As RedState reported earlier, Secretary of State Antony Blinken shared on Wednesday evening that he believed Russia would fully invade Ukraine within hours. That has now been confirmed by none other than Vladimir Putin himself.

Per an announcement from the Russian president, his military forces are moving into greater Ukraine, including Kyiv, in order to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the sovereign nation.

JUST IN – Putin announces in a televised speech the start of a military operation against #Ukraine and declares that Russia aims to demilitarize the neighboring country.

Calls on the Ukrainian military to "lay down its arms."

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) February 24, 2022

None of this is hypothetical anymore. Explosions are being heard in multiple Ukrainian cities. It is clear that a major military attack is underway.

UPDATE: Multiple live video streams show Ukraine's major cities coming under fire. Ukrainian media reporting nearly all major cities are under attack.

— Election Wizard 🇺🇸 (@ElectionWiz) February 24, 2022

Something massive just exploded in Kharkiv pic.twitter.com/GlKY1S8VbV

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) February 24, 2022

Unconfirmed reports now that covert (& possibly airborne) #Russia troops have captured #Kyiv Airport tonight.

Intel intercepts had predicted that as an initial move.

— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) February 24, 2022

Putin also levied some disturbing threats against the west, seeming to suggest he would be willing to use nuclear weapons if the NATO countries or any other nation intervene.

PUTIN: Foreign powers that intervene in Ukraine will witness consequences they have not seen before.

— Election Wizard 🇺🇸 (@ElectionWiz) February 24, 2022

This will be an ongoing story throughout the night, no doubt seeing many updates, and there will be a time to debate how involved the United States should be regarding any possible response. I don’t believe that time is now, though. Innocent people are losing their lives as I type this, at the hands of a scumbag dictator with delusions of grandeur. At the very least, that should be condemned for what it is, even if one believes it’s not our fight.

The politics of this situation, including the litany of ridiculous decisions from US leadership that helped empower Putin, are absolutely relevant and deserve a full reckoning. That will come. For now, pray for the Ukrainians who are suffering tonight. We’ll get to the rest later.