Russian forces attacked far beyond the conflict-ridden zones of eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists run areas recently recognised by the Kremlin as independent, with air attacks hitting apartment blocks in Kharkiv and beyond.

By night, as Ukrainians fled to escape their country, thousands in Russia, where protests are tightly restricted, rallied in solidarity.

While East-West frictions grew over Russia’s military build-up at the Ukrainian border these past few months, dissent in the world’s largest nation was limited to a handful of one-person pickets.

Few here believed the standoff would actually lead to war.

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