Ukraine news – live: Zelensky says thousands could die as US warns of attack before night is over

Russia will likely invade Ukraine before the night is over, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC News on Wednesday, though the diplomat said there’s still a chance to “avert a major aggression.”

“Everything seems to be in place for Russia to engage in a major aggression against Ukraine,” Mr Blinken said.

He noted, however, that details about the precise time or place of any such an attack are still unknown.

Ukraine’s president has warned that ten of thousands could be killed as he vowed to repel any Russian invasion.

In speech delivered in the early hours of Thursday morning, Volodymyr Zelensky instead that the people of Ukraine wanted peace.

Yet he said if Russia were to push ahead with an invasion, his country and his people would defend themselves. Read Andrew Buncombe’s piece below for the full story.

Russia has claimed separatists in the Donbas region have asked for military help to repel “aggression”, as the long-brewing crisis at Ukraine’s border shows signs of coming to a head.

As Kiev’s parliament voted to declare a state of emergency on Wednesday, in the wake of the Kremlin’s incendiary move to recognise parts of eastern Ukraine as independent entities, satellite imagery showed a number of new military deployments in western Russia.

The images released by Maxar Technologies showed military convoys, artillery and armoured personnel carriers, with support equipment and troops, many of them within 10 miles of the border with Ukraine and less than 50 miles from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the private US intelligence firm said.

The Independent’s Andy Gregory has more.

A Russian invasion could displace up to five million Ukrainians in “tidal waves of suffering”, a US envoy has told the UN.

As the leader of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, delivered an emotional early hours to his country warning that address warning that Russia’s Vladmir Putin had ignored his call and thousands could be killed in fighting, the US’s UN Ambassador said five million Ukrainians could be displaced if an invasion proceeded.

Addressing the gathering of 193 UN member countries, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said already almost three million Ukrainians — half of them older people or children — needed food, shelter and other lifesaving emergency assistance.

The Independent’s Andrew Buncombe has the details on this breaking news story.

More than 1,000 people protested in front of Russian embassy in Notting Hill Gate, west London, this evening.

The demo was in response to Vladimir Putin’s moves to recognise two separatist states in eastern Ukraine as independent.

Olesya Khromeychuk, director of the Ukrainian Institute London, said at the protest that her brother was killed in 2017 in the Luhansk region, one of the two rebel-control states declared independent on Monday.

Her brother was serving with the Ukrainian armed forces when he was killed serving on the frontline by shrapnel, she said.

On Twitter, Ms Khromeychuk wrote urged people to join future demos that will be “planned in the coming days”.

Rumour has it that Russia is poised to escalate military action against Ukraine at 4am local time on Thursday.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky – speaking Russian – has addressed the people of Russia this evening to warn that Vladimir Putin’s recent moves against Ukraine “could become the beginning of a big war”.

The “mood is grim” in Kiev but citizens are intent on keeping their friends close by calling each other and drinking tea into the night, Guardian journalist Luke Harding has said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has addressed the people of Russia tonight to warn that Vladimir Putin’s recent moves “could become the beginning of a big war”.

He said that Putin has refused to take his call today amid the ever-heightened tensions between the two nations.

A translation of Mr Zelensky’s 10-minute address posted to Telegram – in which he spoke Ukrainian and Russian – was tweeted by New York Times’ Moscow bureau chief Anton Troianovski.

Mr Zelensky said: “We are separated by more than 2,000 km of mutual borders, along which 200,000 of your soldiers and 1,000 armored vehicles are standing.

“Your leadership has approved their step forward onto the territory of another country. This step could become the beginning of a big war.

“The cause could come up at any moment, any provocation, any spark, a spark that could burn everything down. You are told that this flame will liberate the people of Ukraine, but the Ukrainian people are free.”

He added: “You are told we hate Russian culture. How can one hate a culture? … We are different, but that is not a reason to be enemies. Listen to the voice of reason. The people of Ukraine want peace … We don’t need war.

“But if we are attacked, if someone attempts to take away our land, our freedom, our lives, the lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. We won’t attack, but defend ourselves. By attacking, you will see our faces, not our backs, but our faces.”

“ … Do Russians want war? I would very much like to answer this question. But the answer depends only on you – the citizens of the Russian Federation.”

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said he had demanded an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council regarding the latest appeal of pro-Russian separatists to Russia for military assistance.

“Ukraine has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council due to the appeal by Russian occupation administrations in Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia with a request to provide them with military assistance, which is a further escalation of the security situation,” he said on Twitter.

Satellite imagery taken today shows a number of new deployments in western Russia, many of them within 10 miles of the border with Ukraine, a US company said.

Many of the new deployments are less than 50 miles from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, according to Maxar Technologies.

The images showed field deployment, military convoys, artillery and armored personnel carriers with support equipment and troops.

Reuters news agency said it could not independently verify the images.

New editions of a few magazines published this week have some noteworthy covers depicting the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The Spectator magazine features a pint-sized Vladimir Putin colouring outside the Russian border lines with a red crayon, with the headline ‘Vlad the Invader’.

The New Statesman magazine has taken a sombre turn, from its usual white cover, for a special edition with the headline “darkness falls” – with the Ukrainian and EU flags.