Key Ukrainian government websites are down after series of cyberattacks
From CNN's Sean Lyngaas
Key Ukrainian government websites were down early Thursday local time following a day in which Ukrainian agencies dealt with multiple cyberattacks and as concerns mounted over Russian troop movement into Ukraine's separatist regions.
The websites of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers, and those of the ministries of foreign affairs, infrastructure, education and others, were experiencing disruptions.
In a separate and potentially more serious hacking incident hours earlier, a data-wiping tool was found on hundreds of computers in Ukraine, according to cybersecurity researchers, raising concerns that a destructive cyberattack was unfolding amid Russia's military escalation.
8:40 p.m. ET, February 23, 2022
Volunteer with Ukraine's Territorial Defense Force says he's ready to "do anything they need me to"
From CNN's Ivana Kottasova
Pavlo Shchybria said the number of volunteers contacting the force has skyrocketed. (Ivana Kottasova/CNN)
The recruitment center of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Force across the street from Kyiv's town hall was buzzing with activity on Wednesday.
At one point, volunteers were queuing to sign up. The branch of Ukraine’s armed forces is comprised mostly of civilian volunteers who receive military training and are charged with protecting key sites.
"In the summer, we received two to four calls in a week," Pavlo Shchybria, who was manning the information desk, told CNN. "By the beginning of the winter, 20 to 30 people were calling each week, now, since the beginning of February, we have 200 people a day."
The force has recently started a massive recruitment push. Posters asking people to sign up are displayed on Kyiv’s metro and elsewhere across the city, with a big campaign on social media.
Leonid Atamasiev came to the recruitment center in Kyiv to sign up as a volunteer. (Ivana Kottasova/CNN)
Leonid Atamasiev, a 46-year old tech worker, was one of those visiting to sign up after learning about the recruitment center online.
“Now, at this time, we all need to defend our country. So that’s why I came here. This is the time when we all need to stand together. All of us, no matter what age,” he told CNN.
Atamasiev said he has never been in the military, but has worked as a volunteer in the past.
“I don’t know what I will do, but I am ready to do anything they need me to,” he said.
10:09 p.m. ET, February 23, 2022
On the ground: Russian military trucks driving with license plates turned backward, long convoys forming
From CNN's Jason Kurtz
(CNN)
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen has witnessed what he describes as "a lot of very ominous movement" on the ground in Russia, near northeast Ukraine.
"We've seen ... military trucks, who have actually had their license plates on backwards. They turned the license plates around, which could be them trying to mask some sort of movement," Pleitgen told CNN.
"The Russian military really [is] in a position where it certainly seems as though they could strike at any point in time," he added.
Meanwhile, further south, near Donetsk, Pleitgen noted other examples of assembled Russian military.
"You see a lot of Russian convoys there that seem to be forming," he said. "[It is] unclear whether or not they've gone over the border yet, the way that all of this could happen is, you might have two areas where the Russians might try to go across the border."
Pleitgen closed his live report by offering a statement on the general atmosphere in the region.
"You really feel how things are getting more tense here by the minute," noted Pleitgen, adding, "you certainly also see that the Russian military is on the ground here, and certainly at least seems to be in a position to be able to strike at any point in time if Vladimir Putin chooses to order that."
1:32 a.m. ET, February 24, 2022
Russia issues notice closing flight paths along border with Ukraine
From CNN’s Tim Lister, Pete Muntean and Josh Pennington
Russia has issued a notice banning civil aircraft from flight routes bordering north-eastern Ukraine.
Russia issued a NOTAM (notice to airmen or notice to air missions) that covers a corridor of territory where Russian forces have gathered over the past weeks.
The NOTAM remains in force until May 18.
8:17 p.m. ET, February 23, 2022
"If we are attacked, we will defend ourselves," Ukraine's president says
(Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky/Facebook)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country has no need for war but added that if attacked, his nation will defend itself.
“We have no need for another Cold War, or a bloody war, or a hybrid war,” Zelensky said in an address posted on his official Facebook account early Thursday local time.
“But if we are attacked militarily, if they try to take away our freedom, our lives, our children’s’ lives, we will defend ourselves,” the Ukrainian president added, in a speech in Russian, aimed at Russian citizens. “When you attack, you will see our faces and not our spines, our faces."
Zelensky called war a “terrible misfortune.” He said he was ready to continue diplomatic talks with Russia and argued that Ukraine does not pose a threat to Russia.
