Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, long predicted by the West and long denied by him, began before dawn with volleys of cruise missiles and other weapons. There were explosions near Kyiv’s main airport, as well as around other cities. The scope of the attack was not immediately clear. Early reports, still unconfirmed, said Russian troops were advancing on the eastern city of Kharkiv and in other parts of the country. The mayor of Odessa, a big port, said his city had been attacked, but that the attack had been repelled. More fighting lies ahead.

Having called up reservists a day earlier and declared a state of emergency, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, imposed martial law across the country. In parts of Ukraine, people woke to the sound of sirens and took to their basements; elsewhere some knelt on the streets to pray. People rushed to take cash out of ATM machines as huge traffic jams formed on the roads leading out of Kyiv.

Russia was not threatened by NATO or Ukraine. Its invasion of the sovereign state next door is a war of choice, conjured out of nothing by Mr Putin. History will judge him harshly. If Russia is drawn into a long-lasting partisan war, so will the Russian people.

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