HORRIFYING images show civilians walking covered in blood after Russia blitzed an apartment block in Ukraine.
The airstrike comes as the Russian President declared war this morning after months of growing tensions.
Police sources reported explosions as air raid sirens blared as far west as Lviv while hundreds of casualties were reported by Ukraine's Interior Ministry as the country was placed under martial law.
Firefighters were seen trying to extinguish the flames of a house burning after an airstrike hit in Chuhuiv, Kharkiv.
A shocking video shows the moment a cyclist gets hit by a shell in Uman, in the Cherkassy region.
According to reports, one civilian was killed and five others wounded.
The evacuation of the population within a 19-mile radius of a military unit was announced.
Meanwhile, terrified Ukrainians were seen fleeing the country as explosions hit the capital Kyiv and other major cities.
Families took shelter inside subway stations while long queues were seen on platforms.
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Residents rushed to gas stations as they tried to head out of Kyiv but were met with gridlocked highways.
A shaken mum, Ksenya Michenka took cover with her teenage son in a metro station off Kyiv's Maidan Square.
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She said she ran to the subway station for cover "because Russia has started a war against Ukraine."
She said: "We need to save our lives.
"We hope the metro can save us because it is underground."
Thousands woke up terrified as Kyiv was rocked by a number of explosions.
Maria Kashkoska,29, said while sitting on the station's floor: "I woke up because of the sounds of bombing.
"I packed a bag and tried to escape. We are sitting here, waiting."
Ukrainian defence officials later said that Kyiv's main international airport had come under a Russian bombing attack.
A police car drove down Kyiv's main Khreshchyatyk Avenue urging everyone to remain calm and take shelter.
Long queues formed at petrol station as residents prepared to flee.
"I once again call on the people of Kharkiv to stay at home and to remain as calm as possible," mayor Igor Terekhov said.
62-year-old Vladimir Levichov said: "If they continue to bomb us, I will find weapons and defend my homeland."
Putin said the “special military operation” aims to "demilitarize" and "de-Nazify" Ukraine during his speech this morning.
The despot also sent a chilling warning to the West saying it "will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history" if they interfere.
Defiant Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now.”
President Voldymyr Zelenskyy said that "the Ukrainian people want peace," and that his government was "doing everything it can to build it" after Putin refused to speak to him last night.
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