reporters Thursday. “If they shut down the hospital systems in Poland, and people die because you can’t operate, we are suddenly outside of the hypothetical realm of what could constitute what’s called an Article 5 violation, where if you attack one NATO nation, you attack all 30 NATO nations. And these hypotheticals become a reality.”

If Russia responds to NATO allies’ sanctions with cyberattacks, “we are again going into uncharted territory,” he said.

Last year, NATO said the alliance would consider whether to invoke Article 5 in response to a cyberattack “on a case-by-case basis.”

When asked by ABC White House correspondent MaryAlice Parks on Thursday if the White House thought a cyberattack against a NATO member would trigger an Article 5 response, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that’d be a “point of discussion.”

“That, again, is up to the NATO alliance to determine, but obviously a cyberattack does constitute an attack, so that would certainly be a point of discussion among the NATO members,” she said.

ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.

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