good morning to viewers here in the united states and around the world. it is thursday, freebruary 24th. this is cnn s special live coverage of breaking news. ukraine under siege from all sides. russian president vladimir putin unleashing a multi-pronged large-scale military invasion. no city is safe. explosions reported in at least 16 locations in ukraine all over from kyiv, to mariupol, odessa in the south, all the way pest to lviv. we have brand-new images showing damage done by a bombing operation near kyiv. some of kyiv s 3 million citizens, grabbing their belongings, fleeing west in this exodus from the capital. cnn has obtained exclusive video from ukrainian border guards. you can see military vehicles
demille demille tearization of ukraine. ukrainians have been told to stay in their homes. we saw them kneeling and praying on the streets of kharkiv. president zelenskyy pleading for peace in a nationally twiced attack moments ago. putin began war against ukraine, against the entire democratic world. he wants to destroy my country, our country. everything we have been building, everything we are living for. we know the strength of the armed forces of ukraine. you are in dtkdom inable. you are ukrainians. you re watching here video of matthew chance. he was reporting live from kyiv when all of this began. you can see he had to rush there
the heck out of there because you know there s incoming back toward you. the incoming army may be doing a good job of counterfire. i hope that s the case and that is what sam may be seeing. . general, stand by. sam, you as well. stand by. stay safe. keep us posted as you see and hear more things. let s go now to the state department with cnn s kylie atwood. what is the latest from state officials, kylie? reporter: we are learning there are no more u.s. diplomats on the ground in ukraine. you ll remember there were only a small number of diplomats that remained in the country at all aftermost of them have been ordered to leave once the u.s. embassy in kyiv had closed. they have been subtling back, spending their nights in poland. last night was the last night they spent in poland. they will not be going back to
things. joining me now from kyiv, the capital, is chief foreign affairs correspondent for the wall street journal . thank you so much for being with us. you re on the streets right now. give us the significance of what you are seeing and hearing. reporter: well, the missile strikes and air strikes began at 5:00 a.m. this morning. they were followed quickly by all borders from belarus, crimea in the south, russia and recently airborne landings on the outskirts of kyiv. so we are seeing a full-fledged invasion of ukraine by russia. give me the historical significance of this moment to see the post world war ii order truly unupp ended before your v
counterattacks. but that is a real key element in what they are saying here. the ground forces that cnn has seen, cnn has seen evidence in the belarusian territory north of the capital kyiv going south. there is some evidence they have been crossing here. are these then, the ground elements, going to be used for what vladimir putin signaled will be kind of program, purge against the leadership here? we have had western intelligence services, both british and american talk, about lists of politicians that need to be killed and jailed, potential resistance leaders. we know military headquarters in kyiv has been attacked. the ukrainians would have factored all that into their military planning. what we may have been hearing is not shelling coming in necessarily from belorod but