“They say that Ukraine may pose a threat to Russia. This wasn’t a case in the past, nor is it now, and won’t be in the future,” he said. "Our main goal is to maintain peace in Ukraine and keep Ukrainian citizens safe. For this we are prepared to hold discussions with everyone, including you [Russia], in whatever format you like at whatever venue."
“Russian TV will surely not show this video, but the Russian people must watch it. The truth must be known. And that truth is that this all needs to stop now, before it's too late,” Zelensky said.
“If the leadership of Russia does not want to sit at the table with us to make peace, perhaps it will sit at the table with you. Does Russia want a war? I would very much like an answer to this question. But that answer depends only on you, citizens of the Russian Federation," he said.
Watch part of President Zelensky's speech:
7:25 p.m. ET, February 23, 2022
UN Security Council will hold emergency meeting related to Russia Wednesday night
From CNN’s Mirna Alshariff
The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Wednesday night related to Russia at the request of Ukraine.
The meeting, which is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. ET, is expected to be open, though CNN is working on further details.
“Ukraine has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council due to the appeal by Russian occupation administrations in Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia with a request to provide them with military assistance, which is a further escalation of the security situation,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted earlier in the evening.
Read the tweet:
7:13 p.m. ET, February 23, 2022
US secretary of state says Russia is putting "final touches" on forces for a "full-on invasion"
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood and Adrienne Winston
Russia is “putting the final touches” on having forces in places for a “full-on invasion,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, and said the US has “certainly seen the presence of Russian forces inside of Ukraine.”
Blinken did not elaborate on the Russian forces he said they have seen inside Ukraine.
In an interview with ABC News, Blinken said he couldn’t give “specific numbers,” but “everything we've seen over the last 24 to 48 hours has Russia of putting the final touches on having its forces in place across all of Ukraine's borders, to the north, to the east, to the south, to be ready for a full-on invasion.”
Blinken pushed back on the notion that a Russian invasion into Ukraine would be a failure of US diplomacy during an interview with the CBS Evening News.
“Diplomacy succeeded very effectively in bringing the world together, the United States and Europe together in standing up to Russian aggression,” Blinken said
He also held out hope that the threat of further costs could still prevent President Putin from going forth with a full-scale invasion.
“We've made it clear that if Russia continues to escalate, if it engages in a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, beyond what it's already doing, we will escalate to and I hope that that knowledge may still act as a deterrent,” Blinken said.
He warned of the long-term costs to Putin if the invasion happens.
“It doesn't deter Putin from further aggression to Ukraine,” he said, referring to joint action by the US and its allies, “there will be a very swift and severe response. This is a price that Vladimir Putin and Russia will pay for a long, long time.”
7:56 p.m. ET, February 23, 2022
Ukraine's president: "Trigger can appear any minute" for a Russian invasion
From CNN's Tim Lister and Katherina Krebs
(Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky/Facebook)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the trigger for a Russian invasion can happen “any minute,” during an address posted on his official Facebook account early Thursday local time.
“The whole world is saying this can happen any day now. The trigger can appear any minute,” he said, addressing Russians in Russian. “You are being told this fire will free the Ukrainian people. But Ukrainian people are free."
“Ukraine in your news and Ukraine in reality are two different countries. Their main difference between them is that ours is real," Zelensky added.
Zelensky went on to reject accusations that Ukrainians were neo-Nazis and hated Russian culture.
“You are being told we are Nazis. How can a nation that gave 8 million lives to combat Nazism support it? How can I be a Nazi? Tell my grandpa about that,” Zelensky said. “He was, through the whole war, in the infantry of the Soviet Army and died as a colonel in independent Ukraine."
“You are being told we hate the Russian culture? How can someone hate culture? Any culture? Neighbors always enrich one another culturally, but that does not make them one, does not dissolve us in you,” the Ukrainian president went on to say. “We are different. But it is not a reason to be enemies."
Zelensky concluded: “We want to determine our history by ourselves. In peace, calm and honesty."
6:33 p.m. ET, February 23, 2022
Ukraine's president says Russian leadership approved military incursion into Ukraine
From CNN Team in Kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian leadership has approved a military incursion into Ukraine, according to an address posted to his official Facebook account in early hours Thursday local time.
“I want to address all the Russian citizens. Not as a President. I address Russian citizens as a citizen of Ukraine,” Zelensky said in Russian. “There are over 2000 km of common border between us. Your army is along that border now. Almost 200,000 soldiers. Thousands of military vehicles."
Zelensky added:“Your leadership approved for them to take a step further, to the territory of another country."
The Ukraine president concluded, “This step can become a beginning of a great war at the European continent."
