What's really behind Putin's invasion of Ukraine?

Europe woke up on Thursday to the news that Russian troops had advanced into Ukraine, as Vladimir Putin warned the international community that intervening would lead to "consequences you have never seen."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared martial law, broke off diplomatic relations with Russia and said that Ukraine had a millions-strong army ready to defend the country. He called on the international community to prepare an anti-Putin front to force Russia out of Ukraine.

European Union leaders will meet in Brussels later this evening after European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen promised severe sanctions on Russia. US President Joe Biden, who warned of a possible invasion for weeks, said he was meeting G7 leaders later on Thursday.

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland agreed to hold consultations under NATO's Article 4, which members of the alliance can do when they feel the territorial integrity or political independence of an ally is threatened, even when the ally is not a NATO member.

Putin has claimed that the invasion is intended to defend the populations of the occupied territories in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples' Republics, which claimed independence in 2014. On Monday, Putin formally recognised the independence of the two territories.

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmitro Kuleba said on Thursday morning that "this is not a Russian invasion only in the east of Ukraine, but a full-scale attack from multiple directions".

But it was on Monday that Putin appeared to give an insight into his own beliefs about Ukraine and its links with Russia and the Soviet Union.

He claimed that Ukraine, an independent state of 44 million people and Europe’s largest country, was an artificial