Iran Press/ Europe: On Thursday morning, 24 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially announced a special military operation against Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin says he had no other choice than to launch the military operation to stop the Ukrainian military’s interference in two eastern republics that have broken away from Ukraine. Russia perceives NATO’s eastward expansion as a threat.
Russia has been the target of harsh sanctions by the United States and its allies these days over its support for Russian ethnicities in eastern Ukraine and its recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk region.
"The number of people fleeing Ukraine to neighboring countries has reached 677,000," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi tweeted.
He added that UN humanitarian agencies and their non-governmental partners had appealed for $ 1.7 billion in aid to help internally displaced people and Ukrainian refugees in the region.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also predicted that more than four million Ukrainian refugees may eventually need support and assistance in neighboring countries.
On the sixth day of military operations in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the destruction of 1,325 Ukrainian military bases and infrastructure, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky announced that all major cities in the country are under siege by Russian forces. 219
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