Around 40 Ukrainian people have been killed, including civilians and one young boy, in the fighting that has ensued following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a “specialised military operation” into the former Soviet republic, reports claim.

According to Ukrainian state media at lunchtime Thursday, Russian forces have launched over 30 attacks, including from Kalibr cruise missiles, MLRS rocket launchers, aircraft, and artillery targeting “Ukrainian civilian and military infrastructure.” Ukrainian police later reported that as many as 203 attacks have been carried out through the day, Reuters reported. According to Sky News, at least 40 Ukrainian people have been killed.

In the town of Chuhuiv, Kharkiv region, a young boy was reportedly killed after an apartment building. Fifteen residents were said to be evacuated from the building after a fire broke out.

“A [] boy was killed in an explosion. Some people have been wounded. Rescuers have evacuated 15 residents from the burning building. The fire was localized at 09:50, and is currently being extinguished,” Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

Smoke rising near the town of Hostomel and the Antonov Airport, in northwest Kyiv. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukrainian servicemen get ready to repel an attack in Ukraine’s Lugansk region on February 24, 2022. – (Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images)

A hospital was also allegedly shelled by “Russian-occupation forces” in Vuhledar in the Donbas region of Donetsk, killing four civilians and wounding another ten, six of whom were doctors, the Head of the Donetsk Military-Civil Regional Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko reported.

In the Mariupol, situated in southeastern Ukraine on the north coast of the Sea of Azov, three civilians were killed and a further seven were injured after Russian forces fired rocket launchers at residential areas and the airport of the city, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko claimed.

According to Ukrainian state media, Ukrinform, two servicemen were killed and a further 25 were injured during the shelling of an arms depot in the town of Kalynivka, in the central region of Vinnytsia region.

“As a result of the shelling on the territory of military unit No. A1119, [a] small arms depots caught on fire. One person was killed on tower. Up to 20 service members and six civilians were wounded. All of them have been hospitalized, their health status is moderate. The assistance is being provided. Unfortunately, one serviceman was seriously wounded. He died in hospital,” said Vasyl Polishchuk, the head of the Kalynivka town community.

At least five people were killed after a Ukrainian Armed Forces plane crashed outside of Kyiv, the country’s capital, with 14 people on board according to a message released by the Interior Ministry on Telegram as reported by Ukrinform.

A Russian strike on a military installation in the village of Lipetsk in the Odesa region saw 18 people die, including eight men and ten women, the Odesa Regional State Administration said.

GRAPHIC IMAGE WARNING

A man reacts on the phone as he stands by a body stretched out on the ground after bombings on the eastern Ukraine town of Chuguiv on February 24, 2022 (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

KYIV, UKRAINE – FEBRUARY 24: People take photos of the remains of a rocket as it is cleared away on February 24, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed that their forces have shot down seven Russian planes and at least two helicopters. The Ukrainian military also said that it has so far destroyed four tanks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

In the town of Shchastia in the pro-Russian separatist Donbas region of Luhansk, Ukrainian forces allegedly killed “fifty Russian mercenaries”.

Striking a defiant tone, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Ukraine is defending itself and will not give up its freedom, no matter what Moscow thinks. For Ukrainians, independence and the right to live on their land according to their will is the highest value.

“Russia treacherously and self-destructively attacked our state in the morning. Just like Nazi Germany did during the Second World War.”

Zelinsky went on to call for the citizens of Russia, who have not “lost their conscience”, to protest the increased military actions of the Vladimir Putin regime.

In response to the attacks on Ukrainian territory, the president went on to announce that his country has severed diplomatic relations with Russia and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba called on other nations to follow suit.

“By this concrete step you will demonstrate that you stand by Ukraine and categorically reject the most blatant act of aggression in Europe since WWII,” Kuleba wrote.