Ukraine fights for its survival as Putin presses forward

Ukraine was fighting for its survival after Vladimir Putin unleashed a punishing offensive on the country that left hundreds dead or injured, and world leaders warning Moscow has embarked on a dangerous new era of imperial expansion.

The port city of Mariupol, which lies between the two regions of Ukraine already occupied by Russia, Crimea and the Donbas in the east, was also reported to be under heavy fire.

As Ukrainian diplomats pleaded with the world to stop the Russian aggression, Zelenskiy warned of a bleak return to the past.

While Russia was chairing an emergency session of the UN security council that was tasked with finding a way out of the crisis the Kremlin had engineered, Putin broadcast a declaration of war he had recorded three days earlier, underlining the futility of the global diplomatic efforts to dissuade him.

Ukrainian authorities said Russia had carried out 203 attacks and that fighting was raging across almost the entire territory.

Military sources in Ukraine said 20 Russian helicopters and Mi-8 aircraft had landed paratroopers at Hostomel airport in the Kyiv region, where forces from both sides were fighting for control. They said Ukrainian forces had killed 50 Russian troops, destroyed four Russian tanks, and downed six Russian planes and four helicopters. Zelenskiy also said Ukrainian forces were fighting to prevent Russian troops capturing the former nuclear power plant at Chernobyl.