Ukraine’s military said on Thursday that Russian forces aimed to block the Ukrainian capital Kyiv while creating a land corridor on the southern coast towards the annexed Crimea peninsula and the Transdniestria region of Moldova, Reuters reported.

“Ukrainian forces battled Russian invaders on three sides on Thursday after Moscow mounted an assault by land, sea and air in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee their homes,” said the quoted source.

The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Moldova on Thursday denied reports that attacks on Ukraine were launched from Moldova’s Transnistrian region. “In connection with the news items about the attacks staged on Ukraine from the territory of the Transnistrian region that are circulated on social media, the Ministry of Defense notes that this information is not true,” the Ministry of Defense’s spokeswoman Ala Diaconu stated for IPN.