The Ukrainian Embassy in Kenya has issued a statement following an invasion by the Russian military on Thursday morning, February 24.
Addressing the media on Thursday, Ukraine's ambassador to Kenya Andrii Pravednyk noted that at the moment, only the entire world can stop Russia from invading their territories.
He called on Kenyans and the wider global community to join forces in condemning the invasion to prevent escalation of the conflict pushed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The combat spirit of the Ukrainian military is high, our defenders are ready to give a decisive response to the aggressor state and will protect the Ukrainian soil with all their strength.
"We urge the international community to condemn Russia’s invasion and stand with Ukraine," he stated.
This follows international media reports indicating that Russian military forces fired missiles at some of the cities in Ukraine and deployed their forces to some of the disputed areas.
The reports further indicated that Putin had authorised military operations in Ukraine. At least 40 people have been confirmed dead at the time of publishing this story.
The development came just days after Kenya issued a strongly worded statement condemning Russia's claim on Ukraine.
Ambassador Martin Kimani, Kenya's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in a detailed statement revealed that Kenya was against the invasion and called for diplomatic ways to end the conflict.
"In our considered view, this action and announcement breach the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
"We do not deny that there may be serious concerns in these regions. But they cannot justify today's recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states. Not when there were multiple diplomatic tracks available and underway that had the ability to offer peaceful solutions," he added.
Kimani called on the two nations to draw reference to how various East African Countries solved their territorial borders row and embrace that for their conflict resolution.
"At independence, had we chosen to pursue states on the basis of ethnic, racial or religious homogeneity, we would still be waging bloody wars these many decades later. Instead, we agreed that we would settle for the border that we inherited. But we would still pursue continental political, economic, and legal integration," remarked.
Various world leaders have since called on the two nations to call for a ceasefire as super power countries started imposing sanctions against the Putin led government.
