Vox Sentences - The end of peace in Europe

Russia attacked Ukrainian cities and military sites starting early Thursday morning; the US responded with sanctions targeting Russian banks and other sectors.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Ellen Ioanes.

Putin launches all-out invasion of Ukraine

Sergei Guneyev\TASS via Getty Images

• Russia has launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine, including major cities, military bases, and airfields. The attack began shortly after 5 am local time Thursday morning, with missiles hitting cities including Kharkiv and the capital, Kyiv. [NYT]
• Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion while an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council aimed at stopping further incursion was taking place in New York City. “This decision — announced at the very moment when the council was meeting — shows the disdain that Russia has for international law and for the United Nations,” French Ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Riviere said. [Reuters / Michelle Nichols and Humeyra Pamuk]
• In his announcement, Putin claimed that the Russian army was entering Ukraine to demilitarize and “denazify” the country, leaning on a longstanding claim that Ukraine is rife with Nazis. That claim is based on fringe elements in the Ukrainian National Guard, as well as some Ukrainian nationalists who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. However, there’s no evidence of any widespread Nazi sympathy or influence in modern Ukraine. [NBC / David K. Li, Jonathan Allen, and Corky Siemaszko]
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish and had three family members die in the Holocaust, delivered an address to Russians — in Russian — rebutting Putin’s claims about Ukrainian Nazis, the country’s culture, and its sentiment toward Russians. “We are different, but that is not a reason to be enemies,” Zelensky said. [Axios / Dave Lawler and Zachary Basu]
• The Russian military attacked major cities and military outposts in an apparent attempt to prevent the Ukrainian military from mounting a resistance. A fierce battle over Hostomel air base outside of Kyiv was still ongoing as of Thursday night. [Guardian / Dan Sabbagh and Peter Beaumont]
• Belarus, which has a close military relationship with Russia, has been a staging ground for troops to enter Ukraine from the north. Multiple eyewitness accounts and videos show tanks crossing the border into Ukraine. [CNN / Nathan Hodge]

Biden escalates sanctions while GOP wing downplays Russian aggression

• US President Joe Biden announced increased sanctions on Russia and Belarus Thursday. The new measures will target Russia’s banking industry, as well as oligarchs in Putin’s inner circle and technology imports; Biden enacted measures against Belarus's banking systems and defense sector, which closely coordinates with Russia. [CNN / Kevin Liptak]
• The new sanctions target 80 percent of Russia’s banking assets and severely curtail its ability to participate in the global financial system, although the US and allies have not yet decided to bar Russia from Swift, the international transaction system. “We will make sure that Putin will be a pariah on the international stage,” Biden said Thursday. [WSJ / Andrew Restuccia, Tarini Parti, and Ian Talley]
• Despite Russia’s escalation, some members of the Republican Party, like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Fox News host Tucker Carlson, have spoken out against the US expanding its NATO commitment, saying that the administration should focus on China and the southern border. “Sending new troops, expanding the security commitment, and expanding NATO — I just think that’s a strategic mistake,” Hawley said. [Politico / Andrew Desiderio, Tara Palmeri, and Meredith McGraw]
• Carlson, meanwhile, said that Ukraine is “a pure client state of the United States State Department” and downplayed Putin’s aggressive actions against Ukraine. “It might be worth asking yourself, since it is getting pretty serious: What is this really about? Why do I hate Putin so much?” Carlson said, while arguing that Ukraine is not a democracy. [NYT / Katie Robertson and Michael M. Grynbaum]

Yemeni Houthis announced they’ve kidnapped a former press secretary at the long-shuttered US Embassy. [AP / Ellen Knickmeyer and Samy Magdy]

• The Florida House of Representatives passed a so-called “don’t say gay” bill, targeting “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” in public primary schools. [NBC / Matt Lavietes]
• The abortion pill, RU-486, is now available via mail, as the FDA lifts the restriction that the medication must be prescribed and picked up in person. [AP via ABC / Matthew Perrone]
• Breonna Taylor’s killer, former Louisville police officer Brett Hankinson, is now on trial to determine whether he showed “extreme indifference to human life” during the raid that took her life. [BBC]

“You are being told this is a plan to free the people of Ukraine. But the Ukrainian people are free.”

[Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, addressing Russians about the oncoming war as Putin launched his invasion into Ukraine]

Kurii Vasyl and his niece Yulya try to make sense of Russia’s invasion of their country. And Kyiv Independent reporter Igor Kossov explains the latest from Ukraine’s capital. [Spotify]

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