North Yorkshire man living in Kyiv: "This is not going to be something small"
Lewis Edwards from Ripon rushed to evacuate his home after air raid sirens rang across the city
A man from North Yorkshire living in the capital of Ukraine has been rushed out of his home as air raid sirens rang across the city of Kyiv.
Explosions were heard in Kyiv and other major cities following Vladimir Putin's announcement that a military operation had begun.
The Russian president announced the action during a televised address early on Thursday morning, saying the move was a response to threats from Ukraine.
Lewis Edwards, from Ripon, is living in the city. He said:
"We didn't know if it was bombs or rockets. You could hear the sirens going off. There wasn't any clear news about what was happening. It's still very uncertain.
"There have been some civilian deaths. It seems like it is heavily planned and targeted attacks on important infrastructure. I think there is a much larger scale invasion coming.
"The older generation is happy with what is happening and they see Russians as the saviour but the younger generation is seeing it for more of what it is. They aren't seeing it as this nostalgia of the past."
Part way through our interview with Mr Edwards he had to evacuate his home as air raid sirens sounded across the city.
"I think we need to go now. There's just been a massive air raid warning so we're going to have to go look for a shelter", he said as he cut off the call.
Later, he contacted us and said:
"We're going to the bomb shelter. There has been a big warning so we're going there. It's just across the road. Don't worry about us. It's very safe, it's very close."
The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, said that Russia has launched a "full-scale invasion of Ukraine".
Mr Kuleba said that Ukraine would defend itself against the Russian aggression "and will win".
"Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes.
"This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win.
"The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now."
Meanwhile, Ukraine's ambassador at the United Nations has told the Security Council that Russian President Vladimir Putin has "declared war on Ukraine".
He also pressed his Russian counterpart to state that Russia will not shell and bomb Ukrainian cities.
Ukrainian ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said on Wednesday night that if Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia was not in a position to give a positive answer, he should relinquish the presidency of the Security Council, which Russia holds this month.
The Ukrainian then asked for another emergency meeting of the Security Council, calling on the UN body "to stop the war because it's too late to talk about de-escalation".
Mr Kyslytsya then asked if he should play the video of Putin announcing military operations being launched in Ukraine.
Mr Nebenzia replied:
"This isn't called a war. This is called a special military operation in Donbas."