Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain and its allies would unleash a massive package of economic sanctions to hobble the Russian economy after the Kremlin launched an all-out invasion of neighbouring Ukraine on Thursday.

China rejected calling Russia's moves on Ukraine an "invasion" and urged all sides to exercise restraint, even as it advised its citizens there to stay home or at least take the precaution of displaying a Chinese flag if they needed to drive anywhere.

NATO is activating its “defense plans” for allied countries as Russia attacks non-NATO member Ukraine, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg told a media conference on Thursday.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has called on “anyone who is ready and able to hold a weapon” to join the country's defense forces after Russia launched a military operation targeting eastern Ukraine.

At least seven people are known to have been killed in Ukraine as Russian military vehicles were said to have breached the border in a number of places, in the north, south and east, including from Belarus, according to BBC.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in his nationally televised address ahead of launching an offensive against Ukraine, said that he had no other choice but to defend Russia against “threats from modern Ukraine.”

“I was in deep sleep. It was around five in the morning. Suddenly, I felt like the whole house shook with a loud noise. As soon as I woke up, I heard sounds of a few more bombs. The doors and windows of the house were shaking.

Five Russian planes and a helicopter were shot down in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, the country's military claimed today, Ukrainian media KyivPost says.

A visibly emotional Ukrainian ambassador traded barbs with his Russian counterpart during a heated late-night emergency Security Council meeting on the Russia-Ukraine crisis Wednesday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday described the Russian military operation in Ukraine as "a glaring violation" of international law on a "dark day" for Europe.

Russian forces fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities and landed troops on its south coast on Thursday, officials and media said, after President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a special military operation in the east.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a military operation in Ukraine and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to “consequences they have never seen.”

At least five explosions were heard in the separatist-held eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk early on Thursday, a Reuters witness said.

Ukraine mobilised its military reserve yesterday and urged its citizens to leave Russian territory as Moscow sharpened its demands, increasing fears of all-out war.

The United Nations yesterday slammed baby formula makers for “unethical” marketing strategies, accusing them of aggressively targeting expecting parents

Gambia yesterday urged judges at the World Court to reject a challenge by Myanmar to a case brought to halt alleged acts of genocide against its Rohingya minority, saying the West African state was “no one’s proxy”.

Former US president Donald Trump on Tuesday hailed Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine as “genius” but said the crisis would not have happened under the Republican firebrand’s administration.

After weeks of threats, the West imposed its first sanctions on Russia, but for the moment the actions will have limited impact on both the Russian and Western economies.

Ukraine declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and told its citizens in Russia to flee, while Moscow began evacuating its Kyiv embassy in the latest ominous signs for Ukrainians who fear an all-out Russian military onslaught.

Several Ukrainian state websites, including the government and foreign ministry home pages, were inaccessible on Wednesday.