Russia starts war with Ukraine - 2nd March 2022

Russia started a war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the order. He sent a big army into Ukraine.

Hundreds of people in Ukraine are dead. Hundreds of thousands of people are leaving the country.

But Ukrainian men have to stay and fight. Pavlo Starovoit is one of the new fighters.

Pavlo Starovoit: "The matter of fact, and, I stuck in this city, but I'm from Kyiv. And I want to do, to be helpful. And I want to do something to help my country to defend itself against Russian aggression."

The European Union and NATO aren't fighting Russia. They're sending money to Ukraine. This is helping Ukraine's army.

Many countries are putting controls on Russia and its superrich. They are closing Russians' bank accounts. Russian banks can't move money between countries. International businesses are leaving Russia.

You can't watch Russian news channels on TV. And Russian planes can't fly over Europe.

Ursula von der Leyen is European Commission president.

Ursula von der Leyen: "We are shutting down the EU airspace for Russians. We're proposing a prohibition on all Russian-owned, Russian-registered, and Russian-controlled aircraft. These aircraft will no more be able to land in, take off, or overfly the territory of the European Union."

People around the world are angry. They don't want Russia to take over Ukraine. It's dangerous for people to say this in Russia. Melisa was on the streets in St Petersburg.

Melisa: "To start the war was a very bad decision for our people because many of them have relatives, friends, husbands, and they will die for nothing."

Putin got Russia's nuclear weapons ready to use. The United States disagrees with this.

Dmytro Kuleba is Ukraine's foreign minister. He isn't afraid.

Dmytro Kuleba: "We will not surrender. We will not capitulate. We will not give up a single inch of our territory - this is not the goal of our fight."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants peace. He'll go to peace talks. He wants to try to stop the war.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy: "I will say frankly, as always - I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try. So that no citizen of Ukraine would have any doubt that I, as president, did not try to stop the war when there was a small chance."