Now Russia has invaded Ukraine, the West has to try to stop Putin — but how?

Russia has invaded Ukraine. Can Russia and President Putin be stopped?

The beginning of a special military operation was announced by Putin early Thursday.

In a televised address, Putin said that Russia did not plan to occupy Ukraine but wanted to protect its citizens. He warned that any countries that tried to interfere with Russia would face consequences they had never seen.

Russian attacks began on cities across the country, with explosions reported in several key cities. According to reports, the explosions are still going on.

The developments are shocking after months of simmering tensions and concerns over Russia's intentions towards its neighbor.

The attack comes days after Putin ordered Russian troops to enter eastern Ukraine to maintain peace.

Thursday's assault is bigger and quicker than many thought, and experts thought it could be a sign of things to come.

According to experts, the goal of this military action is to force a change in the political leadership in Ukraine and to install a pro-Russia regime.

Based on Putin's speech and the initial waves of strikes, it is clear that we are in a scenario in which Russia launches major attacks across Ukraine and tries to overthrow the government.

Despite Putin's claim to the contrary, it is likely that this will include occupation of some territory by Russian forces.

The attack is shaking the financial markets. European markets are set to plunge at the open on Thursday as a military conflict has broken out in its soil.

The U.S. and European officials promised a lot of sanctions to deter Russia from attacking. They imposed a set of measures on Russian individuals, financial institutions and debt after Russia's recognition of the areas in eastern Ukraine.

After the invasion started, the U.S. President promised more measures to hit Russia's economy. An emergency meeting of the EU will be held Thursday to discuss its response. The Chancellor of Germany called Russia's actions a dark day for Europe and 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266

A raft of measures imposed on Russia following its annexation of the peninsula of Crimea have not deterred the president.

According to Timothy Ash, senior emerging markets strategist at Bluebay Asset Management, Putin is putting a new Iron Curtain across Europe. We are all less safe because of this.

The West needs to sanction Russia for this.

The country's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, called for more weapons and financial assistance for the West.

The world can and must stop Putin from causing more damage to Ukraine, said Kuleba in a separate message. The time to act is now.

Western nations, such as the U.S. and U.K., have supported Ukraine. NATO's deployment in eastern Europe has been reinforced by military hardware from other European countries.

NATO is not bound to defend Ukraine because it is not a member of the EU or NATO.

There are questions over how far the West will go to stop Russia from taking over the country, and whether the EU and the U.S. are willing to use military means.

Rome expects a package of sanctions to be announced in the near future that will severely damage Russia's economy.

Adding many of Russia's largest banks to the US's list of Specially Designated Nationals will be part of that.

The EU and UK will have similar measures. We expect Western policymakers to go beyond their worst-case scenario plans, which puts Russia's expulsion from the SWIFT financial messaging system in play, given the severity of the Russian actions. The Nord Stream 2 will be offline indefinitely.

Germany halted its approval process for the massive gas line, which was designed to double Russia's gas imports to Germany and the rest of Europe.

The pressure is on the West to counter Russia's aggressive stance towards its neighbors and former Soviet states.

Europe's largest and longest-standing democracies and economies are located on the righthand flank of Europe.

Russia's president has long extolled the unity of Ukrainians and Russians, giving speeches and even writing an essay on the historical, cultural and linguistic ties between the nations. He stated on Monday that the break up of the USSR was a mistake and that Ukraine was created out of Russian lands.

The government of Ukraine is trying to align itself with Europe and join the EU and NATO.

The pivot to the West is a bone of contention for Putin, who is eager to maintain Russia's sphere of influence. Russia wants legal assurances that Ukraine will never be able to join NATO, which would bring the military alliance's border to Russian territory.

Russia claims that its security concerns have been ignored because of this demand being refused by the West.

The latest attack by Russia and the West will have far-reaching impacts on the global economy, and will mark the beginning of the Russian invasion, according to Rome.

It will also mark the return of a major militarized border in Europe, raising tensions between Russia and NATO countries from the Baltic states to countries on the Black Sea. The risk of conflict spilling over into Poland, Hungary, or Romania is something the U.S. and NATO will face. Huge refugee flows loom on the horizon, he warned.

It is not clear if Russia has the military manpower to occupy Ukraine.

The number of Russian troops is still insufficient to occupy and hold large parts of the Ukrainian territory, especially considering expectedly strong local resistance.

He said that Moscow's goal was to force Ukraine to concede to Russia's demands.

Putin has outlined a new set of demands for Kyiv, which include the recognition of Crimea and Sevastopol as Russian territory, the demilitarization of the country, and the negotiation of the situation in Donbas.

To advance its goals, Russia could use a variety of actions, including military action aimed at degrading the country's defensive capabilities, causing significant casualties, and damaging critical infrastructure in the hope of a swift capitulation by the Ukrainian side.

Tursa said that Moscow could try to use a variety of tactics to demoralize Ukraine.

This could include large-scale terrorist acts, political assassinations, cyber- attacks on critical infrastructure, and other actions aimed at sowing chaos and undermining the country's ability as well as willingness to defend.