Russia invades Ukraine: From Kyiv to Luhansk, here's a list of cities under attack

As Russia ordered military operations in Eastern Ukraine's Donbass, explosions rocked several Ukrainian cities. As is clear from the map, explosions have been reported in the capital city Kyiv, surrounding cities like Mykolaiv, Odessa, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia. Also, regions like Bila Tserkva, Chernihiv,  Zhytomyr, Kropyvnytskyi, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Berdyans'k, Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Lutsk, Ivano Frankivsk, Zhytomyr, have explosions resounding. Hundreds of Ukrainian service members are believed to have been killed in these explosions, Ukrainian officials say. 

Announcing a special military operation in Ukraine earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin had said that the motive behind it was not to 'capture 'the Eastern European country but just to 'demilitarize'. Urging the Ukrainian troops in Donbass to give up their weapons and 'go home', Putin had said that the fight between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers was 'inevitable'.

Meanwhile, the Defence of Ukraine has refused to 'go home' and take part in the fight. Taking to microblogging site Twitter, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant-General Valery Zaluzhny, said," We are on our land and will not surrender but take it together to victory!"

War with Russia has loomed over Ukraine for more than eight years – from crippling cyber attacks to the seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and the long-running conflict in the east that has claimed more than 14,000 lives.

Map of Russian attacks across Ukraine

Addressing the Emergency UN Security Council meeting, UN general secretary António Guterres said, "In recent past, situations with similar events and rumours had arisen. I thought nothing serious would come out of it, I was wrong. President Putin, stop your troops from invading Ukraine. Give peace a chance".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has tried to reach out to Putin via phone, but did not get any answer. Ukraine has imposed a national emergency and shut down its entire airspace, citing 'potential hazard'.

Meanwhile, various world leaders like United State's Joe Biden, United Kingdom's Boris Johnson, Australia's Scott Morrison, Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier among others have expressed their concern over the deplorable condition in Ukraine and urged Russia to stop the military operations with immediate effects.