Instant View: Putin authorises military operation in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall on the Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow, Russia February 23, 2022. Sputnik/Aleksey Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS

(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised a military operation in eastern Ukraine on Thursday in what could be the start of war in Europe over Russia's demands for an end to NATO's eastward expansion.

Shortly after Putin spoke, a Reuters witness heard the sound of what appeared to be explosions in the distance from the capital, Kyiv.