EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – President Biden on Thursday said the U.S. would sanction major Russian banks and impose export controls on Russia to curtail Russian high-tech imports, as part of a coordinated effort within allies to penalize the Kremlin for its military attack against Ukraine. 

In remarks from the East Room of the White House, Biden said the sanctions would target Russian banks holding a combined $1 trillion in assets, including VTB Bank. He said the U.S. would also impose sanctions on additional Russian elites with links to the Kremlin. 

It was among the most worrying developments on an already shocking day, as Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday: warfare at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, where radioactivity is still leaking from history’s worst nuclear disaster 36 years ago.

Russian forces took control over the site after a fierce battle with Ukrainian national guards protecting the decommissioned plant, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told The Associated Press.

He said the condition of the plant’s facilities, a confinement shelter and a repository for nuclear waste is unknown.

With blasts heard around Ukraine, the country’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba announced Russian military forces launched a full-scale invasion on Thursday morning.

Big explosions were heard before dawn Thursday in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as world leaders decried the start of an Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government.

Sirens rang out in Ukraine’s capital and people massed in train stations and took to roads, as the government said the former Soviet republic was seeing a long-anticipated invasion from the east, north and south and reported more than 40 soldiers had been killed and dozens wounded.

The Russian military said it has struck Ukrainian air bases and other military assets and hasn’t targeted populated areas. The Russian Defense Ministry statement said the military is using precision weapons to target Ukrainian air bases, air defense assets and other military infrastructure. It claimed that “there is no threat to civilian population.”

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on Facebook that the Russian military has launched missile strikes on Ukrainian military command facilities, air bases and military depots in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro.

After the initial explosions in Kyiv, people could be heard shouting in the streets. But then a sense of normality returned, with cars circulating and people walking in the streets as a pre-dawn commute appeared to be starting in relative calm.

In a tweet, Kuleba said Ukrainian cities were under strikes and called Russian military activity “a war of aggression.” He announced Russian military forces crossed the Belarusian border on Thursday morning.

“Ukraine will defend itself and will win,” he wrote.

Russian military forces will conduct a “special military operation,” in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday night, the Associated Press reported.

The announcement signaled the beginning of an impending conflict between Russia and Ukraine that provoked many attempts at diplomatic solutions in prior weeks.

President Joe Biden denounced Russian military efforts calling them “unprovoked” and “unjustified.” He says Russia is acting alone and will be held responsible.

Biden issued a statement on Wednesday night saying he will monitor events as they unfold in Ukraine. And, he will meet with members of the G7 in the morning. An address to the American people will follow the meeting, he stated.

“The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces,” Biden stated. “President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.”

Hours before Russian military action began, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky made a direct plea with the Russian people saying his country wanted peace.

“The Ukrainian people want peace,” Zelensky said in a statement.

El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar tweeted saying the U.S. stands with Ukraine.

On Tuesday, the United States and European countries announced financial sanctions on banks and Russian oligarchs.

Russian troops and armored vehicles had amassed on the western border with Ukraine, in Belarus and on the Crimean peninsula since the beginning of the year. The Russian navy had also conducted naval exercises in the Black Sea and the nearby sea of Azov.

The U.S. and allies in Europe had exercised diplomatic approaches with Russian president Vladimir Putin for weeks, even as military officials warned of a full-scale invasion as Russian troops entered Belarus for military drills.

Last week, Biden said U.S. intelligence showed President Vladimir Putin had decided to invade Ukraine during a press conference in Washington. He urged the Russian president to “choose diplomacy.”

