Ukraine: Long peacetime in Europe shattered, Putin finally lets his forces loose

After days of posturing, Vladimir Putin has finally let loose his forces on Ukraine. The road-ahead on this long-festering conflict is now anyone's guess. But the spectre of a full-scale, multi-side, multi-nation war is suddenly firmly on the horizon.

The scope of the operation is not fully clear as of now. Here are the key things we know so far.

1. Russian military action was authorised by Putin in Ukraine's Donbass region in the early hours of today.


2. Ukrainian military has been told by Russia to lay down their weapons and go home.

3. Putin said Russia was left with "no choice but to defend itself against threats emanating from modern Ukraine".

4. Reuters sources in Kyiv reported hearing explosions which sounded like artillery shelling.

5. Putin said his forces would "respond immediately if any external force tried to interfere" with the action in Ukraine.

6. Russia would try to "de-militarise and de-Nazify Ukraine", Putin said.

7. As per US reports, Russia had stationed nearly 1,50,000 troops near its border with Ukraine.

8. Russia alleges aggression by Ukraine, a charge the latter denies.

9. All responsibility for bloodshed will be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine," Putin said.

10. Reaction from many quarters, including world markets, are already pouring in. In a sign of the gathering gloom, oil has breached the psychological $100 barrier for the first time in 7 years.

** It is a developing story, and will be updated as and when new reports come in.