LIVE: COVERAGE OF THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE

An invasion of Ukraine has begun, with Russian President Putin declaring war

Here’s what you need to know:

The White House has made a dire warning saying Vladimir Putin has “greater ambitions” than simply Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Zelensky: today we lost 137 military and civilians, including 10 officers. All defenders of the Snake island are dead.

There have been reports about 11 female soldiers who died after Putin’s missile hit their barracks.

Meanwhile the Russian army lost more than 30 tanks, up to 130 armoured fighting vehicles, 5 aircraft and 6 helicopters on the first day of the full-scale invasion, said Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Authorities in the Ukrainian city of Lviv have ordered a city-wide lights out as a precautionary message.

There is fierce fighting across multiple fronts. An adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office said Russian forces had captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Heavy exchanges of fire were also taking place in the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv in the northeast and Kherson and Odessa in the south.

Ukraine says 57 people have been killed on the first day of conflict with 169 wounded.

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy says a new iron curtain was falling and closing Russia off from the civilised world.

A cerfew is in place in Kyiv, but the government has handed out 10,000 automatic rifles to civillians in Kyiv.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled a package of “severe” sanctions against Russia targeting banks – even blocking Russian airline Aeroflot from the UK.

European Union leaders will implement further sanctions. But Moscow has threatened to respond with “tit-for-tat” measures

White House: Chernobyl staff ‘held hostage’

White House press secretary Jen Psaki just told reporters at her daily briefing that there are reports Russian soldiers are holding the staff of the Ukrainian nuclear site hostage.

“We are outraged by credible reports that Russian soldiers are currently holding the staff of the Chernobyl facilities hostage,” she said.

“This unlawful and dangerous hostage-taking, which could upend the routine civil service efforts required to maintain and protect the nuclear waste facilities, is obviously incredibly alarming and gravely concerning.

“We condemn it and we request their release.”

Downing street says Ukraine is ready to combat

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told his government on Thursday evening that Ukrainian soldiers have been putting up a fight – defending their nation.

What would Swift sanctions mean for Russia?

President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have both said that cutting Russia off from the global banking system, Swift, is not being proposed right now.

But what would happen if it was?

Excluding Russia from Swift would risk severe repercussions for banks that are owed money – either now or in the longer term.

This is particularly true in Germany, which has deep financial ties with Russia and feels it has done its share of economic sacrifice by suspending certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Although being de-Swifted would be disruptive for Russia, there is an alternate system – called CFPS – that Russia set up after it annexed Crimea in 2014.

Similarly, China has also set up a secondary system, CIPS.

Expelling Russia would probably only push it closer to China and play into the hands of the Xi administration, which is keen to “de-dollarise” the world’s financial architecture. This would accelerate that trend and ambition.