About 40 people have been killed so far in the Russian attack on Ukraine, Oleksii Arestovich, adviser to s president has said.

According to Fox35, the adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday many people have also been wounded.

The president had said Ukraine was ready to hand weapons to all those willing to defend the country.

“The future of the Ukrainian people depends on every Ukrainian,” he said, asking all those who can defend the country to come to the interior ministry’s assembly facilities.

In a televised address, Putin accused the US and its allies of ignoring Russia’s demand to stop Ukraine from joining NATO and offer Moscow security guarantees.

He also said Russia’s attack on Ukraine was after rebels in eastern Ukraine asked the country for military assistance to help fend off Ukrainian “aggression”.

A chilling video shows explosions lighting up the sky in Ukraine earlier on Thursday morning as Russian military forces invaded the country.

The explosions were seen near Kharkiv — a city with a population of roughly 1.4 million near the eastern border and approximately 300 miles from the capital city of Kyiv, Ukraine.

The attack elicited outrage from the international community with NATO holding talks on steps to take to tame Putin’s aggression.

US President Joe Biden described the attack as “unprovoked and unjustified”, and said the world will “hold Russia accountable”.