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Watch: Huge traffic as people desperate to leave Kyiv amid Russian offensive
People started leaving the capital as soon as Putin authorised the attack on Ukraine and with the air raid sirens people started to flock to the exit routes.
With Russia attacking Ukraine on Thursday in a quick escalation of the ongoing tension, it was a desolate scene across the country's main cities with people scrambling to find refuge. Photos and videos of huge traffic on the way out of Kyiv have gone viral on social media. One of such videos has been posted by Belarus's media channel Nexta.
As shown in the video, one way of the road is jammed with cars as far as it can be seen, with the channel claiming that this is the traffic of people in a hurry to leave the capital, though the government has asked the residents of Kyiv to not leave the city right now.
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The exodus began soon after Putin authorised the attack on Ukraine and with the air raid sirens people started to flock to the exit routes. According to reports, people queued up at cash machines and subway stations in a race to flee the city
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Russia's ground forces crossed into Ukraine from several directions, Ukraine's border guard service said, confirming casualties, hours after President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of a major offensive.
Russian tanks and other heavy equipment crossed the frontier in several northern regions, as well as from the Kremlin-annexed peninsula of Crimea in the south, the agency said.
