Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Here's what you need to know about the Ukraine crisis right now:

* Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea on Thursday, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War 2.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin says his aim is to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine.

* Missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities and explosions were heard near the capital Kyiv.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to world leaders to impose all possible sanctions, saying Putin wanted to destroy the Ukrainian state.

* The EU will freeze Russian assets, halt access of its banks to the European financial market and target “Kremlin interests” over its “barbaric attack”, senior officials said.

* US President Joe Biden said Washington and its allies would impose “severe sanctions” over what he called Putin's “premeditated war”.

* Ukraine's military said it destroyed four Russian tanks near the eastern city of Kharkiv, killed 50 troops near a town in the Luhansk region and downed a sixth Russian aircraft.

* Central European countries started preparations to receive people fleeing Ukraine, as dozens of cars queued on the Moldovan border.

* President Tayyip Erdogan told Putin that Turkey did not recognise steps against Ukraine's territorial integrity, Erdogan's office said.

* China rejected calling Russia's moves on Ukraine an “invasion” and urged all sides to exercise restraint.

* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko proposed that Russia and Ukraine hold talks in Minsk, the RIA news agency reported.

* Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights.

* Russia suspended movement of commercial vessels in the Azov sea, officials said.

* European stocks plunged 3% as investors dumped riskier assets. Russia's rouble hit an all-time low.

QUOTES

- “I have decided to conduct a special military operation ... to protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide,” Putin said. " ... We will strive for the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.”

- “Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.

COMING EVENTS

* Biden will meet his G7 counterparts on Thursday to map out harsher measures against Russia.

* EU leaders will discuss further sanctions at an emergency meeting on Thursday.

* Nato ambassadors will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday.

* The UN Security Council will discuss a resolution condemning the invasion.

* European Central Bank policymakers gathered for a meeting.