Attacks across Ukraine as dozens die in Russian invasion
published : 25 Feb 2022 at 09:00
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: AFP
Russian missiles and shelling hit Ukrainian cities after President Vladimir Putin unleashed a full-scale ground invasion and air assault.
Across Ukraine, at least 137 "heroes" were killed after the first day of fighting, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The United States moved to impose sanctions on Russian elites and banks, but stressed that US forces would not head to eastern Europe to fight in Ukraine, but would instead defend "every inch" of NATO territory.
Witnesses told AFP that Russian paratroopers took control of Gostomel airfield, on the outskirts of Kyiv, after swooping in with helicopters and jets from the direction of Belarus.
Elsewhere, Russian ground forces moved into Ukraine from the north, south and east, forcing many Ukrainians to flee their homes.
Moscow's defence ministry said its forces had "successfully completed" their objectives for the day, earlier claiming to have destroyed over 70 Ukrainian military targets, including 11 airfields.
Vocabulary
- assault: an attack by the armed forces - การทำร้ายด้วยอาวุธ
- defend: to protect against an attack - ป้องกัน,ต้าน
- elite: the richest, most powerful, best educated or most highly trained group in a society - คนที่มีอภิสิทธิ์ที่สุด
- flee: to leave a place or person quickly because you are afraid of possible danger - หนี อพยพ
- hero: a person, especially a man, who is admired by many people for doing something brave or good - วีรบุรุษ
- impose: to force someone to accept something - กำหนด,บังคับ
- invasion: an occasion when one country’s army goes into another country to take control of it by force - การลุกล้ำอาณาบริเวณ
- objectives (noun): what you plan to achieve; goals; aims - เป้าหมาย
- outskirts: the areas at the edge of a city - ชานเมือง
- paratroopers: soldiers trained to be dropped from an aircraft with a parachute - พลร่ม, ทหารพลร่ม
- sanction: an official order, such as the stopping of trade or business dealings, which is taken against a country, group or person in order to make it obey international law - การคว่ำบาตร
- swoop: a sudden and unexpected attack on a place - การจู่โจม
- territory: an area of land controlled by a particular country, leader or army - อาณาบริเวณ อาณาเขตประเทศ
- unleash: to release suddenly a strong, uncontrollable and usually destructive force - ปล่อย, ก่อให้เกิดผลรุนแรง
