Kiev has ordered civilians to rush to bomb shelters amid fears Russia is about to bombard the Ukrainian capital as its troops battle for control of a key airfield around 15 miles away after Vladimir Putin launched an all-out attack on the country by land and by air.
'They are going to bomb Kyiv now. Authorities told us to hide in shelters,' a source in the city told MailOnline amid reports the Ukrainians have started shelling Antonov Airport as an offensive began to re-take it from Russian forces which had landed there earlier in the day via dozens of helicopters - some of which were shot down by Ukrainian MiG fighters.
Ukrainian forces were this afternoon fighting in almost every region of the country, battling the Russians for control of military bases, airports and cities after an early-hours barrage of cruise missiles and guided bombs targeting ammo dumps and radar arrays.
By Thursday afternoon, battles were ongoing in the capital Kiev, along the northern border with Belarus, in Luhansk and Donetsk in the east and around Kherson and the Dneiper River in the south.
Ukrainian forces appeared to be putting up a stiff resistance around Kharkiv, in the east, where multiple Russian tanks and armoured vehicles were pictured having been destroyed by Kiev's forces - with bodies lying in the streets. Two Russian soldiers were also captured by Kiev's forces in the area.
But fighting appeared to be going less well in the south, with Russian tanks breaking out of Crimea near Kherson and moving towards the Dnieper River where they linked up with more helicopters and seized power plants - with a Russian flag seen raised over Kakhovka Hydroelectric plant in the early afternoon.
Border guard units said they were fighting for control of the eastern city of Sumy against Russian forces while fierce battles were also raging in Donetsk and Luhansk against pro-Russian rebel forces who launched an attack from rebel-held enclaves.
Estimates of dead and injured were almost non-existent as of early afternoon. One Ukrainian official said 'hundreds' had been killed in early fighting, while another put the death toll at 40 Ukrainians and 50 Russians.