  • A Ukrainian National guard soldier guards a mobile checkpoint together with the Ukrainian Security Service agents and police officers during a joint operation, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. Fears of a new war in Europe have resurged as U.S. President Joe Biden warned that Russia could invade Ukraine within days, and violence spiked in a long-running standoff in eastern Ukraine that some fear could be the spark for wider conflict. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
  • A view of Ukraine’s national flag waves above the capital with the Motherland Monument on the right, in Kyiv Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022. Some airlines have halted or diverted flights to Ukraine amid heightened fears that an invasion by Russia is imminent despite intensive weekend talks between the Kremlin and the West. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
  • This Feb. 15, 2022 satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows attack helicopters deployed at Zyabrovka airfield in Belarus. (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP)
  • Ukrainian Army soldiers pose for a photo as they gather to celebrate a Day of Unity in Odessa, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. As Western officials warned a Russian invasion could happen as early as today, the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy called for a Day of Unity, with Ukrainians encouraged to raise Ukrainian flags across the country. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
  • FILE – In this grab taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022, a Russian tanks roll during a military exercising at a training ground in Rostov region, Russia. The Kremlin, which has denied having any invasion plans, has scoffed at an argument that it wants to see the ground frozen to launch an attack on Ukraine. Ukrainian officials agree that the mud isn’t an issue. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
  • This Feb. 15, 2022 satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of road construction and new pontoon bridge over the Pripyat River, Belarus. (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP)
  • Bricks and debris mixes with toys below a damaged wall after the reported shelling on a kindergarten in the settlement of Stanytsia Luhanska, Ukraine Thursday late, Feb. 17, 2022. UU.S. President Joe Biden sounded unusually dire Thursday, as he warned that Washington saw no signs of a promised Russian withdrawal — but instead saw more troops moving toward the border with Ukraine, indicating Moscow could invade within days. (AP Photo/Oleksandr Ratushniak)
  • In this photo taken from video and released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022, a soldier fires during a Russian and Belarusian joint military drills at Brestsky firing range, Belarus. Russian and Belarus troops held joint combat training at firing ranges in Belarus Wednesday as tensions remain high under the looming threat of war with Ukraine. The drills involved motorized rifle, artillery and anti-tank missile units, as well tanks’ and armoured personnel carriers’ crews. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
  • An instructor trains members of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces, volunteer military units of the Armed Forces, in a city park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. Dozens of civilians have been joining Ukraine’s army reserves in recent weeks amid fears about Russian invasion. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz following their talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. Putin said Moscow is ready for security talks with the U.S. and NATO, as the Russian military announced a partial troop withdrawal from drills near Ukraine — new signs that may suggest a Russian invasion of its neighbor isn’t imminent despite snowballing Western fears. (Sergey Guneev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
  • In this image made from video provided by the Border Service of Ukraine, military vehicles pass a control point at the Armyansk checkpoint at the Ukraine-Crimea border, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. The Ukrainian border service on Thursday released video it said showed Russian military vehicles crossing its border from Crimea. In a statement, it added that “the movement of military equipment from the peninsula is being recorded across the administrative border”. (Border Service of Ukraine via AP)
  • A military personnel walks past Shenyang Aircraft Corporation’s J-16 multirole strike fighter for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) at the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai in southern China’s Guangdong province on September 28, 2021. (Photo by NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)
  • Russian armored vehicles are loaded onto railway platforms at a railway station in region not far from Russia-Ukraine border, in the Rostov-on-Don region, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022. U.S. President Joe Biden announced the U.S. was ordering heavy financial sanctions against Russia, declaring that Moscow had flagrantly violated international law in what he called the “beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.” (AP Photo)
  • A Soviet-era top secret over-the-horizon radar system once used as part of the Soviet missile defense early-warning radar network, seen behind a radioactivity sign in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on Nov. 22, 2018. Among the most worrying developments on an already shocking day, as Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, was warfare at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, where radioactivity is still leaking from history’s worst nuclear disaster 36 years ago. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
  • Ukrainian military track burns at an air defence base in the aftermath of an apparent Russian strike in Mariupol, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian troops have launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine. Big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as world leaders decried the start of Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
  • ERCOT filed a report with the Texas Public Utility Commission outlining which power generators were in compliance with weatherization rules, and which companies had asked for exceptions to the rule. (KXAN Photo)
  • Debris from a home and a burned car in the aftermath of Russian shelling outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russia on Thursday unleashed a barrage of air and missile strikes on Ukrainian facilities across the country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
  • A shelter construction covers the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 27, 2021. Ukrainian authorities decided to use the deserted exclusion zone around the Chernobyl power plant to build a repository where Ukraine could store its nuclear waste for the next 100 years. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
  • Ukrainian military track burns at an air defence base in the aftermath of an apparent Russian strike in Mariupol, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian troops have launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine. Big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as world leaders decried the start of Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
  • Damaged radar, a vehicle and equipment are seen at a Ukrainian military facility outside Mariupol, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russia has launched a barrage of air and missile strikes on Ukraine early Thursday and Ukrainian officials said that Russian troops have rolled into the country from the north, east and south. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
  • Damaged radar arrays and other equipment is seen at Ukrainian military facility outside Mariupol, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russia has launched a barrage of air and missile strikes on Ukraine early Thursday and Ukrainian officials said that Russian troops have rolled into the country from the north, east and south. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
  • The aftermath of an explosion in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian troops have launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine. Big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as world leaders decried the start of an Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
  • Smoke and flame rise near a military building after an apparent Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian troops have launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine. Big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as world leaders decried the start of an Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
  • Traffic jams are seen as people leave the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a military operation in Ukraine and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to “consequences you have never seen.” (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
  • The aftermath of an explosion in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian troops have launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine. Big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as world leaders decried the start of an Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
  • People walk past the aftermath of Russian shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian troops have launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine. Big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as world leaders decried the start of an Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
  • A Ukrainian soldier talks with her comrades sitting in a shelter at the line of separation between Ukraine-held territory and rebel-held territory near Svitlodarsk, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022. U.S. President Joe Biden announced the U.S. was ordering heavy financial sanctions against Russia, declaring that Moscow had flagrantly violated international law in what he called the “beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.” (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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