Russia’s military has launched an invasion of Ukraine. Overnight, explosions rocked the capital Kyiv, with reports of shelling, missile strikes and gunfire across Ukraine, which has also come under an intense cyberattack. Ukraine’s government says some 40 Ukrainian soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed so far — including 18 reportedly killed in a missile attack on Ukraine’s southern Odessa region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared martial law, saying his government would hand out weapons to everyone who was willing and able to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty.

The invasion came just moments after Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised address he would intervene to help pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

President Vladimir Putin: “I decided to conduct a special military operation. It aims to protect people who have been bullied and subjected to genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years. For that, we will strive for demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine and will bring to justice those who committed multiple bloody crimes against civilians, including Russian citizens.”