Russia's war in Ukraine - 2nd March 2022

Russia has attacked Ukraine. The fighting began when President Putin's enormous invasion force was ordered into Ukraine. The military forces crossed into Ukraine from the country's north, south and east.

Hundreds of innocent people have already been killed, while hundreds of thousands are refugees in Europe.

Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 have been ordered to join the defence of their country. Pavlo Starovoit's a volunteer Ukrainian fighter.

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."

Although the EU and NATO aren't fighting the war, they're supplying Ukraine with funds. The EU's providing 500 million dollars to buy weapons.

Global restrictions have been placed on Russia and its wealthy oligarchs. Many international accounts have been frozen. Meanwhile, Russia's been excluded from the SWIFT international transfers system. This means banks aren't able to process international payments.

International corporations have withdrawn funding from Russia, which has damaged the ruble. In many places, Russian media services are also blocked.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission's president, announced all Russian flights would be banned from EU airspace.

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."

Demonstrations are making clear the global opposition to Russia's war on Ukraine. Although they risk serious difficulties, people in Russia are also standing up against Putin's attack. Melisa, an economist, joined the protest 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's responded to the opposition with a threat to use Russia's nuclear weapons. This has brought strong criticism from the United States. The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, refuses to respond to Russia's threat.

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."

Even with the fighting ongoing, Ukraine's president has agreed to peace negotiations. Volodymyr Zelenskyy's promised to make every effort to end the conflict.

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."