Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy has aid that the country has cut diplomatic ties with Russia after it was attacked on Thursday morning by troops from Russia.

Ukraine said that Russian shelling has already killed many people, but the Russian government, however, declared that its operations pose no threat to civilians.

Oleksii Arestovich adviser to Ukraine’s president, said “The Ukrainian military is waging hard battles, repelling attacks in Donbas and other regions in the east, north, and south,”

More so the Ukrainian government noted that about 40 people so far have been died as a result of the  “full-scale war” by the Russian government.

Russia had blamed Ukraine for the escalation in the conflict between the two neighbors as President Vladimir Putin officially ordered the deployment of Russia’s military in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

“The root of today’s crisis around Ukraine is the actions of Ukraine itself, who for many years were sabotaging its obligations under the Minsk package of measures,” Vassily Nebenzia, Russian UN Ambassador, said.

He said this at an emergency Security Council meeting in New York, as he informed the council of the Kremlin’s decision to deploy troops in the area.

Nebenzya went on to justify Moscow’s military operation under article 51 of the UN Charter, which allows for “self-defense.”

Ukrainian UN Ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, who spoke after Nebenzya, told the meeting that Putin had declared war on his country.

Ukraine: EU to impose new ‘massive and severe’ sanctions against Russia

“When I was coming here an hour ago or so, I was intending to ask the Russian ambassador to confirm on the record that the Russian troops will not start firing at Ukrainians today and go ahead with the offensive.

“It became useless 48 minutes ago because about 48 minutes ago your president declared war on Ukraine,” Kyslytsya said.