Feb 24, 2022, 5:41 AM EST
Russia attacking Ukraine from north, east, south, Zelenskyy says
Russian forces are attacking Ukraine "from the north, east and south," according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"Our soldiers are heavily fighting, the aggressor suffered heavy losses," Zelenskyy said in an address to the Ukrainian public from Kyiv on Thursday morning. "We have wounded soldiers."
He added that the Ukrainian military "is giving and will give weapons to everyone who is able to defend out country."
The Ukrainian president also announced that his country has "cut diplomatic ties with Russia."
"Ukraine is defending its freedom," he said. "Citizens of Russia will choose today their own way. Time for you to come out and protest this war with Ukraine."
Just hours before Russia launched the early morning invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbor, a senior Pentagon official told ABC News: "You are likely in the last few hours of peace on the European continent for a long time to come. Be careful."
-ABC News' Julia Drozd and Martha Raddatz