Fears shelling is under way as residents are awoken by 3.30am blasts 30 miles from Russian border hours after warnings Putin was ‘ready to go’ with invasion
- Video footage appeared to show clouds of smoke rising up into the night sky near Mariupol, but it was unconfirmed whether it was as a result of shelling
- Residents in the major port city, located in south eastern Ukraine, woke up at 3.30am to explosions
- It just comes hours after the U.S. warned that Putin’s troops are ‘ready to go now’ with an invasion of Ukraine
Explosions have been heard near the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, as fears mount that shelling is underway.
Residents in the city, which is located in south eastern Ukraine, have been woken up at 3.30am this morning by blasts 30 miles from the Russian border.
Video footage appeared to show clouds of smoke rising up into the night sky near Mariupol, but it was unconfirmed whether it was as a result of shelling.
The explosions come just hours after the U.S. warned the Ukrainian government that Putin’s troops are ‘ready to go now’ with an invasion of Ukraine, with 80 per cent of Russian soldiers now assembled around the country in attack positions.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken issued a further stark warning and said he believed Russia will invade before the night is over.
And in a further worrisome move, Russia issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) which closed the airspace along its northeastern border with Ukraine to all civilian air traffic. Ukraine later said early on Thursday it had restricted civilian flights in its airspace due to ‘potential hazard’.