How will the West stop Putin?

After months of posturing, Russia has finally invaded Ukraine. The big question for the West now is: Can Russia and President Vladimir Putin be stopped?

Putin announced an attack on Ukraine early Thursday local time, declaring the beginning of a “special military operation” aimed at what it called the “demilitarization” of Ukraine.

In a televised address, Putin said Russia did not plan to occupy Ukraine but wanted to protect its citizens. He also issued a chilling warning that any countries that tried to interfere with Russia’s actions would face “consequences they have never seen.”

Russian attacks then began on cities across the country, with explosions reported in several key cities including Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv and Mariupol. 

Further official and eyewitness reports have said that in addition to airstrikes, Russian tanks and troops have crossed over Ukraine’s border into various parts of the north, east and south of the country, and that Russian shelling has continued on various locations, including government buildings.

By midmorning Thursday, Ukraine’s military said Russia had attacked it with more than 30 strikes on civilian and military infrastructure, and had used Kalibr cruise missiles to do so.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that “in the coming days and weeks, there will come even more [soldiers], so we will further increase and we are increasing our presence in the eastern part of the alliance,” he told reporters, although he repeated that NATO has no plans to send its troops into Ukraine.

The Kremlin issued more statements Thursday morning, saying Putin would decide how long the military operation would last “based on its progress and aims.”

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, also told reporters Ukraine needs to “ideally” be “liberated” but that “nobody is talking about the occupation of Ukraine” and that word is “unacceptable,” he said, according to Reuters.

The developments are a shocking escalation after months of simmering tensions and concerns over Russia’s intentions toward its neighbor.

Thursday’s attack comes days after Putin recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent and ordered Russian troops into the region on a “peacekeeping” mission, a claim scoffed at by many.

Experts and officials thought this could be a precursor to a wider invasion of the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, but Thursday’s assault is bigger, and has come quicker, than many feared.

Experts believe Moscow’s likely objective in this military action is to force a change in Ukraine’s political leadership and to install a pro-Russia regime in Kyiv.

“Based on Putin’s speech and the initial waves of strikes, it is clear that we are in the ‘severe’ scenario, in which Russia launches major attacks across Ukraine and aims to overthrow the Kyiv government through military means,” Henry Rome, director of global macro research at Eurasia Group, said…