Prime Minister Naftali Bennett addressed Russia's incursion into Ukraine on Thursday.
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Speaking at a graduation ceremony for members of an IDF officers training course, Bennett said, "These are difficult, tragic times, and our heart is with the citizens of Ukraine who have found themselves in this situation through no fault of their own."
Bennett said that Israel was serving as an "anchor" of strength, stability, security and hope in a region "full of threats and challenges."
"Every Israeli always knows they have a home to come back to, that there is someone who will look out for them in times of trouble," the prime minister said.
Bennett urged Israelis in Ukraine to "leave now."
"Our people are waiting to receive you at border crossings in the west of the country. In addition, every Jew, anywhere in the world, knows that we are waiting for them here and that Israel's door is always open," he said, adding that Israel would join humanitarian efforts to ease the suffering of Ukrainian citizens.
Bennett told the newly minted IDF officers that they were beginning their roles as officials as "our world order is changing. The world is much less stable, and our region is also changing from day to day. These times teach us that wars fought between armies are not, unfortunately, a thing of the past."
By Thursday evening, Ukrainian forces were battling Russian invaders around nearly all of the country's perimeter on Thursday after Moscow mounted a mass assault by land, sea and air in the biggest attack on a European state since World War II.
Missiles rained down on Ukrainian targets. Kyiv reported columns of troops pouring across the borders with Russia and Belarus stretching from the north and east, and landing on the coasts from the Black Sea in the southwest and Azov Sea in the southeast.
Russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as Nazi Germany did in #2WW years. As of today, our countries are on different sides of world history. 🇷🇺 has embarked on a path of evil, but 🇺🇦 is defending itself & won't give up its freedom no matter what Moscow thinks.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 24, 2022
Fierce fighting was taking place in the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv in the northeast, Kherson and Odessa in the south, and at a military airport near the capital Kyiv, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said troops were trying to fend off Russians attempting to capture the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, just 90 km (60 miles) north of the capital. Regional officials said Ukrainian authorities had lost control of some territory in the Kherson region near Russian-occupied Crimea.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war in a pre-dawn televised address, explosions and gunfire were heard throughout the morning in Kyiv, a city of 3 million people.
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The highway out of the city choked with traffic as residents fled.
"Russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as Nazi Germany did in the WW2 years," tweeted Zelenskyy.
"Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself & won't give up its freedom no matter what Moscow thinks," Zelenskyy's tweet continued.
A senior US defense official says Thursday's attack by Russia appeared to be the first phase in what will likely be a multiple phased, large-scale invasion.
The official said it began around 9:30 p.m. US eastern time, with land- and sea-based missile launches. The official said that roughly more than 100 missiles, primarily short-range ballistic missiles, but also medium-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles and sea-launched missiles, were launched in the first few hours of the attack.
The official said it was not clear how many Russian troops were in Ukraine now, and the main targets of the air assault have been barracks, ammunition warehouses, and 10 airfields. The official said Russian ground forces began to move in to Ukraine from Belarus around 5 a.m. Eastern time.
As the fighting intensified, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Thursday that civilians and critical infrastructure such as water and power systems in Ukraine must be protected from attacks in line with the rules of war.
