The world is watching after Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces crossed the border into Ukraine.

As fighting in Ukraine intensifies and enters a third day, the country - and its president - remain defiant in the face of Russian aggression.

The attack has hit major cities across Ukraine and invading forces are now closing in on capital, Kyiv. Here’s how it’s unfolding so far and the key flashpoints.

The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck about 66 kilometres north-northwest of Bukittinggi, a hilly town in West Sumatra province, according to the US Geological Survey.

The Russian president has set in train the demise of his kleptocratic regime. It will wither and die like the old Soviet Union.

Yarnya Arieva and Svyatoslav Fursin took up arms on the first day of their honeymoon, like them thousands of Ukrainians are uniting against Russia’s fire power.

The TV comic was elected on a promise to bring peace. Now he’s at war against a much more seasoned character.

With disinformation rife, determining exactly what is happening in Ukraine is difficult. Here’s what could be confirmed by Saturday morning.

The Ukrainian government asked for help with cyber security. These volunteers formed a makeshift “cyberwar unit” and set to work on Russian officials and websites.

The Russian president’s words and actions against Ukraine are playing from the same songbook as Adolf Hitler.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have crossed into Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia as Russian missiles pounded the capital.

US President Joe Biden will nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first black woman on the Supreme Court.

A succession of global and local shocks have exposed Australia’s dangerous lack of self-reliance. There’s a way to fix it.

Vladimir Putin is no ranting Hitler nor monstrous Stalin, he is howling at the loss of the former Russian Empire and will do everything in his power to regain it.

Ukrainian officials said Russian forces had entered the city’s western outskirts and confirmed that a Ukrainian jet had been shot down over the suburbs.

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by our picture editors.

The Ukraine tragedy shows clearly that the West’s basic principles of democracy and self-determination are the right ones.

‘We are Australians of Russian background,’ says an Orthodox priest. ‘We don’t want to be held responsible for anything that has happened there’.

The Ukrainian President said 137 civilians and military personnel have been killed so far.

As rockets rained down on the country’s main cities, ordinary Ukrainians took refuge in underground ­stations – or tried to go about their day as normal.

Experts do not believe Russia will attempt to destroy Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants, but say the country’s crucial energy networks could be wielded as a strategic weapon in the conflict.

The Russian economy is large enough to absorb the impact of even the most severe sanctions.

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A clip has emerged of a purported exchange between Ukrainian soldiers on Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake Island, defying the Russian Navy and paying the ultimate price.

After vows of “swift and severe” sanctions, the US response was instead incremental and measured, and left the one thing that could really damage Russia off the table.

Dead people and a dog were among the electorate in the party vote which saw Valérie Pécresse crowned the leader of France’s right-wing Les Républicains (LR) party, according to a French newspaper investigation.

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The economic impact for Australia may not be so immediate, but it will feel the effects of significant global disruption.

Reality has finally set in for locals who have refused to believe the invasion could happen. But now it’s here, they’re ready to fight.

In 1986, the no.4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded, sending a radioactive cloud across Europe. Western diplomats were stunned when the Soviets turned to the West for help with dealing with the fallout.

The US President issued more sanctions to punish Russia’s attack on Ukraine but stopped short of cutting off Putin’s access to the SWIFT global banking system.

US intelligence disclosures gave the US time to rally support from its allies on sanctions that in normal circumstances would have taken months to hash out.

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Ukraine and Taiwan are linked by territorial disputes and a new “unbreakable friendship” between Russia and China. It’s no wonder China isn’t saying much.

China is the only major government to refrain from condemning Vladimir Putin’s attack. However, it tempered that by calling for restraint and respect for national sovereignty.

Queen Elizabeth has postponed two scheduled virtual audiences on Thursday but will continue with light duties, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said as the 95-year-old British monarch recovers from COVID-19.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned the “brutal invasion” and promised further sanctions on 300 members of the Russian parliament who supported Mr Putin.

Having warned of Putin’s plans for days, the US and Europe seem unsure now of their next move.

The best interpretation of Putin is that “special military operation” means taking out Ukraine’s military defences, rather than occupying the country. Few believe this.

The Russian President says the goal of the military action is to “protect people who have been abused by the genocide of the Kyiv regime for eight years” and to “strive for the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine”.

Even as the world’s most senior envoys gathered at the UN Security Council to plead for peace, Vladimir Putin was going on Russian state television to declare war.

Sanctions against Russia will intensify, with world leaders urging Russia to withdraw troops and warning that the world will respond in a “united and decisive way”.

Russia has confirmed it is targeting military facilities across the country, including airfields and anti-aircraft systems.

This is an event of global significance and shows that democratic governments cannot discount the old nightmare of military aggression.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country “was left no chance to protect itself by other means” when he decided to declare war on Ukraine on Thursday. Here’s a timeline of the key moments that led to that decision.

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Scientists say well-preserved fish fossils are providing a deeper understanding of one of the worst days in the history of life on Earth.

City leader Carrie Lam used emergency powers granted under British colonial-era laws to exempt mainland Chinese staff and projects from legal requirements to operate in Hong Kong.

More than half of the children living along and near the “contact line” - where fighting is most intense – are living in poverty.

Police are reluctant to bring up old memories with heavy-handed tactics, but allowing the encampment protest to bubble has given rise to talk of holding the line “until the end” and even “bloodshed”.